Conveying technology over three quarters of a century
This year the intralogistics supplier BEUMER (Fig. 1) celebrates 75 years of existence and looks back at its successful company history. Individual customer solutions as well as products and systems that make for greater efficiency and sustainability – this is the approach that has enabled the company group with its head office in Beckum and companies around the globe to develop forward-looking intralogistic solutions. In 1935 the 33 year old senior engineer Bernhard Beumer, who was then working in the field of conveying technology for a company in Essen, took the plunge and became independent. In addition to courage and determination his most important basic capital was his wealth of experience from his previous work. Initially he had been employed as a repair fitter and then in mining, and had worked for a fairly long time in the Ruhr area. He later completed his engineering studies. For a long time Bernhard Beumer had had the idea of forming his own company. He made this move when he heard that an empty factory was up for sale in his home town of Beckum (Fig. 2).
The business activities were based on classical conveying technology. Bernhard Beumer and his first four employees had their first working day on 9th December 1935. The company started with nothing, but from his own experience the young senior engineer knew what the customers needed. When he formed his own company he obtained the first orders from the building materials and cement industries as well as from the mining industry. One decisive step for the success of BEUMER Fördertechnik was the development of the support roller with labyrinth seals (Fig. 3). The company founder patented it and integrated it into further products. From this support roller he derived the company symbol that is still used – the circle represents the support roller in cross-section and the arrow represents the roller axis. There were about 100 employees by the start of the Second World War.
Another important step in conveying technology at BEUMER was the development of the bucket elevator. Bernhard Beumer, the son of the company founder, pushed ahead with this technology. He quickly recognised that a chain is too heavy as the traction element. Its weight cancels out a great deal of the traction force. By that time BEUMER was already an expert in the field of belt conveyor technology. This gave the second Bernhard Beumer the idea of using a belt as the traction element for bucket elevators. He used a belt with steel cords in order to attach the buckets reliably to the belt. He arranged the steel cords so that there were zones with cords and zones without cords. The holes for attaching the buckets to the belt are punched in the zones without cords. With these bucket elevators BEUMER had created a conveying technology that could operate at significantly higher speeds and could use longer distances between centres (Fig. 4). The belt bucket elevators from BEUMER now reach distances between centres of 175 m or more. By the mid 80s BEUMER had installed about 100 bucket elevators, but in 2007 and 2008 this figure had increased to about 450 bucket elevators worldwide per year! The second Bernhard Beumer had not only pushed ahead with product development in conveying technology but also with specialization of the company in the three sectors of conveying and loading, palletizing and packaging and sorting and distribution. He also made decisive moves to set the Group on course towards internationalization and, among other things, formed companies in Brazil, the USA and Asia.
Even 50 years ago BEUMER had laid the foundations for belt systems that could negotiate curves. The first fundamental theoretical design for curved belt systems on the market came from the research and development department in Beckum. This expertise was constantly developed, with the result that the Group is now one of the technology leaders for curved belt systems both in the open design as troughed belt conveyors and in the closed version as tube belt conveyors. The BEUMER Group strengthened its market share in this sector significantly with the takeover of Koch Holding a.s. in the Czech Republic in the spring of 2010. One impressive completed project is the 12.5 km long troughed belt conveyor system in the Chinese province of Sichuan that came into operation in 2008 and transports about 1500 t limestone per hour from the quarry to the cement plant. Its route includes a great many horizontal and vertical curves. The system spans a total of 1.5 km of water as well as large bamboo forests and also overcomes height differences of up to 100 m in short distances.
The BEUMER Group is also now one of the leading suppliers in the sector of palletizing and packaging for building materials. The BEUMER robotpac series palletizes and depalletizes a variety of package units for the building materials and cement industries using specific gripping elements and tools. The high-performance energy-efficient, BEUMER stretch hood packaging machine secures and protects these palletized products and at the same time achieves the optimum display effect. Mortar or cement bags that are stacked on pallets can be packaged for transport. The machine determines the different stack heights fully automatically and calculates the optimum requirement for plastic film.
Since 2000 the company has operated under the leadership of Dr Christoph Beumer in the third generation of the family. The family spirit has been crucial for the success. So far the BEUMER Group has consistently stuck to its slogan “Our aim is long-term success not short-term profit”. BEUMER ensures the long-term success of the company through controlled growth, a wide range of products and a global set-up. Since the integration in mid 2009 of Crisplant – specialists in luggage sorting systems for airports and sorting technology for courier, express and parcel service providers – the company has become one of the world market leaders in high-performance sorting technology for airports. The BEUMER Group now has about 2000 employees that generate an annual turnover of about 375 million €.
The company sets itself high standards as far as sustainability is concerned. Management and employees understand this term not as a fashionable catchword but as the balance between ecological requirements, economic success and social responsibility. For the company group this means the development of energy-efficient solutions, conserving resources and providing the users with ergonomic solutions. This company philosophy, combined with the inclusion of the employees in all operational processes, innovations and communication as well as the permanent dialogue between sales, technology, research and development, form the basis for the forward-looking approach.
