Ball oven – Simmerring® – Vileda cloth

Freudenberg

On 22 Feb 24 we had the opportunity to get to know the company Freudenberg SE in Weinheim. Freudenberg was a successful tannery in the mid-19th century. Today the company is a global company with over 50,000 employees and a turnover of almost € 12 billion (2022). Freudenberg's business areas are (1) sealing and vibration technology (e.g. the Simmerring®), (2) technical textiles and filtration (nonwovens), (3) cleaning technologies and products (e.g. the Vileda cloth) and (4) specialties.

After an introduction to the company (company exhibition), we had the opportunity to get to know two companies: production of gas diffusion layers for fuel cells (nonwovens) and production and testing of seals (Simmerringe®).

The tour began on February 22nd at 9:00 a.m. For this reason, the participants of the excursion met the evening before for a joint dinner. For the first time, the seniors had also invited five young chemists from Heidelberg, Mainz and Gießen to the excursion. The chemical trade press was also represented: Nachrichten aus der Chemie (Christian Remenyi), Chemistry Views (Vera Köster), Chemie in unserer Zeit (Doris Fischer-Henningsen) and CheManager (Michael Reubold).

Weinheim, the “two-castle city” (Windeck and Wachenburg ruins) has around 45,000 inhabitants. Weinheim is located on the mountain road along the Odenwald and is approx. 20 km from Heidelberg and Mannheim; Frankfurt is about 75 km north of Weinheim.

Following the excursion to Freudenberg, Eva Wille organized a city tour with the historian Dr. Alexander Boguslawski with a focus on the time of the Baden Revolution of 1848/49 in Weinheim.