On 22 Feb 24, we had the opportunity to get to know the company Freudenberg SE in Weinheim. Freudenberg was a successful tannery in the middle of the 19th century. Today, the company is a global player with over 50,000 employees and a turnover of almost €12 billion (2022). Freudenberg's business areas are (1) sealing and vibration control technology (e.g. the Simmerring®), (2) technical textiles and filtration (nonwovens), (3) cleaning technologies and products (e.g. the Vileda cloth) and (4) specialities.
After an introduction to the company (company exhibition), we had the opportunity to familiarise ourselves with two plants: production of gas diffusion layers for fuel cells (nonwovens) and production and testing of seals (Simmerrings®).
The tour began at 9:00 a.m. on 22 Feb 24. For this reason, the participants of the excursion met the evening before for a joint dinner. For the first time, the seniors had also invited five young chemists from Heidelberg, Mainz and Giessen to the excursion. The chemical trade press was also represented: Nachrichten aus der Chemie (Christian Remenyi), Chemistry Views (Vera Köster), Chemie in unserer Zeit (Doris Fischer-Henningsen) and CheManager (Michael Reubold).
Weinheim, the "town of two castles" (Windeck and Wachenburg ruins) has around 45,000 inhabitants. Weinheim is located on the Bergstrasse along the Odenwald and is around 20 kilometres from Heidelberg and Mannheim; Frankfurt is around 75 kilometres north of Weinheim.
Following the excursion to Freudenberg, Eva Wille organised a guided tour of the town with historian Dr Alexander Boguslawski, focusing on the period of the Baden Revolution of 1848/49 in Weinheim.