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About us

Hermann Schwelling shapes a company A pioneering spirit means having ideas, making decisions with conviction and being willing to take risks. If a company has been a successful market player for decades, is established around the world and continually grows, one could say the quest to be a pioneer has been fulfilled. Hermann Schwelling is a pioneer.

He founded the company Hermann Schwelling Maschinenbau, or HSM, more than 45 years ago. The founder started his company with the idea of reducing the volume of materials required. This is why he developed baler presses to return paper, cardboard, film, PET and many others into the recycling system in the form of bales of material. These bales can reduce material quantities by up to 95%. The first baler press created in 1972 with a 6-tonne pressing force developed into a comprehensive range of balers with up to 150 tonnes in pressing force and state-of-the art technology. At the same time, HSM was also developing shredders for use on paper and data storage media, such as CDs, credit cards and hard drives thereby covering the entire spectrum of shredders and presses.


Thanks to the true dedication of the firm’s staff, HSM has been a market-leader in products and services for environmental technology and office equipment. A workforce of almost 800 employees and more than 100 service and sales support points around the entire world are integrated in the HSM network, which serves thousands of customers across the globe.

HSM is an independent, family-run company with its founder, Hermann Schwelling as main shareholder. All company shares are kept within the founding family, which enables the company to quickly make decisions and pursue its long-term goals.

The shareholders are: Hermann Schwelling, Christina Schwelling, Harald Schwelling and Sylvia Rimmele.

Data& & Facts

Managing director: Hermann Schwelling

Approx. 800 employees Approx. 12 % trainees

3 production sites in Germany 5 subsidiaries worldwide

More than 70 HSM service technicians around the world performing on-site duties and approx. 30 office-based service technicians

Co-operation and contractual partners in over 100 countries

Certifications: DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 DIN EN ISO 14001:2015 (environmental management)/AEO

Processing of raw materials: approx. 9,000 tonnes of steel approx. 500 tonnes of plastic granules

Associations and memberships: BVSE / VBS / VSMR / BSB / PBS-Markenindustrie

Production sites

HSM stands true to its “Made in Germany” claim at its German production site and aims to combine precision, durability and a good price-performance ratio for the benefit of users. HSM produces office and environmental technology at three sites in Germany.

Salem
There is around 50,000 m² of space available in Salem, of which approximately 20,000 m² is covered. This plant features a range of departments: Development of balers, project planning, electrical environmental technology, logistics, material planning, work preparation, crusher production, installation of large presses and three-phase current paper shredders, as well as production of plastics. The Salem plant is equipped with modern machinery comprising CNC laser-cutting equipment, CNC rotary and milling machines, CNC hardening plants, CNC welding robots, injection moulding machines, and surface-coating machinery. Using its photovoltaic plants, HSM generates their own CO2-neutral power to help protect the environment.
Frickingen
The Frickingen plant – only 10 km away from Salem – features space of approx. 25,000 m², including around 12,500 m² of factory and office buildings. This is where the final assembly of the “Made in Germany” document shredders is performed. This results in short distances for the delivery of components from the Salem plant and thus contributes to HSM’s ecological commitments. It is also home to the development of office technology, electrical office technology, central management, procurement, sales, marketing, HSM Academy and customer service.
Reichenbach
Reichenbach is located close to Dresden and is the centre of expertise for the production of vertical baling presses. Our floorspace of approx. 50,000 m² – including 10,000 m² of factory and office space – is used to produce small horizontal baler presses and vertical baler presses for customers around the world using CNC welding robots and CNC laser-cutting equipment.