Now in its fourth and fifth generation of family management, RAUCH Landmaschinenfabrik GmbH can look back on a 100-year history. Great-great-grandfather Franz Rauch paved the way as a master blacksmith into agricultural engineering. Today, RAUCH is an international manufacturer of fertiliser spreaders, seed drills and winter spreaders. With two core competences, exact metering and precise spreading, RAUCH has established itself in agricultural technology.
Once upon a time, a long time ago
In fact, it was 1880 when Franz RAUCH, the founder of our company, had a vision.
When Franz Rauch set up his own business in 1880, he had to start small. His first forge was a makeshift workshop. However, Rauch soon became successful not only as a blacksmith but also as a trader. After the turn of the century, his family business began producing innovative tools for agriculture.
RAUCH - a family business from the beginning until today
Even in the early years, the family helped to build up the company. While Franz Rauch's wife and daughters took care of the house, farm and shop, sons Johann and Josef followed in their father's footsteps as blacksmiths and applied for patents for important inventions early on (harrow tine fastening). The second eldest son Hermann completes a commercial apprenticeship. Today, direct descendants of Franz RAUCH in the 5th generation are still active in the company as managing directors and partners.
The beginning of the 20th century
After years of hardship during and after the war, the RAUCHs started to look to the future again in 1918. The purchase of the Sinzheim Altenburg brewery property in 1921 marked the birth of the RAUCH Landmaschinenfabrik. The dream of the original founder Franz Rauch had come true!
Like today's generation, he would certainly be very proud if he could see how his dream had developed into one of the world's most modern and innovative agricultural machinery factories over the following 100 years through enormous diligence and creative inventions and further developments.
RAUCH: 100 years of good ideas!
Franz Rauch's sons Hermann (businessman) and Josef (master blacksmith) register their business under the name "Gebrüder Rauch GmbH, Fabrik landwirtschaftlicher Maschinen und Geräte" in August 1921. The new industrial company initially begins mainly with the manufacture of harrows and ploughs. The family's passionate and progressive innovative spirit was already evident here. As early as 1918, a patent was granted for a harrow tine attachment and a utility model for a connecting piece on plough frames in 1913.
This RAUCH spirit of innovation is still successfully cultivated today: RAUCH holds over 150 pioneering patents, has won numerous Agritechnica innovation medals from the DLG and has been honoured several times at many international exhibitions.
The first RAUCH fertiliser spreader
In the mid-1920s, the RAUCH Landmaschinenfabrik is still small and the build-up is arduous. But step by step, the product range is expanded, including grape mills and straw cutters. The company's own petrol station (until 1954) is another source of income. The crises of the following years (e.g. the global economic crisis of 1929, differences with the new National Socialist regime) are overcome with great vigour, ambition, diligence and courage.
Then, in the mid-1930s, one of the most important milestones for RAUCH is set: the first fertiliser spreader is manufactured. With its still simple design, it is now also possible for small farms to use mineral fertiliser on a larger scale, and the RAUCH fertiliser spreader soon becomes a bestseller.
From horse to tractor
The company continued to grow until the late 1930s and initially also at the beginning of the Second World War. In the last year of the war, however, the company comes to a complete standstill because labour and raw materials are withdrawn from "non-essential" companies and production facilities are confiscated.
In the "zero hour" at the end of the war, Rauch has to start all over again. The company slowly recovers from the consequences of the war and the RAUCH workforce grows again.
The then junior bosses Gerhard Rauch (mechanical engineer) and his brother Alfred (businessman) set the course for a renewed expansion of production.
The motorisation of agriculture in those years also had consequences for fertiliser spreader production: while the "horse-drawn fertiliser spreaders" were losing importance, the future belonged to "mounted fertiliser spreaders", which were mounted on tractors. In those years, this further development made the company famous far beyond the region.
Economic miracle - "comet-like" rise
In the 1960s, the "economic miracle" also enters the next round at RAUCH. The company focuses on new products and production methods. A milestone is the entry into series production. The Komet I single-disc centrifugal fertiliser spreader marks the beginning in 1963. It is not only suitable for fertilising, but also for sowing grain. In 1966, RAUCH presents the first Komet ZS twin-disc fertiliser spreader, which makes boundary spreading at the edge of the field more precise and the spreading pattern even more uniform, and RAUCH also enters the winter service sector with the Komet S centrifugal spreader for sand, salt or grit, which becomes a real bestseller.
Since 1945, the company has more than doubled in size and has developed from a small forge into a respectable medium-sized company with 130 employees.
RAUCH: a long-standing, loyal and reliable partner in the agricultural machinery industry on all continents
An important step into the future for RAUCH in the late 1960s is the strengthening of exports.
From 1967 onwards, there is a sharp increase in the export share due to the start of a partnership with KUHN Machines Agricoles in Saverne, Alsace, which is still maintained today. KUHN takes over the representation of RAUCH fertiliser spreaders in France and other countries such as Great Britain and Italy, today the sales network is worldwide.RAUCH continues to promote exports in parallel and by the end of the 1970s machines are already being exported to 14 European countries.
Today, RAUCH supplies products to 43 countries, with an export quota of approx. 70%. In some countries, the company has been working with the same importers on a basis of trust for decades.
In the 1970s, RAUCH increasingly specialised in fertiliser and winter service spreaders.
Fertiliser spreaders alone account for around 60% of annual production. Another important masterpiece from Gerhard Rauch is the "Komet ZSN" twin-disc centrifugal spreader, introduced in 1972. Its particular practical advantage over the competition: with a filling height of less than 1 metre, it is particularly low and can therefore be filled directly from the trailer. A real revolution at the time and a sales hit for a long time. Another significant advance from RAUCH followed at the beginning of the 1980s: the ZSB twin disc spreader achieved working widths of up to 24 m.
At the beginning of the 1980s, another major milestone is set under development manager Norbert Rauch:
the AERO mounted pneumatic spreader with the world's first electronic QUANTRON fertiliser spreader control system. Farmers and the environment are pleased with the more targeted and economical fertilisation with the system, which is ideally suited for tramline operation. And RAUCH technology can now also be used on large farms. Unfortunately, production had to be discontinued at the end of the 1990s due to low demand. In recent years, the increasing demands for environmental protection, economy and efficiency have led to a renewed call for a mounted pneumatic spreader. RAUCH has responded and from autumn 2022 it will be available again with updated technology: AERO 32.1 with an initial working width of 27/28/30 m including ISOBUS technology and MultiRate (18, 21 + 24 m working width to follow).
Welcome back!
From a forge to a modern agricultural machinery company
Under the innovative management team of Hermann Rauch (Finance/Personnel/Production), Robert Rauch (Purchasing), Joachim Rauch (Sales/Marketing) and Norbert Rauch (Research/Development), the fourth generation continued to set the course for successful development in agricultural technology as well as in municipal technology. With pioneering advances in plant nutrition for the efficient and precise use of fertilisers, the family business has made a name for itself and continues to strive for the top with future-oriented investments.
In 2016, the fifth generation joined the management team with Martin Rauch (Production and IT) and, with Hermann Rauch (Finance), supported since 2017 by Wilfried Müller (Sales/Marketing) and Volker Stöcklin (Research and Development), represents a new dynamic management level.
"Resource-conserving use of fertilisers and increasing yields are the challenges for the future. With a 100-year company history, we are aware of the changes in agricultural technology and strive for forward-looking changes, especially in the areas of sustainability and environmental awareness," says Managing Director Martin RAUCH.
RAUCH, your partner for precise plant nutrition and safety on the road
Only with a constantly growing sales network, hand in hand with the factory representatives and the committed importers and trading partners of RAUCH, has it been possible to date to organise agriculture efficiently with RAUCH machines. Partnerships that have grown over the years are the foundation for success.
We would particularly like to thank the employees of the family business for their commitment and loyalty. Only with a motivated and qualified team can such high standards of efficiency and ecology be achieved in agriculture.