What Erhardt+Leimer does

Erhardt+Leimer (E+L) is a privately held German industrial automation company founded in 1919 in Augsburg and headquartered in Stadtbergen, Germany. The company designs and manufactures automation, inspection, and quality-control systems for continuous production processes on moving webs — including web guiding, web tension control, web cleaning, surface and print inspection, drive technology, and process automation. Its product families span EL.MOTION BLDC drives, SMARTSCAN print inspection, ELSCAN web monitoring, ELSIS surface inspection, ELSEAMTEX optical AI sensors, ELWARP AI-controlled warp threading, ELTIM basis-weight measurement, and EL-TRISCAN profile measurement, supported by the EL-NET cloud platform, E+L Configurator, and MY E+L customer portal.

E+L serves over 20,000 customers across diverse manufacturing verticals — textile and carpet, tire and rubber, corrugated board, paper, plastics, hygiene, batteries, and graphics/converting — through a direct enterprise field-sales model executed via 17+ wholly owned subsidiaries across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, plus an E+L Shop e-commerce channel. The company employs 1,600+ staff representing roughly 100 nationalities, operates with 220+ international sales and service employees, and manufactures more than 100,000 components annually. The business is privately owned with no external PE or VC ownership, holds ISO 9001 and EcoVadis certifications, and is led by CEO Dr. Michael Proeller.

The commercial model is built on quote-based, project-specific equipment sales into OEM and end-user production lines, with multi-year service relationships. Recent strategic activity — including the 2021 acquisition of Dr. Noll GmbH (laser/camera inspection), integration of the E+L Corrugated Division into the parent in 2020, expansion into battery production automation, and the 2025 relocation of the Bad Kreuznach plant into a new facility — indicates continued capital deployment into adjacent inspection technologies and growth verticals.

Name

Erhardt+Leimer

Legal name

Erhardt+Leimer GmbH

Website

https://erhardt-leimer.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1919

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Erhardt+Leimer is a privately held German industrial automation company founded in 1919 that designs web guiding, tension control, and vision-based inspection systems for continuous production on moving webs, serving over 20,000 customers across textile, tire, corrugated, paper, plastics, hygiene, and battery manufacturers globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Automation and Web Inspection Systems

NAICS

Speed Changer, Industrial High-Speed Drive, and Gear Manufacturing (333612), Instruments and Related Products Manufacturing for Measuring, Displaying, and Controlling Industrial Process Variables (334513), Material Handling Equipment Manufacturing (33392)

SIC

General Industrial Machinery & Equipment (3560), Special Industry Machinery (No Metalworking Machinery) (3550), Electrical Industrial Apparatus (3620)

akta.pro primary industry

Motion Control Components (Servos, Drives, Motors, Encoders) (IMAHAHAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Industrial Automation Software (SCADA, HMI, MES, Historian) (IMAHAHAJ), Motor Encoders, Feedback & Condition Monitoring (Encoders, Vibration, Predictive) (IMAGACAJ), Conveying, Feeding & Accumulation Systems (Packaging Lines) (IMAHAOAK)

Keywords

• Industrial automation systems
• Web guiding technology
• Print inspection systems
• Web tension control
• Surface inspection sensors

Headquarters

HQ city

Stadtbergen

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices15 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Industrial Automation Equipment Sales: Erhardt+Leimer generates revenue through the sale of industrial automation and inspection systems for moving webs. The company manufactures over 100,000 components annually and sells customized solutions to over 20,000 customers worldwide through their direct sales network and online E+L Shop platform.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Erhardt+Leimer manufactures and sells industrial automation and inspection systems for production on moving webs. The portfolio spans web guiding, web tension control, web cleaning, drive technology (EL.MOTION BLDC), surface and print inspection (SMARTSCAN, ELSCAN, ELMETA, ELSIS, ELSEAMTEX), measuring technology (ELCOUNT, ELTIM, ELMAT, EL-TRISCAN), and AI-driven process automation (ELWARP). These systems are deployed in textile, tire, corrugated board, paper, plastics, hygiene, batteries, and graphics industries.

Product overview

Erhardt+Leimer offers a comprehensive portfolio of automation and inspection technologies for production on moving webs. The product range centers on core technologies for web guiding (ELPOSER, web guiding systems, TRIMMASTER, ELFEED), web cleaning (ELCLEAN), inspection (SMARTSCAN, ELSCAN, ELMETA, ELSIS, ELSEAMTEX), and measuring (ELCOUNT, ELTIM, ELMAT, EL-TRISCAN). Drive technology is delivered through EL.MOTION BLDC systems. The AI-powered ELWARP system represents advanced process automation for textile production. These products are supported by the E+L Configurator platform for product customization and MY E+L digital platform for customer order management. The portfolio serves diverse industries including textile, tire and rubber, corrugated board, paper, plastics, hygiene, batteries, converting, and graphics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• EL.MOTION: BLDC drive units - innovative drive technology
• ELWARP
• EL-TRISCAN
• ELSTRAIGHT
• SMARTSCAN
• ELSCAN
• ELMETA
• ELSIS
• ELCOUNT
• ELTIM
• ELMAT
• ELCLEAN
• ELPOSER
• MY E+L
• EL-NET
• ELFEED
• ELSTRAIGHT
• TRIMMASTER

Products and services

• EL.MOTION – BLDC Drive Units

Quantifiable outcome

• 100,000+ components manufactured every year
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature9 records

Scale indicators9 records

Broad incumbents

• Keyence Corporation: Keyence is a global leader in industrial sensors, measurement systems, and machine vision. Its product portfolio overlaps with E+L's measurement and inspection technologies (ELTIM, ELCOUNT, EL-TRISCAN) and serves similar industrial automation customers.
• Festo SE & Co. KG: Festo is a leading German pneumatics and industrial automation components manufacturer. While focused on pneumatics rather than web handling, it serves similar industrial automation customers and competes in broader factory automation.
• COGNEX Corporation: COGNEX is a global leader in machine vision and industrial barcode reading. While much larger and broader than E+L, it competes in the same computer vision inspection space and serves overlapping manufacturing customers with web inspection requirements.
• SICK AG: SICK is a major German industrial sensor and automation systems manufacturer. It competes with E+L in industrial sensors, machine vision, and process automation across overlapping verticals including automotive/tire, packaging, and textiles.

Regional players

• Andritz AG: Andritz is an Austrian global supplier of systems and services for paper, tissue, and various industrial process industries. It competes with E+L in paper industry automation including web control and process automation for paper machines.
• Voith Paper: Voith Paper is a German-based global leader in paper manufacturing machinery and process automation. It overlaps with E+L in paper industry process control, web tension, and felt/wire guiding applications, though it operates at a much larger scale as an equipment OEM.

Direct peers

• Maxcess (Fife, Magpowr, Tidland): Maxcess is a direct competitor providing web tension control, web guiding, and web handling products through brands like Fife, Magpowr, and Tidland. It serves similar converting, packaging, and printing customers with overlapping product categories.
• ISRA VISION (Atlas Copco): ISRA VISION, now part of Atlas Copco, is a leader in machine vision and surface inspection systems for web-based production processes including paper, metal, and film. It directly overlaps with E+L's inspection technology portfolio (SMARTSCAN, ELSCAN, ELSEAMTEX).
• BST eltromat International: BST eltromat International is a direct competitor specializing in web guiding, web inspection, and color management systems for the printing, packaging, and converting industries. It competes head-to-head with E+L in web guiding and inspection for moving webs across similar end markets.
• Montalvo Corporation: Montalvo is a specialist in web tension control systems for industrial web processing, including load cells, brakes, and clutches for printing, converting, and paper industries. It directly competes with E+L in the web tension control niche.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/erhardt_leimer
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/erhardtleimer
• Facebookfacebook.com/Erhardt.Leimer.Group
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/erhardt-leimer-gmbh

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Erhardt+Leimer