German company, Pleuger Industries, is an international supplier of submersible motor pumps, thrusters and plunger pumps with headquarters in Hamburg. It recently celebrated its 90th anniversary and reflected on its tradition of manufacturing industrial submersible motor pump aggregates.
Pleuger's modern submersible pump units are still based on the patent design which goes back to the company’s beginnings in 1929. Friedrich Wilhelm Pleuger, an engineer from Bonn, developed the glandless motor, which was a groundbreaking alternative to conventional borehole shaft pumps and piston pumps.
For the first time, the water-filled engine made it possible to pump water from great depths and particularly narrow wells. The most important new idea in the pump’s development was the liquid-proof, wet insulation of the stator winding, which enabled the motor to be coupled vertically in the intake area below the pump.
Submersible success The patent on the glandless pump formed the basis for Pleuger's later success. First used in the construction of the Berlin subway in the 1920s, the submersible motor pump helped to bring the Hamburg company worldwide success by the end of the 1970s when it celebrated its 50th anniversary. Pleuger had come a long way since its works were destroyed in Berlin during World War II and the company relocated to a new plant in Wandsbeck, where it remains today.
Since those early days, Pleuger pumps have been used in applications such as municipal water supply, flood protection, mining, offshore wind farms and oil rigs. Thousands of ships and platforms worldwide are equipped with
Pleuger technologies in the form of pumps or ship manoeuvring systems. The company still manufactures its submersible motor pumps, plunger pumps and thrusters in Germany, and finds that the label "Made in Germany" maintains its quality status worldwide.
Original Hamburg pump The Pleuger pump is seen as a synonym for entire product categories and it is universally known that it refers to water-filled motors with multi-stage pumps. Today, the pumps are used as deep well, cavern and pumping station pumps. Well known customers in the mining industry such as the Chilean Collahuasi copper mine in the Atacama Desert rely on the original pump from Hamburg. Whether for pumping industrial process water, separating solids or dewatering open pit mines, Pleuger pumps are regarded as fail-safe machines with low maintenance needs.
Energy efficient One example of this is the municipal administration of the French metropolis of Montpellier, which relies on deep well pumps from Pleuger Industries to supply drinking water to 400,000 citizens. Another is the most well-known of all Pleuger pumps, its submersible pump QT10EHM-3 with PMM8-610-4, installed in one of Hamburg's great landmarks, the Alster Fountain. With a capacity of 216,000 litres per hour, Pleuger's 8 in underwater motor pump has been pumping water to a height of over 60 m since 1983. For more than two decades, it has helped the city operate the fountain more economically and more sustainably.
Loyal employees Up until recently, Pleuger was part of the Flowserve Corporation, but Flacks Group, a private investment company, acquired the subsidiary in August 2018 and transferred the strategic management back to the German company’s hands and it became independent once more. A decision was made to use its historical and industry-recognised brand name, Pleuger Industries.
Since 2018, the management of the company has been operating from its headquarters in Hamburg and its pumps and pump motors are still manufactured there today, from the first planning sketches to the last screw. More than 200 experienced employees are working to continue Pleuger’s worldwide growth following the change of ownership and the company says it owes its success to its loyal employees.
