From a small forge to a manufacturing company
In 1959, the trained cartwright and blacksmith Johann Huppertz took over a company based in Medell (Amel, Belgium). In this rural region, his customer base consisted largely of farmers.
As early as 1968, the premises were expanded with the construction of a hall. With the upswing of the dairy industry, the range of services was also expanded: From then on, milking wagons in various designs were offered and serviced. The company became the official representative of the German and Danish milking machine manufacturers Miele and Strangko.
In 1983, Karl-Heinz Huppertz began a two-year apprenticeship as a blacksmith and building fitter in his father’s company. The area of activity continued to develop as the company became a contract manufacturer for industry.
New managing director and new location
In 1989, there was a generation change. Johann Huppertz withdrew and handed the management over to his son Karl-Heinz. The metalworking shop Huppertz PGmbH was founded. In the same year, a new hall was built and the existing one rebuilt. The company developed more and more into an industrial supplier. With this change, the first employees were also hired.
After 10 years, the location became too small to meet the increasing demand. Ultimately, the managing director decided to move to a nearby industrial area. “Looking back, it was one of the best decisions we ever made,” says Karl-Heinz Huppertz today. In August 2000, the new halls with offices were built in St. Vith, Steinerberg 5.
The HUPPERTZ PGmbH metalworking shop became a stock corporation with family shareholders, Huppertz AG Stahl- und Apparatebau. In April 2001, the move was completed.
Enlargement of the production facility
In 2004, Hall 1 was built for pre-assembly. There, in March 2006, a newly founded company “New Laser and More” started its cutting business.
In 2007, Halls 1 and 2 were expanded. In 2009 another hall was built for the cutting business.
In 2015, Hall 3 was expanded to create space for a state-of-the-art wet paint booth and a large sandblasting booth. In addition, a new sanitary block was also built.
Better material flows through expansions and modifications
A new coating hall was built in 2019. On an area of 5,000 m2, the company has enough space for powder and wet paint coating, as well as sandblasting and metallizing.
The hall in which the coating previously took place is now used for the welding shop. The purchase of additional hall space created new space for pre-assembly.
All of these measures enable better material flows and thus increase productivity.
New welding robot
In January 2020, the machine park was expanded to include a welding robot from Valk.