Our history

Hilgenberg GmbH – How it all began

The company headquarters of Hilgenberg GmbH is currently located in Malsfeld, at the heart of Germany, and close to the city of Kassel. Founded in 1913 by Constantin Kühn, it was originally situated in Stützerbach in the Thuringian Forest, a place famous for its rich tradition of producing glass. The glass instrument factory he established now develops and manufactures high-precision glass products in micrometer dimensions. In 1933, son-in-law Karl Hilgenberg came on board and took over the company in 1936 following the death of the company founder. After the war in 1948, Hilgenberg started “Karl Hilgenberg Glaswarenfabrik und Großhandel” (Karl Hilgenberg Glassware Factory and Wholesale Trade) in Bebra, which then relocated to the current location of Malsfeld in 1955.

Today, four generations later, our company is still in family hands. It is also now an innovative and valuable development partner, supplier, and service provider for more than 3,000 customers worldwide. Striving to continually grow and evolve, the acquisition and integration of Löwinger GmbH in 2014, a traditional German glass manufacturer and special-purpose machine manufacturer, has seen our technical expertise and production capacities expand even further.

The acquisition of our new production facilities in the Bavarian municipality of Niederlauer in 2020 marked another milestone in the history of our company. In the future, this will be home to the production currently carried out in Münnerstadt, where our quality products will be made under more modern and more energy efficient conditions.

Our milestones