Hand in Hand – 125 years Thies textile dyeing machines

The birthplace and headquarters of the Thies Group is the old Hanseatic city of Coesfeld in Münsterland, Westphalia. A traditional textiles area, Münsterland is the birthplace of, and home to, a number of reputed businesses engaged in this sector. Thies lives out this tradition, supplying textile machines across the globe from Coesfeld since 1892.

Bernhard Thies founded Thies Company in 1892. As a chemist, he searched for techniques to mechanically support dyeing procedures. Just two years later, he obtained the first machinery patent from the German Imperial Patent Office. Following his death in 1922, his four sons assumed charge of the business. Initially, they sold their yarn dyeing machines on the domestic market, but the corner-stone for a solid export business was laid as early as in 1926, when preliminary major successes were scored abroad. Today, the export ratio stands at over 90%.

The patent for and the following construction of the first pressure vessel in 1929 made it possible, going forward, to carry out high-temperature dyeing operations, and this set new benchmarks for the entire sector. Once the Second World War ended, Alfred Thies as the third generation, engaged in the business. In those days, significant milestone were achieved with the development of the pressure dryer, which is integral to yarn dyeing to this day and the start of manufacturing piece dyeing machines.

The years that followed saw the development of a network of global sales and service units, put in place to support customers in an even better way at the local level. Today, Thies has support centers in Bulgaria, China, France, India, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand, and the USA.

In the late 1980s, Erich and Klaus Thies intensified business links with the Polish supplier Dofama and the Slovenian machine engineering company Alchrom. Both partners have been wholly integrated within the group of companies since 2007.

In 2015 the company shares were transferred to the fifth generation in charge. Profoundly committed to the enterprise’s heritage, this fifth generation endeavor to preserve the long-standing corporate philosophy and to pass it on in a sustainable manner.

In the company’s own research center, interested parties are always welcome to test the various machine models and develop and detail the correct solution in conjunction with an experienced Thies team.