Company Portrait
Lindauer DORNIER GmbH

From aircraft to weaving machines: Engineering expertise with passion

Aircraft manufacture was completely forbidden in Germany by the Allied Forces, which forced the worldwide renowned aircraft manufacturer Dornier to look for a new field of activity after the war. The result was textile machines, initially shuttle weaving machines.

The first production location was a former supplier factory in Pfronten (Allgäu, Germany) that was not damaged during the war.

The Lindauer DORNIER GmbH was then founded in 1950 after moving to the main company location in Lindau-Rickenbach.

The first machines were shuttle weaving machines and drying plants for the paperboard, paper and gypsum fireboard industry and new modern applications extended the range. Film stretching machines were also added later.

The introduction of rapier weaving machines in 1967 set the stage for the company's advancement to being the largest German weaving machine manufacturer with an excellent international reputation. Air-Jet weaving machines were added to the product line in 1989. Dornier achieves around 70% of its overall turnover with the system family comprising rapier and air-jet weaving machines.

A patented circular expander set new quality standards for textile finishing machines used in processing circular knit goods. Dornier is a market leader for plastic film production plants.

Today, Lindauer DORNIER GmbH, with 1200 employees in three factories, exports 90% of its products worldwide.
The founder family Dornier: Vision, entrepreneurship and pioneering spirit

Prof. Dr. Claude Dornier (1884 – 1969)

Joined Graf Zeppelin in 1910 and was the first to develop all-metal aircraft and seaplanes. The legendary DORNIER Wal (maiden flight 1922) was the most successful seaplane in the Twenties and Thirties. The spectacular expedition in 1929 to Africa, North and South America with the 12-motor Do X was a sensation – it was the world's largest passenger aircraft at that time.


Peter Dornier (1917 - 2002)

The second oldest son of Professor Claude Dornier was a graduate in mechanical engineering and joined his father's company in 1944 as aircraft constructor. He was decisive in development of the German aircraft industry: Amongst others, invention and development of the Do 335 propeller plane for which he received the "Lilienthal-Gesellschaft für Luftfahrt" (Lilienthal Aviation Company) prize as well as the Do 31 vertical takeoff jet transport aircraft.
As from 1950, Peter Dornier was also involved in expanding the Lindauer DORNIER GmbH and took over all the shares held by the DORNIER GmbH as Daimler Benz AG became the majority shareholder of the DORNIER group in 1985.


Peter D. Dornier

Peter Dornier's son became spokesman of the Board of Management in 1999 and then chairman of the Lindauer DORNIER GmbH Board of Management in 2001. He joined his father's company as graduate in mechanical engineering in 1989. He has been responsible for weaving machine sales, marketing and development for many years.




Company Management

Chairman of the Board of Management:

 Dipl. Ing. (FH) Peter D. Dornier

Weaving machines division:

 Dipl. Ing. (FH) Michael Ebeling
Specialty machines division: Dr.-Ing. Andreas Rutz
Finance, Accountancy: Dipl.-Oec. Hans-Jürgen Schmidt