The beginnings in Alfeld and Delligsen
Chemex GmbH was founded in 1974 following the strategic takeover of a feeder manufacturer from Alfeld, which had previously supplied the “Friedrich-Carl-Hütte” in Delligsen. With a rich mining tradition, ironstone had been smelted in the “Carlshütte” since 1728. Since its official foundation as a subsidiary of Hüttenes-Albertus Chemische Werke GmbH, Chemex has had its headquarters in Delligsen and concentrated exclusively on the manufacture of chemical-metallurgical products and exothermic insulating feeders between the 1970s and 1980s. Due to increasing demand, further production facilities were opened in Düsseldorf and Albringhausen in the 1990s.
The 1990s
In the beginning, Chemex had two other sites in addition to its plant in Delligsen: Düsseldorf and Albringhausen.
In 1994, H.A. Kovochem was founded in Mnisek, Czech Republic. The company initially operated as a subsidiary of HA. The company added slurry feeders to the HA Group portfolio, which are produced exclusively in Mnisek.
In 1996, H.A. Kovochem became part of Chemex GmbH as a wholly owned subsidiary, which meant that the HA Group’s entire feeder portfolio was now distributed by Chemex.
The 2000s: New potential
In the year 2004, there was a comprehensive changeover from water glass feeders to Cold-box feeders, which impressed with their high dimensional accuracy and long shelf life.
Equally important was the development and patenting of the Tele-Feeder, through which Chemex revolutionized feeding technology in the casting process. The innovative telescopic technology, in which the lower part retracts into the upper part during the molding process, is the main advantage of the new system.
From Germany into world
Despite a fire in 2008, Chemex was able to stay on course and break its own production record for Cold-box feeder just one year later. With this tailwind, the success story continued internationally: since the early 2000s, the HA subsidiaries in China and Turkey have also been supplying various customers with Chemex food. Due to increasing demand, the company also opened its own production facility in Eskişehir (Turkey) and Toledo (USA) in 2016.
The journey continues
Since 2021, the expansion of the Delligsen feeder site has been driven forward: The project for the in-house production of core hull particles (KHP's) will be relocated to Delligsen, where the process will be further developed from the research stage to series production.
In 2022/23, a modern new building will be built for the administration. At the same time, additional storage space is to be created for production, meaning that some of the existing storage space will be converted and used for new projects such as the production of KHPs. In this way, the Delligsen site will continue to develop into the most modern food production center in the world.
Here's to the next 50!
With anticipation and motivation, we are looking towards a bright future and pursuing the goal of opening up further emerging sales markets and advancing food technology. The topic of sustainability has also become part of our research and future projects.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers, partners and employees for their great cooperation and commitment over the past fifty years. Each of you has made a valuable contribution to making Chemex what it is today.