Loesche GmbH

Loesche is an owner-managed engineering company founded in Berlin in 1906 and currently based in Düsseldorf, Germany that designs, manufactures and services vertical roller mills for grinding of coal, cement raw materials, granulated slag, industrial minerals and ores. At present, more than 400 people are working for Loesche in Germany and around 850 are employed worldwide. In addition to its new subsidiary in Indonesia, Loesche has operations in Brazil, China, India, Russia, South Africa, Nigeria, Spain, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States, and it's represented by agents in more than 30 countries. In 1906, the engineer Curt von Grueber established a company for the design and sale of Kent mills in Berlin. Curt von Grueber Technisches Bureau – the forerunner of Loesche GmbH –was a manufacturer of cement and phosphate mills. In 1912, the company began manufacturing its products in its own manufacturing facility, initially in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen and later in Berlin-Teltow. Its range of products included Maxecon mills, Hauenschild rotary grate kilns, and all kinds of machinery for cement production, including crushers and screw conveyors. In July 1912 Ernst Curt Loesche joined the company as a young engineer. He soon worked his way up through the ranks to a management position and became a partner in the company in 1919. Despite the fact that the German cement industry found itself in a deep and sustained crisis after the First World War, Curt von Grueber Technisches Bureau managed to stay afloat by supplying new coal-fired power stations with mills. In 1927, Ernst Curt Loesche developed the Loesche mill for the Klingenberg power station in Berlin-Rummelsburg and in 1937, Ernst Curt Loesche bought Curt von Grueber's share in the company and became sole owner. The outbreak of the Second World War was a caesura in the history of Ernst Curt Loesche's company. As was the case with many other machine manufacturers, the company was obliged to produce armaments for the German war effort: the Reich Air Ministry soon replaced the cement industry as the company's largest customer.