HARTER drying solutions

What HARTER drying solutions does

HARTER drying solutions (HARTER GmbH) is a German industrial equipment manufacturer founded in 1991 and headquartered in Stiefenhofen, Allgäu, Germany. The company designs, develops, manufactures, and services heat pump-based industrial drying systems built around its proprietary Airgenex® closed-loop dehumidification technology and Drymex® heat pump modules. With approximately 100 employees and an installed base of roughly 2,000 drying systems across more than 20 countries, HARTER serves enterprise customers in galvanizing/surface treatment, sewage sludge processing, pharmaceutical and medical technology, food and pet food, packaging, and general industrial manufacturing. Named customers include BMW, Zeiss, Sartorius, B. Braun, Thyssenkrupp, Hansgrohe, MTU Aero Engines, Rohde & Schwarz, Montblanc, Voestalpine, ZF Friedrichshafen, Liebherr, and Goodmills, alongside long-tenured accounts such as ICL Ladenburg (20+ years) and Verzinkerei Kriessern AG (decades).

The core technology platform operates process air in a closed circuit at temperatures between 20°C and 75°C, achieving up to 70–75% energy savings and up to 75% CO2 emissions reduction compared with conventional hot air drying. The product portfolio spans modular belt dryers (B-Line), compact container dryers (M-Line), custom batch chamber dryers (S-Line), and dedicated formats including rack, cabinet, basket, drum, tray, and continuous flow dryers, plus compressed-air-free blowing systems and retrofit services for legacy installations. Development is supported by an in-house Technikum laboratory that enables customer-specific process validation prior to delivery.

HARTER operates a direct enterprise field-sales model with personalized technical consultation, supplemented by an international partner network for sales and service in 20+ countries. Revenue is generated primarily through quote-based capital equipment sales with associated installation and commissioning, complemented by tiered after-sales service packages (Performance, Custom, Expert, Lifetime). The company is privately held, with no disclosed institutional ownership, no parent company, and only a single small public grant (EISMEA, ~€75k in October 2018) recorded as external financing. The business is led by founder/managing director Reinhold Specht alongside co-managing director Regina Mader and holds DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 certification.

Name

HARTER drying solutions

Legal name

HARTER GmbH

Website

https://harter-gmbh.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

HARTER drying solutions is a German industrial manufacturer of proprietary heat pump drying systems (Airgenex®, Drymex®), serving enterprise customers in galvanizing, pharma, food, and sewage sludge across 20+ countries with ~100 employees and 2,000 installed systems.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Drying Equipment

NAICS

Ventilation, Heating, Air-Conditioning, and Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing (3334)

SIC

Air-Cond & Warm Air Heatg Equip & Comm & Indl Refrig Equip (3585)

akta.pro primary industry

Industrial Drying & Evaporation Equipment (Dryers, Evaporators, Crystallizers) (IMAHAEAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Heat Transfer Equipment (Heat Exchangers, Boilers, Condensers) (IMAHAEAC)

Keywords

• Industrial drying equipment
• Heat pump drying systems
• Sludge drying technology
• Surface treatment drying
• Pharmaceutical drying solutions

Headquarters

HQ city

Stiefenhofen

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Industrial Drying Equipment Manufacturing and Sales: Design, development, manufacture, and sale of industrial heat pump drying systems. Products include belt dryers, chamber dryers, cabinet dryers, drum dryers, container dryers, continuous dryers, and custom solutions. Revenue is generated through capital equipment sales with associated installation and commissioning services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

HARTER designs, develops, manufactures and sells industrial heat pump-based drying systems built around its proprietary Airgenex® dehumidification and Drymex® heat pump modules. Products include belt dryers, chamber dryers, cabinet dryers, drum dryers, continuous dryers and custom-engineered solutions operating in closed air circuits with no exhaust air, delivering up to 70–75% energy savings. The portfolio is complemented by an in-house Technikum testing laboratory, retrofit services for existing installations, and tiered after-sales service packages.

Product overview

HARTER drying solutions is a German industrial manufacturer offering a comprehensive portfolio of heat pump-based drying systems. The core technology uses proprietary Airgenex dehumidification and Drymex heat pump modules operating in closed air circuits, delivering up to 70-75% energy savings and temperature ranges of 20-75°C. The product range spans multiple dryer types: B-Line modular belt dryers for continuous sludge processing with capacities up to 2,540 kg water/24h; M-Line compact container solutions for smaller batches; S-Line custom batch dryers; and specialized dryers including chamber, cabinet, rack, basket, drum, and continuous flow systems. Supporting products include abluftfreie blowing systems for part drying and retrofit services for existing installations. The portfolio is complemented by an in-house Technikum testing facility and comprehensive after-sales services (Performance, Custom, Expert, and Lifetime Service). The company serves diverse industries including galvanizing, pharmaceuticals, food processing, sewage sludge, and industrial manufacturing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Drymex®: Heat pump module technology for sludge drying, part of the B-Line band dryer system for continuous sludge processing.
• Airgenex®

Products and services

• Drymex B-Line Belt Dryer Modular continuous belt dryer using HARTER's Drymex heat pump modules for industrial and municipal sludge drying, with up to 10 linked modules giving 20m total drying length and water-removal capacities from 630 to 2,540 kg/24h.
• S-Line Sludge Dryer Custom batch dryer line for sludge applications following chamber filter press dewatering, delivering up to 70% energy savings using HARTER heat pump technology.
• Drymex M-Line Container Dryer Compact containerized heat pump drying unit for smaller sludge quantities up to 1.5 tonnes per day, enabling flexible deployment.
• Rack Dryer (Gestelltrockner) Drying system for parts placed on racks, designed for galvanizing and surface treatment applications with controlled temperature and humidity.
• Cabinet Dryer (Schranktrockner) Cabinet-style batch dryer using heat pump technology for uniform drying results across small to mid-sized part batches.
• Basket Dryer (Korbtrockner) Dryer for parts loaded in baskets, using dehumidified air circulation to deliver spot-free drying of small components.
• Drum Dryer (Trommeltrockner) Drum dryer for bulk goods and free-flowing materials, providing continuous drying via heat pump technology.
• Chamber Dryer (Kammertrockner) Chamber dryer for batch processing of larger volumes, featuring hygienic design suitable for pharmaceutical and medical technology applications.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 75% energy cost savings compared to conventional drying methods
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers17 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• International Partner NetworkcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorHARTER maintains a network of international partners extending sales and service capabilities to customers in over 20 countries. Partners provide local support, sales consultation, and service capabilities for HARTER drying systems in their respective markets.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Bühler Group: Swiss global industrial equipment manufacturer serving food, feed, and advanced materials. Bühler offers belt dryers, fluid bed dryers, and continuous drying systems used by similar grain/milling (Goodmills) and food customers, making it a broad incumbent competitor in industrial drying for HARTER's segments.
• GEA Group: German global industrial equipment giant with a dedicated separation/drying portfolio covering spray dryers, fluid bed dryers, and sludge drying for pharma, food, dairy, and wastewater. GEA is the closest large-scale European competitor to HARTER across pharmaceutical, food, and municipal sludge drying applications.
• Andritz Group: Austrian industrial equipment group with separation, drying, and sludge processing technologies (Andritz Gouda drum dryers, belt dryers, pulp dryers). Direct overlap with HARTER's industrial sludge, chemical, and surface treatment customers, and a far broader installed base and service network.
• Coperion (Hillenbrand): Global supplier of compounding, extrusion, and material handling equipment serving chemical, plastics, and food industries. Overlaps with HARTER in industrial bulk materials drying and sludge handling, particularly for chemical and surface treatment customers like BK Giulini and Voestalpine-tier industrial accounts.
• Carrier Global Corporation: US-based HVAC and refrigeration giant with industrial dehumidification and commercial HVAC product lines. The heat pump core technology platform behind Carrier's HVAC products is technologically adjacent to HARTER's Airgenex® closed-loop heat pump drying platform, making it a plausible future entrant into the industrial drying space.

Direct peers

• Hosokawa Micron Group: European specialist in drying, milling, and processing technologies for chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, and minerals. Offers batch and continuous drying systems to overlapping customer verticals, including pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers where HARTER has reference accounts (Sartorius, ICL/BK Giulini).
• Stalam S.p.A. Italian industrial drying specialist focused on radio frequency (RF) and combined drying technologies for textiles, food, ceramics, and technical textiles. While the underlying technology (RF vs. heat pump) differs, Stalam targets similarly sized enterprise customers across comparable industrial applications, making it a direct niche peer.
• Glatt Group: German specialist in fluidized bed and spouted bed drying/granulation equipment for pharmaceutical, food, and fine chemicals. Targets exactly the pharmaceutical and MedTech customer profile that HARTER serves (B. Braun, Sartorius), making it a direct specialist competitor in regulated drying markets.
• Munters Group: Swedish global specialist in dehumidification, air treatment, and moisture control for industrial and agricultural applications. Munters' desiccant dehumidification systems directly compete with HARTER's Airgenex® dehumidification platform across industrial, food, pharmaceutical, and energy applications.
• Bry-Air (Brysun Group): Global specialist manufacturer of industrial dehumidifiers and adsorption dryers serving pharmaceutical, food, chemicals, and storage industries. Targets similar customer pain points around moisture control, residual humidity precision, and energy efficiency — directly adjacent to HARTER's value proposition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about HARTER drying solutions