150 years a family business with an inventive spirit

heroal celebrates a company anniversary

What began in 1874 as a small craft company has developed into one of the international market leaders in aluminum system solutions for the building envelope and interior space. Now the heroal - Johann Henkenjohann GmbH & Co. KG is celebrating its 150-year company anniversary. The R+T trade fair in 2024 in Stuttgart marks the beginning of the anniversary year.

2024 is a very special year for the family business heroal in Verl, as it is celebrating its 150th anniversary. Therefore, there are many festivities this year. The R+T in 2024 in Stuttgart marks the beginning. In addition, customer events at different locations and times and an anniversary party in the summer for all heroal employees are planned. The anniversary year ends with a final party at the BAU in Munich in January 2025.

With an inventor's party on the way to success

heroal was founded in 1874 as a small artisan company that produced clogs and later wooden furniture legs. An important milestone for the company's current orientation was the year 1969, when Johann Henkenjohann, the grandson of the company's founder, invented the roll-formed and full-foamed aluminum roller shutter slat - a groundbreaking innovation that became a new industry standard. That is also where the company name heroal is derived from (Henkenjohann roll-formed aluminum). The then managing director of heroal, Dr. Vera Schöne, a member of heroal's advisory board, likes to think back to her father's special inventive spirit: "My father was a real inventor. He always had new ideas in his head and was constantly developing. If he had a new idea, it had to be put on paper immediately. In an emergency, the edge of a newspaper sufficed.

Over the decades, the product range has been continuously expanded: In the early 1970s, window and door systems were integrated into the range, curtain wall systems were added during the 1990s, and since 2015 heroal has also been on the market as a supplier of sun protection systems. Groundbreaking innovations have always been at the heart of the new and further development of heroal's comprehensive product and service range.

Today, the company, which is now run by the fifth generation of the family, Dr. Max Schöne and the operational directors Jürgen Peitz and Dr. Ramon Knollmann, is among the international market leaders in the field of aluminum system solutions. heroal has about 900 employees and is involved in the construction of sustainable and high-quality residential and industrial buildings worldwide. The systems for roller shutters, awnings, roller doors, windows, sliding doors, curtain walls and canopies are developed at the German company locations Verl and nearby Hövelhof. They are distributed through the logistics center in Hövelhof in Europe, North America and Australia.

Successful together

That heroal can look back on such a successful 150-year company history is also largely due to the cooperation with a host of heroal's partners around the world. "A long-term partnership and the further development of our product and service range in constant exchange with our partners is part of heroal's corporate philosophy and is the basis for joint further development. This allows us to respond to the wishes of our customers and market requirements and to make a contribution with our system solutions to making buildings of today and the future more sustainable, safe and comfortable, while at the same time meeting the highest demands for design and architectural freedom," explains Dr. Max Schöne. This claim is emphasized by the company slogan "simply better spaces for life".

For 2024, heroal is placing great emphasis on the further development of its product and service portfolio. Various innovations will be presented at the R+T in Stutgart at the beginning of the year. These include new configuration and ordering options to make work processes more time-saving, efficient and paperless. New products such as an innovative combination box system, solutions with an integrated solar motor and new corner end strips and impact-resistant guide rails expand and make the range of roller shutter systems more flexible. In shading systems, new developments such as the heroal VS Z CS system, which can be seamlessly integrated into doorframe crossbar curtain walls, take center stage. The topic of surfaces and versatile designs also takes center stage as one of heroal's core competencies in 2024. For example, the possibilities for the design of roller doors will be expanded with the coating technology heroal SD for high-impact optics in wood, rust or concrete. New solutions for smart building automation complete heroal's offering and make another contribution to improving energy efficiency, comfort and safety in the construction of residential and industrial buildings.