Hansa

Technical know-how from tradition: The Hansa brand name has stood for quality, safety and reliability for 90 years. As a leading fittings manufacturer, Hansa Metallwerke AG, of Stuttgart, pioneered new trend-setting standards right from the start ― in sanitary fittings, kitchen fittings, structural fittings and hot-pressed components for high-specification industrial products. Making daily life easier for 90 years In 1911, Karl Göhring founded “Stanz and Presswerk GmbH Zuffenhausen” to manufacture hot-pressed components. Two years later, the firm moved to Stuttgart-Möhringen. In 1917, it merged with “Apparatebau Hansa GmbH”, which manufactured special fittings for the airplane, automotive and motor industries. The firm became a stock company in 1921, and has operated since then as “Hansa Metallwerke AG”. In 1926, Hansa branched out into fittings production for the refrigeration engineering industry and took out its first patents. Global expertise In the decades that followed, the sons and grandsons of the founder maintained Hansa’s tradition as a family enterprise and, at the same time, built it into a leading manufacturer. The Corporation now employs over 1,116 people worldwide and operates in over 50 countries in Europe and overseas, where it has nine subsidiary corporations and agencies. The main office is in Stuttgart, where the administration and the R & D center are located. The firm’s factories are located in Burglenfeld (Bavaria) and Nettetal (North Rhine-Westphalia), and produce sanitary fittings in series. Hansa also has manufacturing subsidiaries in Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Close ties with its customers, flexibility and, not least, its offer of training for customers, are the reasons the Corporation has been the partner of choice for the sanitary fittings wholesale trade and plumbers. Hansa has been producing sanitary fittings since 1950. Some of the more important innovations we introduced are touched on briefly here. 1962 saw the introduction of Europe’s single lever mixer, which did away with the complicated business of regulating hot and cold water with two-handle mixer. Continuing with its pioneering development, Hansa scored another success, when it granted its first refrigeration engineering license ― for its Triplex drier ― to an English firm. In 1971 Hansa took the market completely by surprise, when introducing the Hansamat, a totally new type of thermostat with a patented wax-ring element. The first Hansa compact high-performance fuel cooler went into production in 1978. The Hansamix single lever mixer, incorporating the first standard control cartridge with ceramic disks, made its debut only a year later. 1997 was the year of the Hansaeco, the standard control cartridge with an integrated water brake built into every Hansa single lever mixer to help save water. In 2000, a new range of designer mixers ― the Hansadesigno ― appeared. This year, innovative thermostat and shower products are being introduced. Conclusive environmental concept A general environmental protection concept in accordance with the latest knowledge covers everything from product development to packaging to waste disposal. It goes without saying that Hansa sanitary fittings are especially economical with that expensive commodity. Success due to employees But the reasons for our success do not lie in technology alone. Our employees are our capital. We train many young people every year out of social responsibility, which also gives us the opportunity to develop a qualified younger generation from within our own ranks to meet the demands of increasingly globalized markets.