Today’s Koellmann Gear Division of the Thielenhaus Group dates back to the Köllmann GmbH gear factory, which was founded in Leipzig in 1904. Originally producing precision gear wheels and specialising in bevel gears, in 1907, Köllmann became the first special factory to produce rear axles and change speed gears for the automotive industry. Köllmann also produced the gear cutting tools required for this work. In addition to the production of gears and tools in Leipzig, long milling machines were built in Langenberg. The company then moved its headquarters there after the end of the Second World War, before moving to Düsseldorf-Heerdt in 1951.
In 1955, the company was acquired by the Ernst Thielenhaus machine works and traded under the name Zahnradwerk Köllmann GmbH. In 1964, Thielenhaus combined the compressor and mechanical engineering divisions, as well as gear production, in a large new factory in Wuppertal. In October 2002, Zahnradwerk Köllmann GmbH was integrated into Thielenhaus Technologies GmbH as the business units Koellmann Gear and Koellmann Airtec as part of a reorganisation of the Thielenhaus Group. The subsidiary, Koellmann Gear Corporation, has been operating successfully in Waldwick (New Jersey/USA) since 1974. With its own development, assembly and customer service team, it offers the complete range of products and the entire range of services on the North American market.
Since the Chinese production facility Thielenhaus Machinery Shanghai was founded at the end of 2007, quality products from Koellmann have also been offered in Asia. With this strategically important step, Koellmann has secured its entry into the local markets.