History

The story of BIRN dates all the way back to 1896, when journeyman former and foundry worker Heinrich Peter Christian Birn founded the foundry in the middle of Holstebro. During the first many years, BIRN nourished itself mainly by producing cookers, stoves, cleaning doors and cake crushers. And the foundry also supplied the castings to F. L. Hansen’s machinery, which was located directly opposite the foundry.

After working with F. L. Hansen's machine factory for a number of years, Valdemar H. Birn, who had now taken over the company after his father, decided to expand the cooperation. Therefore, in 1932 he acquired the machinery.

During the following years, the company grew larger and the foundry business developed as it gained more experience in the foundry industry. In addition to various moulds of machine production, the machine factory had also been tasked with processing castings for customers, and therefore it had become familiar with V-belt pulleys on various occasions. And that was ideal from the company's point of view.

This resulted in the idea of also incorporating V-belt pulleys in our own production as the product was ideally suited for our company, since the finished product contained relatively much processing. The production of the V-belt pulleys continued to this day, with the majority of these now being produced by a partner in China as well as by BIRNS German subsidiary, which also sells and distributes all the pulleys.

In 1942, the joint-stock companies Vald. Birn Jernstøberi and Vald. Birn Maskinfabrik were founded. After that, the company grew further during the following years, and in 1964 it was decided to move both foundry and the machinery to a new and larger location.

In 1972, the company installed its first Disamatic, and in the years that followed, several automation efforts were made; tooling machines with NC control, a 3D coordinate measuring machine and later on, and robots in the washing plant was installed.

All these measures led BIRN to obtain its first ISO certificate in 1994. And it opened even more doors for potential customers.

The progress meant that the first surface treatment plant could be used in 1997, and the same year the same happened with the first FMS plant. With these initiatives, the company became a technical frontrunner and BIRN placed itself on the market as highly competitive.

Over the years and in line with the increasing success, BIRN has acquired the companies: Tasso A/S, Kockums Maskin AB and Uldalls Jernstøberi A/S. Therefore, the staff has also been significantly expanded.

In 2006, it was decided to merge the machine factory and foundry into one company - Vald. Birn A/S, which in everyday speech also goes by the name BIRN. In the very same year, BIRN together with China Metal International (CMI) also established a joint venture - the processing company, China Metal Birn (CMB). In cooperation with CMI, this company expanded in 2012 with a foundry named NCMB (New CMB).

Today, NCMB is owned by CMI, and Vald. Birn A/S is the parent company of Tasso A/S, Kockums Maskin AB, Uldalls Jernstøberi A/S and Vald. Birn GmbH. BIRN is led by Jens Axel Birn, nephew of Valdemar Richard Birn, which makes him the 5th generation on the post. Vald. Birn A/S is owned by Vald. Birn Holding A/S, which is owned by the independent Vald. Birn Fund.