The history of the company
The Feldbinder company story began in 1975 when Otto Feldbinder and Jan-Dirk Beckmann joined philosophies and forces. Individual experience gained in selling and operating silo vehicles enabled them to pool their experience and knowledge. The original concept was supply the vessels for rigid vehicles.
The original manufacturing facility, comprising 3 employees was based in Drage, Lower Saxony nearby to Hamburg. Five years later, after having relocated to Hamburg-Hamm, the company was bursting at the seams. At that time FFB, was producing 120 units per annum. In 1980, the successful duo procured a 4-hectare area in Winsen (Luhe), which has been expanded to more than twice its original size and continues to host the headquarters of Feldbinder Spezialfahrzeugwerke GmbH.
The beginning of 1992 saw the initiation of operations designed to expand the parent plant in Winsen, with the erection of a modern repair and service station and a purpose built office block that was to serve as the group’s head office. The container production facility in Winsen was expanded from the year 2000 onwards. Six years later, the group procured a neighbouring plant for the construction of a new production hall and a distribution centre for silo trucks. Both facilities commenced operations in 2007. In May 2008, container construction operations were initiated in another hall, with an area of 7,000 m². Today, the Winsen facility represents an expanse of industrial real estate that covers a total area of over 90,000 m², with a crane-accessible hall space with an area of 27,000 m².
The year 1990 saw the founding of service stations in Germany that operated under the corporate name of STA Silo- und Tankanhänger Service GmbH. These sites hosted brand-independent repair operations for silo trucks, road tankers, special silo containers and special tank containers.
In 1991, the two partners acquired ACA (Apparate- und Chemieanlagenbau Wittenberg GmbH), which was located in Lutherstadt Wittenberg. At the time, the company had been producing aluminium and stainless steel pressure containers used by the chemical industry and the railway industry for more than 60 years. The acquisition of this manufacturing shop, which featured an industrial site with an area of 120,000 m² and crane-accessible halls that covered an area of 15,000 m², enabled the company to expand its range of products to include road tankers.
The middle part of 2000 saw the establishment of the modern repairs department for the east in the city of Wittenberg and the initiation of the production of silo wagons. Additional halls for the construction of containers and wagons were commissioned shortly thereafter. In order to be able to operate with greater flexibility and shorter delivery periods, the company set up another hall with the facilities for manufacturing tank dish ends for aluminium and stainless steel dishes with diameters of up to 4000 mm. A grinding shop for bases was added to the facility in order to ensure that the requirements associated with the internal sections of the tanks were fulfilled. In addition to the production of silo wagons, Feldbinder started producing tank rail wagons in Wittenberg in 2003. In 2005, the company initiated operations associated with the central pre-fabrication of FFB-specific component parts for the entire group. In the same year, a new parts depot was constructed for the Wittenberg facility. In 2006, the company’s production capacities were expanded through the construction of a production hall that covered an area of 6000 m² and hosted the production of road tankers and special containers. Today, the Wittenberg facility features crane-accessible production facilities covering a total area of 28,000 m² that hosts the production of the most modern road tankers and silo trucks.
Since the 90’s, Feldbinder has been expanding its European operations on a sustained basis. The expansion of the international sales and service network began in 1996 with the acquisition of various firms and the founding of a subsidiary. In addition to the group’s own sales companies in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, Otto Feldbinder and Jan-Dirk Beckmann acquired Metalair-Filliat in 1997, which was a British company that manufactured silo trucks. The organisation is now called Feldbinder UK Ltd., which is situated in Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire. Since the end of 2011, the service and after-sales operations have been focussing exclusively on the facility in Sutton Bridge, which has been modernised extensively. Consequently, Feldbinder’s two facilities in Germany have currently gone back to hosting only production operations. The founding of Feldbinder Iberica S.L. laid the groundwork for successful sales operations in the Iberian Peninsula. At the same time, the owners acquired a maintenance facility in the French city of Lyon that sells silo trucks, road tankers and special containers (formerly called FILLIAT). This company currently operates under the name of Feldbinder France SARL. It distributes our products and spare parts in the French market. Due to the economic situation in France, the maintenance facility was shut down in 2010. The shutdown had no effect on the sales of new vehicles and spare parts. In August 2012, the facility relocated to an office that included a spare parts depot that was in the direct vicinity of the former premises of the company in Venissieux. In 2001, the new Feldbinder Austria repairs facility, which also included a sales office, was commissioned in Gunskirchen bei Wels, which was also done with a focus on the Balkans. Feldbinder also operates its own sales company in Russia. The company has many sales partners across the world.
1st April 2018 is another important milestone in Feldbinder's history. Founding fathers Otto Feldbinder and Jan-Dirk Beckmann passed on the reigns of management to the younger generation. It was very important to both of them that the company will continue to be managed by family members who have always been closely associated with customers, the workforce and the company values of quality and durability.
In future, four managing directors will jointly managing the fortunes of Feldbinder: Dirk Feldbinder and Olaf Feldbinder, both sons of Otto Feldbinder, together with Jan-Dirk Beckmanns daughter Dr. Nina Lorea Kley and her husband Wolf-Dietrich Kley.