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Our
history
Consistency for over
175 years.
SCHWENK was founded in Ulm in 1847 by Eduard Schwenk. Over several generations, the company expanded into a group of companies consisting of several subsidiaries and holdings.
The parent company of the SCHWENK Building Materials Group is SCHWENK Zement GmbH & Co. KG, which is managed by Mr Eduard Schleicher, the fifth generation of the family. This makes us one of the oldest family-owned companies in the German building materials industry.
Despite our current size, we have managed to maintain a flat, medium-sized organisational structure with short decision-making paths.
The early years of the cement factory
Eduard Schwenk laid the foundation for today’s Ulm-based company by purchasing the monastery mill in Söflingen. After his death, his wife Marie Schwenk continued to run the cement factory, bought the Thalmühle mill in Blaubeuren and set up a second grinding plant there.
Expansion of production
As the son of Eduard and Marie, Commercial Councillor Carl Schwenk led the company into industrialisation. By acquiring land in Allmendingen, which he bought in a cloak-and-dagger operation, he enabled the successful relaunch of the cement factory in Allmendingen and opened the cement plant in Mergelstetten in 1901.
Crisis management and modernisation
Dr Carl Schwenk’s era was marked by modernisation and crisis management. The First World War was followed by inflation, then the global economic crisis and the Second World War. He established gravel and crushed stone plants and acquired the Portland cement factory in Karlstadt am Main. Under his leadership, the company also experienced an upswing after 1948.
Reorientation and expansion of the building materials group
Dr Eberhard Schleicher, son-in-law of Dr Carl Schwenk, continues to expand the company. With the founding of the SCHWENK Building Materials Group, the company grows in the areas of plastering technology, insulation technology, concrete chemistry, ready-mixed concrete and building materials. In 1992, he opens what was then Europe’s most modern cement plant in Bernburg and begins to expand abroad.
Strengthening the core business
Eduard Schleicher focuses on strategic growth in the core business, which comprises the cement, concrete, sand & gravel, concrete pumps and circular economy divisions. He is strongly promoting the expansion of investments at home and abroad. There is also a clear focus on investments in sustainability and environmental protection.