Since Maschinenfabrik Herkules was founded in 1911, the headquarters and head office of the Group, which today has more than 1,000 employees worldwide, have been located in Siegen Kaan-Marienborn (North Rhine-Westphalia). The global players WaldrichSiegen, Herkules and HerkulesGroup Services are at home here.
But the Group has even more to offer: our own gearbox manufacturer RSGetriebe in Sonthofen, a subsidiary of Maschinenfabrik Herkules in Meuselwitz and one in the USA as well as numerous international service locations in India (DMI), China (GMT/WRI) and North America (KPM) round off the portfolio - not forgetting our modernization specialist in Austria, SBA.
1911
May 11: Franz Thoma founds Maschinenfabrik Herkules together with Alfred Schütte.
1945
February 28: Hans Thoma takes over his father's inheritance and becomes Managing Director.
1960
The 1st HWD lathe 850 is being built.
1840
WaldrichSiegen is founded by Heinrich Adolf Waldrich.
1918
Oskar Waldrich takes over sole management of the company from his father Heinrich Adolf Waldrich the Younger. He resumes the production of roller lathes, drilling machines, planing machines and roll neck milling machines. In 1920, he expands his product line to include roll grinding machines.
1951
The first small milling machines are built
1949
Riedel AG begins construction of the Imme R 100.
1958
After production of the Imme was discontinued, the company, now trading as “Philipps Getriebebau”, under the management of Fritz Philipps and later Karl-Heinz Philipps, mainly supplied customers from the machine tool industry.
1995
Roland Schwarz continues to run the gear manufacturing company under the name “Antriebstechnik Roland Schwarz”.
1975
The world's largest roller turning machine, the HDK 1500, is built for the Gontermann-Peipers roller foundry..
1983
The WS 1100, the world's largest CNC-controlled roll grinding machine until 2010, is delivered to Gontermann-Peipers.
1978
December 16: Christoph Thoma is appointed Managing Director at the shareholders' meeting.
1971
After a successful joint venture in 1951, Ingersoll Maschinen und Werkzeuge GmbH takes over WaldrichSiegen and renames it WaldrichSiegen Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH.
1979 to 1981
The production site is relocated from Siegen to Burbach.
2004
On January 26, 2004, Christoph Thoma, CEO & Chairman of Maschinenfabrik Herkules in Siegen, purchases WaldrichSiegen at auction.
2002
Gerhard Beer manages the company now known as “RS Antriebstechnik GmbH” and relocates the company headquarters from Immenstadt to a new, modern production and administration building in Sonthofen in 2007.
2012
RSGetriebe becomes part of the owner-managed HerkulesGroup. The company is expanded into a competence center for transmission systems and drive components and now operates under the name RSGetriebe.
Today
Today, RSGetriebe develops and produces customized drive systems. From machine tools to the chemical industry and extrusion through to highly complex test bench systems, RSGetriebe offers a cross-industry range of services.
2011
100th anniversary of the company.
2014
The Austrian company SBA mechatronics, which specializes in modernization, becomes part of the HerkulesGroup.
2020
A new hall for the production of Union boring mills is completed at the Meuselwitz production site.
Maximilian Thoma takes over the management of the company in December and is now the 4th generation to lead the HerkulesGroup companies.
2010
The development of the new ProfiMill portal milling machine is being driven forward.
2013
The ProfiTurn V vertical turning machine is presented.
2019
In fall 2019, construction of a new production hall for WaldrichSiegen XXL large machine tools will begin in Siegen.
2021
In spring 2021, construction of the new production hall will be completed, administration will be relocated to Siegen and production will start at the new plant: WaldrichSiegen is returning to Siegen after 40 years at the Burbach site. Shorter communication channels, improved logistics and the centralization of parts production will ensure numerous optimizations and synergies to generate further growth in the group of companies.
