Back to the roots

On 19th April 1950 Wilhelm Blank founded a sales agency for tools and machine tools in Riedlingen. Two years later the registration for ironworking followed.

The starting of investment casting!

In 1960, today’s enterprise started its production of investment casting parts with the lost-wax casting process at the former “Hillerian stable”. Back then, the company only had a staff of eight employees. In 1962 the first facility on Industriestraße 18 was added until the company finally moved to the business park “Industriestraße” in 1964. Additionally, the property grew from 80m² to 850m². In 1968 the company was renamed „Dipl.-Ing. Wilhelm Blank GmbH & Co. KG”.

Increasing of the family business

In 1973 Wilhelm Blank’s son, Werner Blank, joined the business and became a limited partner of the company in 1974. The same year marks the birth of the employee participation in form of a silent partnership. In 1979 “Wilhelm Blank GmbH & Co. KG” was rebranded again to “FEINGUSS BLANK GmbH & Co. KG“.

Date of founding “FEINGUSS BLANK GmbH”

In 1980, the property extended by buying-in the area of Industriestraße 28 as an inventory space, where today’s mold production facilities are found. Werner Blank took over the enterprise in 1984. In the same year, the company was renamed FEINGUSS BLANK GmbH – the birth of FEINGUSS BLANK GmbH. In 1985, a new building was constructed on Industriestraße 28 to maximize and outsource the tool construction.

Make two from one – the split-up into FEINGUSS and FORMENBAU BLANK GmbH

In 1990, the ground and first floor of the premises in Industriestraße 28 were expanded to enlarge the production and administration area of the tool construction department. As another milestone, BLANK HOLDING was founded in 1994. A new property, Industriestraße 17, was added to BLANK’s property. Later on, “Werk2” was built on this area. Certainly the most important development between 1990 and 2000 was the split-up into two independent enterprises: FEINGUSS BLANK GmbH and FORMENBAU BLANK GmbH.

From a craft business to an industrial company: 50 years of precision made by fire

In 2000, the new building „Werk 2“ was constructed on the grounds of „Industriestraße 17“. In the following years, a second manufacturing sector was established, as well as the vacuum investment casting to expand our performance spectrum. In addition, an own mechanical processing and assembly was established during these years. Also, the number of employees between 2000 - 2010 grew significantly. The number of staff increased from 315 workers in 2000 to 410 employees in our anniversary year 2010.

With investments into a promising future!

With the BLANK foundation, which was founded in 2010, the company supports adolescents in various ways regarding study and apprenticeship. Additionally, a vocational center has been introduced for industrial trainees. By building “Werk 3” in 2013 the property was extended again.

After more than 40 years at FEINGUSS BLANK GmbH, business graduate Werner Blank began his well-earned retirement in December 2013. The former managing directors Dipl. oec. Axel Breitling and Dipl.-Ing. Ingo Bitzer succeeded him from 2014 to 2018. From 2019, Hubert Deutsch and Alexander Lenert took over the management of the company.

With the construction of the BLANK Business Center (BBC) in 2017, a completely new and modern working environment was created at FEINGUSS BLANK with flexible workplaces and versatile meeting facilities. With Plant 4, the corporate group also expanded its production area by another production hall in 2019. The foundation of FEINGUSS BLANK USA Inc. in 2017 represents a milestone in the company's sales history.

Exploring new paths

At the beginning of 2020, the BLANK-Group has taken over the majority shareholding of the Romanian company BARUM AUTOMOTIVE S.R.L., which has been renamed B² smart precision srl. This expands the BLANK-Group's manufacturing portfolio to include the highest level of competence in machining and assembly (turning, milling, grinding, welding and assembly of components of investment castings or fully machined parts).

FEINGUSS BLANK GmbH celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2020. However, the planned celebrations could not take place as scheduled due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, as a symbolic gesture, a time capsule with messages to future BLANK-employees and the descendants of the shareholder family was placed on the company grounds.

After Hubert Deutsch's departure in 2022, Alexander Lenert took over the entire management of the BLANK-Group. In order to increase efficiency and for an even better cooperation, the FORMENBAU BLANK GmbH was integrated into the FEINGUSS BLANK GmbH on 01.01.2023.