150 year-old family-run company with pioneering spirit

heroal celebrates its anniversary

2024 is a very special year for the family-run company heroal from Verl as it celebrates its 150th anniversary. A range of events will be held during the year to celebrate this achievement, to be kicked off by R+T 2024 in Stuttgart. Customer events at various locations as well as an anniversary celebration in the summer for all heroal employees are also being planned. The anniversary year will be brought to an end by a final celebration at BAU in Munich in January 2025.

Success with a pioneering spirit

heroal was founded in 1874 as a small workshop that produced wooden clogs before eventually switching to wooden furniture legs. The year 1969 marked a significant milestone in the company's current direction, when Johann Henkenjohann, the grandson of the company's founder, invented the roll-formed and foam-filled aluminium roller shutter slat—a groundbreaking innovation that became a new industry standard. This also inspired the company name heroal (Henkenjohann roll-formed aluminium). The former heroal Managing Director Dr Vera Schöne, member of the Advisory Board, fondly remembers her father’s pioneering spirit: “My father was a true inventor. He was constantly coming up with new ideas and was always experimenting. Whenever he had a new idea, it had to be put onto paper—in a pinch, even the margins of the daily newspaper would do.”

The product portfolio was constantly expanded over the decades: in the early 1970s, window and door systems were integrated into the range. During the 1990s, curtain wall systems were added, and since 2015 heroal has also been supplying the market with sun protection systems. Trend-setting innovations have always been at the heart of the ongoing development of the comprehensive heroal product and service offer.

The company, now in its fifth generation managed by Dr Max Schöne together with Jürgen Peitz and Dr Ramon Knollmann, with around 900 employees, is an international market leader in aluminium system solutions and is involved in the construction of sustainable, high-quality residential and commercial buildings worldwide. The systems for roller shutters, sun protection, roller doors, windows, doors, sliding doors, curtain walls and patio roofs are developed and produced at the German company locations in Verl and nearby Hövelhof before they are distributed to Europe, North America and Australia via the logistics centre in Hövelhof.

In 2024, a major focus is on the development of heroal’s product and service portfolio, with a number of innovations already being presented at R+T in Stuttgart at the start of the year. This includes new configuration and ordering options to make workflows faster, more efficient and paperless. New products, such as an innovative combination box system, solutions with an integrated solar motor as well as new angled end slats and guide rails that can withstand driving rain will expand our roller shutter system offer and make it more flexible. When it comes to sun protection systems, the focus is on innovations such as the heroal VS Z CS system, which seamlessly integrates into mullion-transom curtain walls. The topic of surfaces and design freedom will also remain front of mind as a heroal core competency in 2024: for instance, the roller door design possibilities will be extended with the heroal SD coating technology for effective wood, rust and concrete looks. New solutions for smart building automation round out the heroal offer and once again help to improve energy-efficiency, comfort and security in residential and commercial construction.