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Abonner Lohmann GmbH & Co KG

Lohmann GmbH & Co KG

Innovation out of Tradition: The medical and adhesive market oriented Lohmann Group based in Neuwied celebrated its 150th anniversary on 7th July Progressing from cotton wool balls to a global Group of companies with 4,500 employees

Neuwied/Germany (ots)

The founder, Julius Lüscher, could not
possibly have imagined on 7th July 1851 as he registered the business
"dealing in material goods" in Frankfurt that he was laying the
foundation stone for such a large business enterprise. 150 years
later, the Lohmann Group, which developed out of the earlier "Lüscher
& Bömper Cotton Wool Factory", is one of the lesser known companies
of its size in Germany with 4,500 employees active worldwide and with
a turnover of 1.2 billion DM (before consolidation). The company
headquarters have been located in Neuwied for over 100 years. Lohmann
is present in thousands of everyday products although the name
Lohmann very often does not appear in such products. "We are mainly
known in medical circles as well as being in addition, a supplier to
the manufacturing industry" reflected the Managing Partner, Dr.
Martin Barth.
The past 50 years, after the reconstruction of the main production
site in Neuwied which was 80% destroyed in 1945 shortly before the
end of war, have all been focused on innovation and
internationalisation. Dr. G. A. Barth, who was a Managing Partner at
that time, recognised early on that surgical dressings would be
facing a stagnant and hence very difficult market in peacetime.
Lohmann diversified and through its expertise with fibres, fabrics
and coating or laminating materials with adhesives, consequently
developed four independent key business areas.
Today products from the Medical Division Lohmann & Rauscher can be
found in hospitals and doctors surgeries all over the globe.
Transdermal plaster products from LTS-Lohmann help heart and
chronically ill patients  Adhesive films from Lohmann are to be found
in Nokia mobile phones, computer keyboards, and in addition, are used
in such diverse industries as the furniture trade and car
manufacture. Nonwovens from Lohmann have for some time not only been
used for dressing wounds but also as cleaning wipes, as performance
aids in diapers, and as a vital component in conveyor belt systems.
"Lohmann has striven to provide solutions for practical life
improving products" stressed Dr. Martin Barth who, with his brother
Dr. Peter Barth, is the fourth generation of the Family to run the
company. Lohmann has 76 Limited Partners, the largest of which, with
a holding of about 10%, is Lohmann Partner AG, made up out of 700
previous and current employees.
The Group now has various production sites in Germany, Europe, USA
and Asia.
After Mr. August Lohmann joined the company then known as Lüscher
& Bömper in 1869, production of cotton wool and surgical dressings
had commenced by 1880 and was considerably expanded after the
company's relocation to Fahr am Rhein, now incorporated into the town
of Neuwied. Primarily medical products were developed and patented,
numerous Lohmann inventions have been exported or licensed worldwide
over the last 150 years. The milestones of Lohmann 's innovations are
as follows :
The chemist Georg Teske, from Neuwied, developed the first elastic
plaster bandage known as "Elastoplast" in 1924. This product, through
licensing, is still very much a household name in Europe. A medical
breakthrough was achieved in 1930 with the development of the fixated
Plaster-of-Paris bandage "Cellona". During the war the first air
permeable adhesive plaster "Poroplast" was patented. In the early
1950's Lohmann developed binder-free 100% cellulosic nonwoven
fabrics, leading in 1957 to "Metalline", an aluminium vaporized
coated nonwoven dressing that was introduced in the market and was
effectively the first textile dressing which did not stick to open
wounds. In the mid-1960's Lohmann pioneered the thermo-bonding of
nonwovens, a technology that was to become the first off-the-shelf
nonwovens process making the large scale production of hygiene
products possible. In the 1980's Lohmann started the era of
transdermal plasters or patches. A transdermal nitroglycerine patch
was developed in conjunction with the pharmaceutical industry with
featured slow release capabilities through the skin of heart patients
to better control 'angina pectoris'. LTS-Lohmann anti-smoking
transdermal patches were developed a few years later to deal with
millions of people with smoking problems. LTS is today fully
independent and with it's manufacturing sites in Andernach, Germany
and W. Caldwell, NJ, USA, is one of the major global manufacturers of
transdermal systems.
In recent years the mother company Lohmann GmbH & Co.KG has
entered into new alliances in order to strengthen all the divisions
in the group. In 1998 the Medical Division was brought together with
the Austrian company Rauscher, and shares of LTS-Lohmann sold on to
pharmaceutical industry and investments companies. The nonwovens site
in Dierdorf went over to the TWE Group in July 2001 in order to open
up future distribution channels directly to customers.
The 150th anniversary is not only an opportunity to look at the
history and family tradition but above all to look at the future.
"Our adhesive business has developed very well. Times are hard on the
medical side" stressed Martin Barth. "Due to health reforms,
manufacturers are expected to deliver ever cheaper products however
old existing standards and habits hinder the introduction of truly
new products. Dressings are still made today as they were during the
war". However, Dr Barth further noted that "this "traditional
approach" provides challenges for the Lohmann Group which, based on
its past history of innovation, it will address appropriately".
Further reference : http//www.lohmann.epaper.rhein-zeitung.de  (in
German)

Contact:

Dr. Martin Barth
Lohmann Managing Partner
Phone +49 2634 996 213
E-mail: martin.barth@lohmann-gruppe.de

Photos available:
IDEEmedia
Christian Koch
Phone +49 2631 779377
E-mail: c.koch@idee-media.de