The era of the founder Bernhard Heinrich Feldhaus (*1821 † 1900)
1857
In 1857, the farm owner Bernhard Heinrich Feldhaus (*1821) from the Laer district of Westerwiede produced bricks in open field firing for the first time. He used the farm's own clay reserves to generate additional income for agriculture by producing bricks. This clay pit, located in the ground moraine landscape west of the Remseder Strasse to Bad Laer, supplied rich clay deposits. It was a thousand-year-old craft that Bernhard Heinrich Feldhaus took up in the middle of the 19th century and which was to become the basis of a globally operating company.
But initially, the focus was not on brick production, but rather on agriculture for a long time. For Bernhard Heinrich Feldhaus was first and foremost a farmer with numerous estates and livestock. The full inheritance farm of the Feldhaus family could look back on a long history. It was first mentioned around 1200. Understandably, there was no risk of abandoning the traditional farm business too quickly in favour of the new project. With the combination of agriculture and brickworks, Feldhaus created a constellation that was common at the time. Many farmers used the clay reserves available on their own land for an additional sideline.
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Yard construction and new brick kiln
1862
In 1862 Bernhard Heinrich Feldhaus built a new farmhouse from the stones fired in his brickyard which he had plastered however. From now on the building activities haven’t stopped until today. Bernhard Feldhaus wrote down his building projects but also the numerous purchases of land or a sawmill in 1873 on the first pages of a notebook, which constitutes a kind of chronicle. Here, for example, you can read about the year 1866: "“In 1866 I built another brick works. 70 f long and 48 f wide costs 200 Taler".
The Feldhaus brick products found many buyers at that time. This probably also was the reason why Bernhard Feldhaus had a new brick kiln built in 1868. On 29 July 1868 the Iburg office authorised him to put into operation a newly built brick kiln in order to enlarge the brickworks. In his chronicle you can read: "In 1868 a new brick kiln was built and a house was built on the brickyard both brick kilns new outlet". This underlines that Feldhaus wanted to enlarge his brickyard significantly and had already planned to build an accommodation for his brickyard workers.
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Agriculture and brickworks
1870s to 1900
From the 1870s until 1900, agriculture and brickmaking existed side by side. Brick production was gradually increased due to the high demand.
The Feldhaus brickworks' registration book from 1869 to the mid-1880s provides evidence of the increasingly extensive production of bricks, roof tiles, pipes and ridge tiles, as well as lists of sales of agricultural products and livestock. Lime was also produced in large quantities in the Feldhaus kiln, as the records show. Hundreds of customers are listed here with the brickworks goods they received. This book also reveals the area in which Feldhaus had his customers. The towns of Remsede, Laer, Westerwiede, Müschen, Glane, Natrup, Versmold, Winkelsetten, Dissen, Aschendorf, Iburg, Greven and Ostbevern appear in particular.
At that time, the bricks from the brickworks were mainly used for private houses. One exception is the interior of St. Mary's Church in Bad Laer. It was built in 1874 after the dilapidated previous building had to be demolished. While the outer walls were built from Laerer Piepstein, fired shaped bricks from Feldhaus were used for the interior columns, window cornices and wall supports. Long concealed by overpainting, the bricks came to light again during the renovation in 1966.
The era of the second generation Heinrich Feldhaus (*1861 †1938)
The firing process was now increasingly automated to meet the growing demand for bricks. After the consequences of the 1st World War and the following inflation had been overcome, the Feldhaus family again did their best to further expand their brickyard. In 1929 Heinrich Feldhaus had an automatic stoking system installed above the ring kiln. CCompared to the manual charging, it had the advantage of the coal now being fed into the kiln more economically and more regularly. Although already developed in the late 19th century, pokers were only increasingly installed in Germany after the First World War. They promised a fuel saving of 20-30 percent compared to hand dumping.
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The Second World War
1939
As late as 1939, a 60-metre-long sewer drying plant was built on the company premises, and it remained the last investment for many years. The Second World War and the post-war period interrupted the steady expansion of the Feldhaus brickworks for several years. "Of course, the people here in the countryside never really suffered," Bernhard Joseph Feldhaus remembers today. "Those who did their own farming at least always had enough to eat. Illicit slaughter was common. People from the city used to pilgrimage to the country in order to get food."
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The era of the third generation Helena (*1904 †1970) and Johann Heinrich Feldhaus (*1900 †1955)
1950s
After the grueling and difficult war and post-war times, peace returned at the beginning of the 1950s and the Feldhaus family was able to concentrate on expanding the brickworks. On the 2nd Easter Day in 1950, the Feldhaus family was dealt a heavy blow: the family home and farm building were completely destroyed by fire.
Company heiress Helena Feldhaus and her husband Johann Heinrich Feldhaus have been running the business together in the third generation since the death of his father Heinrich Feldhaus in 1938. Together, they did everything they could to expand the brickworks in the following years. Incidentally, for the first time in the history of the brickworks, Johann Heinrich Feldhaus, a trained master brickmaker, was now in charge of the company. This meant that 96,000 bricks could be produced per week in one round of the ring kiln. The energy required for this was compensated for by a steam engine that generated its own electricity. A new press house was also built, which is now the oldest building on the site.
The era of the third and fourth generation Helena (*1904 †1970) and Bernhard Feldhaus (*1938)
By 1955 a press house, a transformer station and a clay pit had been built. Additionally, the drying plant was enlarged. In 1955 Johann Heinrich Feldhaus died far too early at the age of 55. A large funeral procession of almost 1000 people, including the young bricklayers in their working clothes, accompanied him to his final resting place in the in the Bad Laer cemetery. Obituaries and newspaper reports testify to how popular the deceased brickworks entrepreneur was. Among other things, the following can be read there: "They say among others: “Hard and undemanding towards himself, he was characterised by an unusual working energy and a confident and clear vision. We will not forget his human kindness and helpfulness."
In the following years his wife Helena assumed the full responsibility for the brickworks and the farm business. She benefited from being familiar with the work processes in the brickyard since she was young. She was also able to count on the support of her sons Bernhard and Heinrich, who were actively involved in agriculture and in the brickworks. Bernhard Joseph Feldhaus, for example, still remembers that he and his brother Heinz used to help in the brickworks during the school holidays. The large ring kiln was constantly operating. One cycle per week included 96,000 bricks fired in 16 chambers in total. In summer the raw material was stocked up in order to then be fired in winter.
Impressions
New tunnel kiln
1967
In 1967, investments were also made in the field of technology: The almost hundred-year-old ring kiln had become dilapidated and was no longer profitable due to its high energy costs. The two sons Bernhard and Heinz had long since devoted themselves more and more to the brick business. Bernhard Feldhaus recognized the opportunities offered by a brickworks with modern equipment. After a joint visit to the company Karl Walter & Co. in Hanover, the two brothers were able to convince their mother to build a new, modern, 78-metre-long tunnel kiln. It took six months to build and had 20 tunnel kiln cars for the kiln and 9 tunnel kiln cars for the reserve. Like the ring kiln, the tunnel kiln is a continuously operated kiln. In contrast to the ring kiln, however, the kiln load now moves on cars through a fixed firing zone.
The old ring furnace was demolished and the feeder installed in its place. This was followed by the pan mill and two rolling mills. Now 3.0 tons of clay could be processed per hour. "On September 9, 1967," recalls Bernhard Feldhaus, "the first fully fired bricks came out of the new kiln." In 1968, Bernhard Joseph Feldhaus took over the company and ensured its continuous development. Brother Heinz also remained active in the company and is still an important support to his brother today.
In the meantime, 30 employees were working at Feldhaus, and for the first time the company now had a plant manager, Mr. Hildebrand, who ensured that production ran smoothly. And further investments were made: A new clay storage and processing hall was built. A processing plant consisting of a box feeder, a used pan mill from Händle, two rolling mills and a new press system from Breitenbach in Siegen were added. With the new technology, it was now possible to produce approximately 8,000 bricks per hour. At that time, Feldhaus mainly supplied the company Zierenberg in Gütersloh, which accounted for around 80 percent of sales.
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Further investments
1970
In the years that followed, Bernhard Joseph Feldhaus steadily drove the company's expansion forward: "Since 1970, there hasn't been a year in which we haven't invested and built new buildings," he emphasizes looking back. The switch from heavy to light oil, which was decided in 1970 after a furnace fire, was important for smooth production. The investments were not only related to technical equipment. While the organization had previously been run from a private home, new offices were built on the company premises in 1972. And an extremely modern and family-friendly children's playground was built right next door.
Karl-Heinz Thele, who joined Feldhaus as a metalworker in 1972, became Bernhard Feldhaus' right-hand man in all subsequent developments and expansions. He quickly proved to be a creative and technically knowledgeable employee, always on the lookout for improvements and innovations in brick production. At that time, there were no clearly defined areas of responsibility: There were no electricians, and if there were problems with the systems, they tried to fix them as best they could. However, the business had become so complex that specialist knowledge was essential. Karl-Heinz Thele therefore trained for two years as an electrical engineer at a school in Goslar and then became plant manager at Feldhaus in 1976.
Karl-Heinz Thele is still responsible for a large number of innovations in technology and the development of new products at Feldhaus and has made a decisive contribution to the success of the factory. In 1977, Feldhaus decided to convert the tunnel kiln from top firing to side firing in order to achieve a more gentle firing method for the clinker bricks. This made it one of the first side-fired tunnel kilns in Germany. It was now also fired with natural gas. At the same time, the oven was extended to 113 meters. Now the furnace capacity could be increased to a pushing capacity of up to 12 wagons. In 1970, 20,000 bricks a day could finally be produced, so that agriculture was completely abandoned.
Impressions
Revolutionary technology for brick slip production
1981
An extremely important development for the future of the company took place in 1981. At that time, the first clinker brick slips were developed at Feldhaus. Clinker brick slips are narrow bricks that are often used in conjunction with thermal insulation measures to clad old and new buildings (external thermal insulation composite system).
Bernhard Joseph Feldhaus and Karl-Heinz Thele were keen to experiment and initially tested the production of the slips using the peeling process, but this proved to be too time-consuming. Later, the slips were fired using a gluing process, whereby several slips were fixed together with a special adhesive. There were also problems here, as some traces of the adhesive remained visible. However, plant manager Karl-Heinz Thele did not let up until he had developed an optimum technology for the production of brick slips. An additional new firing technology enabled the production of 40 percent more goods with the same energy consumption.
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Further growth
1983
As there wasn’t enough capacity for the production of bricks, it was decided to take over the company Bültman in Werther in order to focus on the production of clay pavers.
Impressions
New tunnel kiln with tunnel kiln dryer
1994
In the meantime, the production of thin bricks was constantly increasing. Bricks were virtually three times over-sold. There were often delivery times of six to eight weeks on many types. Particularly in combination with suitable thermal insulation, they have increasingly become an important building material in the renovation and modernisation of old buildings.
Feldhaus took this development into account and in 1994, under the direction of Karl-Heinz Thele, designed a new tunnel kiln with tunnel kiln dryer, in which the bricks were placed as blanks on the tunnel kiln cars. The previous drying process in the chamber dryer could be replaced by this new technology. "On November 9, 1995," according to Bernhard Joseph Feldhaus, "the first thin bricks came out of the kiln. Since then, the kiln has fired goods without interruption until today (2020)".
Impressions
Technical innovations
1999
Feldhaus didn´t rest on the high standard of production achieved so far. Again and again, the employees did their utmost to get the best out of the basic material clay. Up to now the high waste of raw material occurring during the production of corners had been a major problem. Because these could only be produced as part of a solid brick generating 85 percent of waste.
Thin brick corners are required to cover building corners and window lintels professionally. They cannot be distinguished form conventional brickwork. Therefore, in 2001, the plant manager Karl-Heinz Thele, in cooperation with the company Novoceric, developed a process for producing corners without supporting brick subsidised as a DBU (German federal environmental foundation) project. An elaborate extrusion press specially designed for corners now allows them to be produced in the extrusion process as well. As a result, the consumption of energy and material was reduced significantly.
The same amount of clay can now be used to produce almost six times the number of corners. This results in saving approximately 500,000 cubic metres of natural gas, 40,000 litres of diesel oil, 8,000 tons of clay and 2,500 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
At present, Feldhaus is the market leader in the field of thin bricks, also due to the numerous technical innovations developed here.
In combination with the construction of a new computer-controlled processing plant, computer-controlled recipe management and moisture control, the development and patenting of corner production and the installation of robots for corner production, important milestones were set for a modern future. Even German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel had informed herself about Feldhaus products during her time as Federal Minister for the Environment.
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The era of the fourth and fifth generation Bernhard Joseph (*1938) and Nicola Feldhaus (*1973)
2010
For strategic reasons, the entire production of all bricks was centralized and the Werther plant was closed down. To this end, the entire kiln control system in the brick factory was modernised.
Production techniques were further developed and refined. So it was obvious that the infrastructure on the company premises was constantly changing. By purchasing the connecting road Laerer Straße to Remseder Straße from the municipality the premises continued to grow. A space extension for all brick products was built in 2014 and a new attractive factory entrance with calibrated truck scales was also required. This was followed by the relocation of the rainwater retention basin and deep well drilling for a new operational water supply. The first earth and demolition work already hinted at the creation of the Visitor Centre.
By developing the Feldhaus configurator for planning projects digitally the digital age is also dawning in the sales department.
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A new era of customer service begins
2015
The year 2015 marks the beginning of an entirely new era of customer service: the new Visitor Centre opened its doors to architects, planners, building material dealers, building contractors and private builders for detailed customer advice.
The building covering a total of about 1,400 square metres and the outdoor facilities invite visitors to attend trade events and industry conferences. Feldhaus Klinker increasingly participates in trade fairs. In 2015 the company presents itself at the world’s leading trade fair “BAU” in Munich for the first time. For a sustainable energy supply, a new combined heat and power plant is built in cooperation with the local energy supplier.
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Energy transition at Feldhaus
Today
Founded in 1857, the family business is now successfully managed by Bernhard Joseph Feldhaus and Nicola Feldhaus in the fourth and fifth generation. The addition of long-standing employees Ralf Conrad and Jörg Breier to the management team in 2023 is the result of recent developments in market policy. Diverse expertise and in-depth knowledge of the industry ensure the long-term survival of the family business in the face of volatile market developments. Far-sighted decisions and proximity to the market have led to success and at the same time set the course for the future. More than 115 million clinker bricks, brick slips and pavers now leave the company's kilns every year. And Feldhaus is the global market leader in clinker brick slips with its wide range of products. A wide range of colors, textures and formats are produced and offer individual design options for private homes, commercial buildings and public construction projects.
In addition to the German market and sales bases in Europe and overseas, Feldhaus supplies many emerging markets worldwide with around 150 employees. There are currently more than 40 countries. Even the coronavirus-related export restrictions have not been able to slow down growth. The foreign share of sales is around 50 percent. The Feldhaus brand is not only a guarantee for quality products in Germany. Clinker products "Made in Bad Laer" are successfully processed from the Baltic States to Asia and America.
The changing energy policy framework conditions are an opportunity for Feldhaus Klinker to actively shape the future of the construction industry. With the installation of a 9 MW/p solar plant, the course has been set for CO2-reduced clinker brick production since 2022 with the aim of achieving climate neutrality in the firing process by 2025. Self-produced "green" hydrogen is the key to this project, which is being vigorously invested in.
Facts, figures and data
- Company premises 17.1 ha, of which 8 ha are covered production and storage areas
- Roofed area completely covered with PV modules
- One location, three ovens
- More than 115 million brick slips, facing bricks and pavers per year
- Production of approx. 360 tons of fired material per day
- 6 press lines
- 9 product lines, 2,500 different articles
- around 150 employees
- Exports to over 40 countries worldwide
Our employees and you, our customers, have contributed significantly to our success. New requirements motivate us to innovate and we have been combining expertise and tradition for decades.
We are successful when you are. You too can rely on our more than 165 years of experience!
Your Feldhaus Team
Impressions
FELDHAUS
Over 165 years of success story.
Feldhaus is an international clinker plant from Germany and employs around 150 people at its Bad Laer site in Germany. We accompany architects, planners, builders and investors worldwide in construction projects of all sizes.
Our teams from the fields of architecture, construction and engineering, provide you with exactly the professional services and consulting offers you need for your building project with clinker bricks. We would be pleased to inform you personally about our product and service offers. Our specialists will advise you competently and will be happy to answer any questions you may have about our solutions.
Experience technological leadership - for over 160 years. Look forward to a partnership with Germany's oldest owner-managed clinker plant.
