The story
In 1896, a metal shop for roof flashing was founded in Bad Cannstatt by Paul Dürr. In 1917, the company expanded to sheet metal processing. In 1932, Paul Dürr handed the running of the company over to his son, Otto Dürr, who established a construction office.
With the rise of the National Socialists in 1936, the economic policy of the National Socialists focuses on self-reliance and rearmament. This initially leads to a perceptible upswing for German industry. It is not long before Dürr’s order books also look healthy again. While a modern production site is established in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, a workshop for apprentices is set up in Cannstatt, since the company is training more and more new recruits. It was also during this period that Dürr first hired engineers and began performing internal design work. With the invasion of Poland by the German army triggering the Second World War on September 1, 1939. Dürr became part of the Nazi arms industry and delivers, among other things, sheet metal parts for military vehicles. During the war, the company also uses forced laborers. Company History
Plant construction began in 1950 with the first system for chemical surface treatment. In 1963, Dürr installed the first equipment for electrophoretic dip-painting in the Ford factory in Genk, Belgium. In 1964 and 1966, subsidiaries were founded in Brazil and Mexico.
In 1978, Dürr expanded into the fields of automation and conveyor systems. Dürr launches its IPO and takes over the Behr-Group. So that all core capabilities for paint shop construction are now combined within one company. Dürr took over the French competitor Alstom Automation in 1999. The measuring systems group Carl Schenck AG also became part of the Dürr Group in 2000. In 2003, Dürr acquired the largest order in the company's history: General Motors ordered three paint shops in North America. In the summer of 2009, Dürr relocated its headquarter to the Bietigheim-Bissingen location.
In 2011 Dürr is expanding activities in the energy efficiency business area. In addition to exhaust air purification systems, that includes processes for utilizing energy recovered from industrial waste heat.
After 23 years at the top of the supervisory board of Dürr AG, Heinz Dürr retired from office in April 2013. Klaus Eberhardt was elected as his successor by the supervisory board, having been a member of the control body since 2012.
2014 Dürr acquired the majority of HOMAG Group AG, the world market leader for woodworking machines.
Dürr is represented in 32 countries at 124 business locations.
From Wikipedia’s article on Dürr Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5