Dear readers,

75 years of MANN+HUMMEL — a period during which much has changed and in which time this company has gone from developing and producing simple paper filters to high-tech cleaning components.

MANN+HUMMEL filters are now a feature of practically every car on the road. When Adolf Mann and Dr. Erich Hummel established what was then called the Filterwerk in Ludwigsburg on January 6, 1941, some 200 employees worked on assembling a few different types of filter for vehicle and airplane engines. Initially these included centrifugal oil/air separators, felt cone filters, housing filters and micro oil filters. These were followed by oil and fuel filters without housing as well as air filters made from paper: simple, but effective. Cellulose media replaced paper and were in turn replaced by mixed fibers such as cellulose with fleece and pure fleece materials.

But it did not end there: over the years, sheet metal was replaced by plastic as the housing material of choice. The filter specialist used polyurethane to mold air filter housings. The plastic core technology made it possible to produce complex intake manifold systems. It was also possible to change the molds and thus increase the flexibility, which given the ever decreasing installation space under the hood was critically important. Simple round air filters on the engine thus developed into complex square air filters. The combination of air filters with thermostat-controlled and pneumatic systems to regulate the intake air temperature bound MANN+HUMMEL even more strongly to the engine system. A responsibility, which the supplier was delighted to take on.

In the past year, the world market leader produced 72.6 million spin-on filters, some 29.2 million air filters and 23.8 million cabin filters in the Marklkofen plant alone. Overall production there reached 173.9 million units — globally the figure was three quarters of a billion filters. Today, some 20,000 employees at more than 60 locations around the world develop and produce far in excess of 120,000 different products; some of those are produced in the largest filter plant in the world. MANN+HUMMEL is highly valued as a globally active development partner and original equipment supplier to the international automotive and mechanical engineering industries. Filters are important components: they are after all responsible for, among other things, performance and consumption as well as for the minimization of pollutant emissions and noise.

The anniversary year also boasts two other milestones that will define the future of the company: the opening of the new technology center in Ludwigsburg and the conclusion of the takeover of the Affinia Group, the largest takeover in the company’s history. We wish you all the best and good luck for this future.

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