History of Bauerfeind
From family company to internationally operating group of companies
The history of the family company begins in the 1920s in Zeulenroda in eastern Thuringia, the place where at one time almost every compression stocking sold worldwide was produced.
1929 Bruno Bauerfeind starts up a specialist company for the production of medical compression stockings. He heads the company until his death in December 1944.
1939 The company already has 100 employees.
1945 Rudolf Bauerfeind, son of the company's founder, returns from imprisonment in Russia and sets to work full of confidence.
1949 The political climate of the Soviet occupiers is anything but business-friendly and the Bauerfeind family leaves Zeulenroda and begins reconstruction in Darmstadt-Eberstadt.
In the 1960s Hans B. Bauerfeind develops and modifies production processes: amongst other things, the grandson of the company's founder modifies a knitting machine so that it can also be used to produce the stocking top. He also develops procedures to simplify the production of seamless made-to-measure stockings.
1972 Hans B. Bauerfeind takes over the company Diedrich Grote Nachfolger in Kempen and in 1978 merges the companies in Darmstadt and Kempen into Bauerfeind GmbH with its headquarters in Kempen. This site existed until March 2009.
1981 The development of the GenuTrain® knee support represents a milestone in the company's history. It is the beginning of a product range in which the principle of functional therapy is transferred from compression stockings to supports. Since then, the GenuTrain® has proven itself a million times over.
1984 Bauerfeind establishes its first foreign subsidiary: Bauerfeind Österreich. In the years that follow, further distribution companies are established in Europe and the USA, and Bauerfeind makes takeovers that include the specialist companies Berkemann Hamburg and Globus K. Kremendahl Remscheid.
1991 Hans B. Bauerfeind brings the family company back to his home town of Zeulenroda. The manufacturer of compression stockings, supports, orthoses, orthopedic orthoses and, since 2001, prosthetic components, operates nationally and internationally in four business segments of the market.
At the site of the company's headquarters in Zeulenroda, the following are created with significant investment:
1994 At the time, probably the most up-to-date production site for medical compression stockings,
1999 The Bauerfeind Innovation Center, the research and development arm of the company; since 2002 operating as Bauerfeind AG,
2003 The Logistics Center and
2004 The new administrative buildings – at 57 meters, the highest new building in the region since reunification.
2007 Bauerfeind launches a quality partner program for medical supply retailers in Germany. Its aim is to improve the quality of consultancy and other services by specialist dealers and thus ensure optimum patient care. To date, more than 1000 partners in both production and retail have joined the partner program.
