Filtration solutions for a cleaner tomorrow Mann Hummel

FILTRATION SOLUTIONS

FOR A CLEANER TOMORROW

It all started with their first products, fabric air filters, made in Ludwigsburg. Today, roughly eight decades later, Mann Hummel is one of the global market leaders for filtration. Driven by sustainability, digitisation, and the development of mobility, the company provides innovative solutions to improve the everyday life of people on the planet.

The group develops solutions for vehicles, industrial applications, clean air in interior spaces and the sustainable use of water. The core competence of the company is the filtration of pollutants and micro-particulates of all kinds from air, water, oil and fuels.

The family-owned company was established in 1941 but didn’t push for global expansion until 1991. The goals of this internationalisation were not only to reduce production and logistics costs but also to get closer to customers. With the group strategy “Leadership in Filtration”, initiated in 2009, the key elements emerged: quality and innovation leadership, global customer-oriented service and continued growth by acquiring filtration companies.

Although automotive is the company’s key sector, its products and solutions are used in a variety of applications every day, all across the globe, including compressors, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, water purification and wastewater treatment systems.

Virus-free air

There will always be a need for filtration. Filtration technology is an important component in respecting basic human rights, via access to cleaner air, cleaner water and a healthy environment. This need has been further accentuated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Using its 60 years of cleanroom and operating theatre filtration know-how, as well as its significant in-house simulation and testing expertise, Mann Hummel now offers state-of-the-art mobile and stationary air purification systems in different designs and configurations.

For buildings with existing heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, the company has developed a new H13 and H14 ePTFE membrane HEPA filter element, the Nanoclass Pro Membrane, which allows the easy upgrade of HVAC systems to the HEPA level.

These air purifiers with built-in HEPA H14 capture more than 99.995% of viruses and their mutations, bacteria and other microorganisms, so aerosol levels stay constantly low indoors and the risk of infections can be reduced.

Battling the virus on another front, one of Mann Hummel’s successful internal start-ups, PURAR, has brought mask-wearing to a new level. Re-usable, designed and engineered in Germany, the facemask’s washable outer shell closes off smoothly on the face, and its replaceable filter elements help the wearer stay safe and comfortable.

Consolidating production capacity

The company, now approaching its 80th anniversary, is in sound consolidated shape, following the pandemic-driven year of 2020. In November last year, the group proposed closing its main manufacturing facility at Hilton Cross Business Park in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, as it reviewed its operational footprint.

With the closing of this Wolverhampton production facility, all manufacturing will be relocated within the European Mann Hummel network. The manufacturing operations are expected to be fully closed by the end of 2022, although the company will remain active with all its business offerings and services in the United Kingdom.

“Over the past months, several opportunities have been presented and evaluated to improve the plant’s competitiveness”, said Marco Heck, senior vice president of operations at Europe Automotive Systems. “Unfortunately, we concluded that savings or other

measures could not offset the dramatic decline in volume. We know that the decision to close the plant will be more than difficult for our employees, and we are committed to working in close cooperation with our negotiation partners”.

Future viability

The decision to close the Wolverhampton plant resulted from a difficult market environment, declining manufacturing volume, and the entire automotive industry undergoing a structural transition throughout Europe. Mann Hummel claims it will focus even more on filtration products and continues to intensify its activities in the Life Sciences & Environment business unit.

“We see our core competence of filtration as a key technology that can make a lasting and decisive contribution to cleaner mobility, cleaner water and cleaner air. The primary goal here is to secure the company’s future viability while at the same time expanding our market leadership in air filtration,” said Thomas Fischer, Chairman of the Supervisory Board for the group.

Reflecting on the company anniversary, he added: “We owe our continued success mainly to our reliability, continuity and identification as a family-owned company. As Chairman of the Supervisory Board and grandson of one of the founders, Adolf Mann, I am very proud to be able to continue the legacy started in 1941, along with dedicated employees”. n