The Felder Group was founded in 1956 on specialist combination machines built to a high quality standard. Felder entered the industrial sector some time ago and is now a major producer of high-end equipment for industry.

Felder is located in Hall in Tirol near Innsbruck in Austria. It’s a family company and Supplier’s Phil Ashley was honoured to meet Gertraud Felder during a recent visit to the factory. This year Felder celebrates 60-years and is still owned and managed by Johann Felder assisted by Gertraud; Hansjorg; Martin and Elizabeth Felder. Today, the product brands are Hammer; Felder and FORMAT-4.

In 1956 Johann Felder Jnr. together with his wife Gertraud founded the company from his workshop located at his parents’ house in Absam, Tyrol. Due to the insufficient supply of cast iron in 1958, the company set up its own foundry in the garden of the house. In 1963 came the breakthrough with the first series production, the legendary BU 4 combination machine with which Felder ventured successfully into the German market. In 1979 Felder took the step into CNC technology and invested in their first CNC milling centre.

Success requires expansion and in 1982 the company moved with its 65 employees to the new headquarters in Hall in Tirol, where the company is still present to this day. In 1988 the next series of investments were required and a new hall was built with enough space for Felder’s first laser machines, welding robots and horizontal processing centres. In 1990 the world’s first combination machine with a sliding table “made by Felder” was presented. In 1997 Felder developed the “Hammer” brand and it soon asserted itself with high quality yet affordable woodworking machines proving highly successful against cheap products from the Far East. The success enabled further expansion of production and assembly in 1999.

In 2001 the FORMAT-4 brand was introduced.  FORMAT-4 is the premium brand for the highest requirements in business and industry. In the following years the product range was expanded to include CNC processing centres, edge-banders, beam saws and heated veneer presses. The new FORMAT-4 models were awarded internationally recognised design awards such as the Adolf-Loos-Prize in 2004 and the IF-Design-Award in 2003 and 2009. In just a short time the machines became widely accepted by professional users in business and industry. Further extensions including a new factory completed only this year mean that the mission statement “Everything from a single supplier” is a reality and not just a dream.