Händle

What Händle does

Händle GmbH Maschinen und Anlagenbau is a German manufacturer of heavy industrial machinery for the coarse ceramic and heavy clay industry, founded in 1870 and headquartered in Mühlacker, Germany. The company designs and builds equipment across the full ceramic processing chain — raw material feeding and dosing (box feeders, circular silos, screen feeders), crushing and grinding (roller crushers, hammer mills, fine roller mills Alpha II/Beta/Gamma), mixing and homogenizing (double-shaft mixers, vacuum mixers), shaping via extrusion (FUTURA II de-airing extruders, with approximately 6,000 units delivered worldwide) and pressing (WEGA turntable presses, NOVA III eccentric roof tile presses), plus proprietary die technology through its wholly-owned ZMB BRAUN subsidiary.

Händle operates as the European anchor of the J.C. Steele & Sons (Steele Group) international platform, alongside subsidiaries ZMB BRAUN (extrusion dies, VARIO-TEC/MODUL-TEC/B-TEC/CLEANTEC/MSW) and August KAMPEN (brick and roof tile dies), as well as Steele Group sister company Direxa Engineering. The Steele Group spans USA, Australia, Germany, Poland, Brazil, and Russia. Händle serves industrial customers in brick manufacturing, refractories, agglomeration, fiber cement, gypsum recycling, and mineral processing — with named customers including Sibelco and Röben Polska.

Revenue is generated primarily through direct enterprise sales of heavy machinery and complete plants (custom project-based pricing, no public price list), supplemented by spare and wear parts, assembly and commissioning, preventive maintenance, mobile and remote service (including the HÄNDLE Visual Assistance digital platform), reconditioning of used machines, and the HÄNDLE Akademie training program. The Green & Energy product line addresses sustainability and energy efficiency (with stated savings above 70% on the WEGA turntable press compared to legacy hydraulic presses), and the IP² mobile Innovation Pilot Plant enables on-site customer testing — both suggesting adaptation to customer decarbonization and process validation demands.

Name

Händle

Legal name

HÄNDLE GmbH Maschinen und Anlagenbau

Website

https://haendle.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1870

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Händle GmbH is a German manufacturer of heavy industrial machinery — extruders, presses, mills, and complete plants — for the ceramic, brick, refractories, and recycling industries. Founded in 1870, it operates within the Steele Group, serving enterprise customers globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial machinery for heavy clay and coarse ceramics

NAICS

Material Handling Equipment Manufacturing (33392), Conveyor and Conveying Equipment Manufacturing (333922), Other General Purpose Machinery Manufacturing (3339)

SIC

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

akta.pro primary industry

Bulk Material Handling Systems (Belt Conveyors, Feeders, Stackers, Reclaimers) (IMAHABAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Conveying, Feeding & Accumulation Systems (Packaging Lines) (IMAHAOAK)

Keywords

• Heavy clay machinery
• Ceramic processing equipment
• Brick manufacturing machinery
• Ceramic extrusion technology
• Industrial preparation machinery

Headquarters

HQ city

Mühlacker

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Industrial Machinery Sales: Sale of heavy industrial machinery and equipment for ceramic processing, brick manufacturing, and material handling. Includes new machines, used machinery, and complete plant systems. Revenue is generated through direct enterprise sales with custom project-based pricing.
2. Spare Parts and Wear Parts: Replacement and wear parts for Händle machines and other manufacturers' equipment. Continuously developed and optimized for maximum machine availability.
3. Service and Maintenance: Installation and commissioning, preventive maintenance, repairs, retrofitting, mobile service, remote service, and reconditioning of used machines.
4. Händle Akademie: Practical training workshops conducted at Händle in Mühlacker or at customer locations for machine operation and maintenance.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

HÄNDLE designs, manufactures and services industrial machinery for the heavy clay and coarse ceramics industry, covering the full process chain from raw material feeding, crushing, mixing and homogenizing through to extrusion, pressing and material handling. Its portfolio includes box feeders, fine roller mills (Alpha II, Beta, Gamma), MIX double-shaft mixers, FUTURA II de-airing extruders, WEGA turntable presses and NOVA III roof tile presses, plus proprietary die technology via the ZMB BRAUN subsidiary. Complementing the equipment, HÄNDLE delivers complete plant systems, used machinery, spare and wear parts, and a full service offering that includes assembly, preventive maintenance, mobile service, remote service (including HÄNDLE Visual Assistance), repairs, retrofit, reconditioning and the HÄNDLE Akademie training program.

Product overview

HÄNDLE GmbH is a machinery and plant engineering company specializing in equipment for the ceramic industry with over 155 years of history. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio organized around core processing stages: raw material preparation (crushing, grinding, mixing), shaping (extrusion and pressing), and supporting services. Key product lines include: box feeders (invented by HÄNDLE in 1906), fine roller mills (Alpha II, Beta, Gamma series), extruders (FUTURA II with ~6,000 units delivered), and presses (turntable presses WEGA and roof tile press NOVA III). The company also provides complete plants, used machinery, and extensive services including spare parts, assembly, preventive maintenance, remote service, and HÄNDLE Visual Assistance for real-time support. Subsidiaries include ZMB BRAUN (world leader in extrusion dies) and KAMPEN (die manufacturer), both operating under the Steele Group umbrella. Industries served include brick, refractories, pelletizing, agglomeration, fiber cement, recycling, and gypsum.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• FUTURA II: Combined de-airing extrusion units for ceramic processing
• NOVA III
• IP²
• ZMB BRAUN
• KAMPEN

Products and services

• IP² Innovation Pilot Plant Mobile and modular preparation and shaping plant used by HÄNDLE to test and validate ceramic processing techniques at customer sites, de-risking investment decisions for the heavy clay industry.
• Laboratory Fine Roller Mill (Labor-Walzwerk) Laboratory-scale fine roller mill for testing grinding processes and ceramic raw-material preparation in HÄNDLE's in-house laboratory and at customer facilities.
• Laboratory De-Airing Extrusion Unit (Labor-Vakuumaggregat) Laboratory vacuum extrusion unit used for testing de-airing and extrusion behavior of ceramic raw materials in HÄNDLE's laboratory and pilot facilities.
• Box Feeders (Kastenbeschicker) – BKN/BKNG, BKSS/BKSSG Continuous feeders for proportioning, buffering and storing raw materials, prepared bodies, additives and waste materials in heavy clay and ceramic plants; the technology was invented by HÄNDLE in 1906.
• Roller Crushers (Walzenbrecher) – WMM/WMH Roller crushers (WMM mechanical drive, WMH hydraulic drive) for primary size reduction of soft and hard, moist and dry clods of clay with or without rocks up to Mohs' hardness 6, used in ceramic raw-material preparation.
• Stone-Eliminating Crushers – WSB/WSBH Primary size-reduction crushers with an integrated hydraulic ejecting rake that removes foreign objects (stones) from raw material, achieving volumetric capacities up to 230 m³/h bulk (310 t/h) in ceramic preparation lines.
• Hammer Mills (Hammermühlen) – WHD Hammer mills for fine crushing of mineral raw materials and other feedstocks with high throughput performance in ceramic and heavy-clay processing.
• Wet and Mixing Pan Mills (Kollergang) – HMI/HMIQ Wet and mixing pan mills for processing ceramic raw materials in Duo or Quadro configurations, used in heavy-clay and coarse-ceramics preparation.
• Disintegrators (Schlagleistenwalzwerk) – WSL Disintegrators jointly engineered with STEELE for crushing, milling and rough rolling of stiff to hard material up to Mohs' hardness 3, while eliminating small rocks and pebbles; available in three sizes with roller widths of 800, 1000 and 1200 mm.
• Fine Roller Mills ALPHA II Hydraulic high-performance fine roller mill achieving minimum roller gaps of 0.5 mm for fine grinding of plastic and semi-plastic ceramic raw materials; available in widths of 1000, 1200 and 1500 mm with throughputs up to 79 m³/h.
• Fine Roller Mills BETA Cost-effective fine roller mill with effective roller gaps down to 0.8 mm for fine grinding in plastic preparation; available in four sizes with volumetric throughputs up to approximately 75 m³/h (132 t/h wet).
• Fine Roller Mills GAMMA Newly developed fine roller mill for grinding down to a minimum roller gap of 1 mm with one-piece roller seat of robust welded construction, integrated roller turning machine system and swiveling chip collector; throughputs up to ~50 m³/h (85 t/h wet).
• Open Double-Shaft Mixers (Doppelwellenmischer) – MD Open double-shaft mixers for homogenizing non-uniform raw material, mixing different raw materials and blending additives and water in ceramic preparation, available with a new energy-efficient drive concept.
• Double-Shaft Screen Mixers – MDSG/MDG Multifunctional double-shaft systems for mixing, moistening, steaming, kneading, homogenizing, shredding and separating with stone elimination; MDSG models have hydraulic screen shifting and MDG models have stationary screens.
• De-Airing Double-Shaft Mixers (Vakuum-Doppelwellenmischer) – MDVG De-airing double-shaft mixers for mixing, homogenizing, shredding and de-airing ceramic bodies; five sizes with volumetric throughputs from 21 to 75 m³/h compact (37 to 132 t/h wet) and a new energy-saving drive system.
• Souring Plant Excavators – EKBL/EKBQ Longitudinal-dredging (EKBL) and cross-dredging (EKBQ) excavators for souring plants; EKBL available with 30–100 liter buckets and EKBQ covering basin widths of 10 to 30 m and depths of 6 to 11 m.
• Circular Silos (Rundsilos) – AGR Circular silos for storage and proportioning of sticky, wet and abrasive bulk materials on a 'first-in-first-out' basis, with standard storage capacities up to 500 m³ in ceramic plants.
• Circular Screen Feeders (Siebrundbeschicker) – BRSH Highly efficient combination of preparation and feeding machine for homogenizing, buffering and proportioning ceramic bodies ahead of extrusion, with new energy-efficient drive technology.
• Combined De-Airing Extrusion Units FUTURA II Combined de-airing extrusion units with barrel diameters of 200 to 750 mm, maximum extrusion pressures of 24 to 65 bar and volumetric throughputs of 0.2 to 60 m³/h compact (0.3 to 105 t/h wet); about 6,000 extruders delivered globally, now available with a new energy-efficient drive concept.
• Turntable Presses WEGA State-of-the-art, energy-efficient turntable press for roof tiles with automatic operation, freely programmable press curves for model-specific pressing characteristics, and energy savings exceeding 70% compared with previous-generation hydraulic presses.
• Roof Tile Press NOVA III (Exzenter-Dachziegelpresse) New-generation 400-ton eccentric-cam roof tile press for large-format tiles, complex-geometry tiles and thin roof tiles, handling 180 tons of lateral force and available with drum widths of 2000 and 2400 mm.
• Used Machinery (Gebrauchtmaschinen) Portfolio of refurbished and used HÄNDLE machines offered to cost-conscious brick and ceramics manufacturers as an economic alternative to new equipment.
• Plants (Anlagen) – complete plant systems Complete, integrated plant systems for ceramic raw-material preparation and shaping, derived from decades of continuous delivery of machines and plants worldwide, sold as turnkey projects.
• Green & Energy Solutions Energy-efficient drive concepts for HÄNDLE shaping machines enabling significant energy savings (over 70% in some applications) and sustainability improvements versus prior hydraulic press generations.
• Spare and Wear Parts Continuously developed replacement and wear parts for HÄNDLE machines (and certain other manufacturers' equipment) optimized for wear behavior, high service life and simplified handling to maximize machine availability.
• Assembly and Commissioning Professional on-site assembly and commissioning of delivered HÄNDLE machines and plants by experienced specialists.
• Mobile Service and Refurbishments HÄNDLE Mobile Service providing on-site support, refurbishments and reactivations of HÄNDLE machinery at customer plants.
• Preventive Maintenance / Service Check Preventive maintenance programs, including mobile drilling equipment, designed to avoid unplanned failures and wear-related machine downtime on HÄNDLE equipment.
• HÄNDLE Akademie Practical workshops and training delivered at the HÄNDLE facility in Mühlacker or on customer sites to develop operator and maintenance skills on HÄNDLE equipment.
• Repairs and Retrofit Repair and modernization services for HÄNDLE machinery, designed to keep downtime to a minimum and extend asset life.
• Reconditioning of Used Machines Overhauling of used HÄNDLE machines that conserves resources and offers special economic efficiency, supporting the Used Machinery (Gebrauchtmaschinen) line.
• Remote Service Remote support service providing quick troubleshooting for HÄNDLE equipment including the NOVA III roof tile press.
• HÄNDLE Visual Assistance Device-independent remote support service delivered via Microsoft Teams or WhatsApp with end-to-end encryption, providing real-time expert guidance from HÄNDLE to machine operators in the field.

Quantifiable outcome

• >70% energy savings in accessory roof tile production with WEGA turntable press compared to previous hydraulic press generation
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature11 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• J.C. Steele & Sons (Steele Group)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent company of Händle. Together they constitute an international group of companies with locations in USA, Australia, Germany, Poland, Brazil and Russia. Enables global resources and technology sharing between Steele and HändLE.
• ZMB BRAUNcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorld leader in extrusion dies for ceramic industry. Part of Händle group with Managing Director Thomas Bauer. Provides comprehensive die technology including VARIO-TEC, MODUL-TEC, B-TEC, CLEANTEC, MMT, and MSW systems.
• August KAMPENminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerManufacturer of dies for facing bricks, backing bricks, special formats and roof tiles, as well as individual repairs of spare parts. Part of Händle company group.
• Direxa EngineeringminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerColorado-based engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm specializing in plants for construction materials and fines agglomeration. Part of Steele Group.
• STEELEcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint development and cooperation within Steele Group. Händle benefits from cooperation with Steele test lab in Statesville, North Carolina (USA) for customer material testing. Steele supplies extruders for joint projects.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• Unifrax (Rath Group): Austrian manufacturer of refractory products and engineered ceramic materials using shaped extrusion technology. Uses equipment comparable to Händle's extruders for specialty ceramic applications, making it a partial demand-side peer in adjacent materials.

Emerging players

• Refratechnik: Global supplier of refractory products and turnkey refractory solutions that also procures and integrates extrusion and shaping equipment for refractory manufacturing. Partial overlap with Händle's refractories industry segment.

Direct peers

• Bedeschi: Italian supplier of complete plants and machinery for heavy clay, cement, and bulk materials, including crushing, grinding, and brick shaping equipment. Overlaps with Händle on the preparation and shaping portion of the value chain.
• Tecnofiliere: Italian manufacturer of extrusion dies and downstream equipment for the ceramic industry. Closely comparable to Händle's ZMB BRAUN die business and competes for the same brick and tile die customers.
• Beralmar: Spanish supplier of firing and drying technology plus complementary preparation and handling equipment for the heavy clay industry. Operates in the same brick and roof tile value chain as Händle, frequently co-supplying complete plants.
• Rieter (Ceramic Machinery): Swiss-based engineering group with a long-standing ceramic machinery division supplying brick, tile, and refractory producers with preparation, extrusion, and downstream equipment. Comparable customer base and product overlap with Händle's core offering.
• CERIC France: French engineering company designing and supplying complete brick and tile plants, including preparation and shaping equipment. Direct competitor for European and North African heavy clay projects.
• Keller HCW: German manufacturer of heavy clay machinery and complete brick plants, including preparation, shaping, and firing equipment. Directly competes with Händle in ceramic raw material preparation and shaping for brick producers worldwide.
• LINGL Anlagenbau: German specialist in complete brick plants, kilns, dryers, and material preparation. Overlaps with Händle in raw material preparation and shaping for the heavy clay industry, often competing for the same turnkey contracts.

Broad incumbents

• J.C. Steele & Sons: US-based parent company of Händle and a major North American supplier of extrusion and stiff-extrusion machinery for brick, structural clay products, and mineral agglomeration. Operates as a broader incumbent with shared technology and customer overlap.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubevimeo.com/user103361085
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/haendle-gmbh-maschinen-und-anlagenbau

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries3 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 Händle