Freudenberg

What they do

Freudenberg is a diversified technology group with businesses in sealing technology, vibration control (Vibracoustic), filtration, nonwovens, medical products, battery and fuel-cell systems, chemical specialities and household cleaning, where its best-known brand is Vileda. It reported revenue of 11.7 billion euros in 2025 with about 51,000 employees.

Why it matters

Freudenberg's seals are in engines, gearboxes, pumps and machines across the world, nearly always unseen. Freudenberg says the continuous development of the Simmerring made it the world's leading sealing specialist. The radial shaft seal stops oil leaking where a rotating shaft leaves a housing; Freudenberg says the brand name is used in Europe as a generic term for such seals. Newer versions include sensor encoders and conductive elements for electric vehicles.

The Simmerring shows how a single component can be refined for nearly a century. The 1980 version with a PTFE sleeve works from minus 40 to 260 degrees Celsius and spread through engines in Europe and America. In 1997 Freudenberg added a multipole encoder so the seal could report shaft position and speed to engine management and driver assistance systems. A 2010 design seals shafts just one millimetre in diameter at more than 10,000 revolutions per minute. In hybrid and electric cars, conductive nonwovens built into the seal discharge static electricity that could otherwise damage bearings.

Products to know

• Simmerring radial shaft seals.
• O-rings, gaskets and seals for hydrogen and batteries.
• Viledon filters and technical nonwovens.
• Vileda and O-Cedar household products.

The German angle

Carl Johann Freudenberg and Heinrich Christian Heintze founded a tannery in Weinheim on 9 February 1849. The step into technology came in 1932, when the company introduced a radial shaft seal named after its developer, Walther Simmer, first made from leather offcuts. By 1953, 100 million had been produced. Nonwovens followed from 1938, Vileda cloths from 1948, and in 2002 Freudenberg left leather entirely. Ownership has remained with the founder's descendants for more than 175 years.

Sources

• Freudenberg Sealing Technologies: 85 years Simmerring
• Freudenberg: History in fast motion
• Wikipedia: Freudenberg Group