„From a small mill to an innovative industrial company – That’s our story!“

The production of high quality wood flour has a long tradition in the family Westerkamp. The mill was firstly mentioned in 1873.

Originally, the mill was bought by Clemens Henning, the great grandfather of today’s owner and was operated as a grain mill and bakery for the traditional coarse rye bread. His son in law, Arnold Westerkamp senior, took over the mill in 1922. In 1955 he decided to change from grinding grains to grinding wood flour.

As the years went by, the next generation grew up with the mill. In 1983, the management was handed over to Franz and Arnold Westerkamp who increased the wood flour production. After the death of his father in 1991, Arnold Westerkamp became sole owner and director of the company.

Since then, the company has developed continuously. Besides investments in buildings and machinery, a great variety of products have been created and launched into national and international markets. The product range comprises soft wood flours and granulates as well as wood fibers. The latest products are single feed, mixed feed or premixes on the basis of lignocellulose and a pelleted litter for farm animals.

It is our aim to find and develop new markets for the use of wood flour also in future.

In order to respond to the rising demand for quality and product safety, the company Holzmühle Westerkamp GmbH implemented a quality management system. The first certification according to the standards DIN EN ISO 9001 and QS took place in 2005.

Further standards followed like GMP+, PEFC and Kosher.

In cooperation with our trade partner Agromed Austria GmbH, the segment feed production from lignocellulose was expanded. The rising demand required an investment and expansion of the production capacities for pelleted products.

In order to work against the increasing energy costs, the company invested in 2006 in a bigger and a more efficient drying facility and changed from a gas heating system to a wood chip heating system.

Since 2007, the company has been working on a new pelleted litter for domestic and farm animals. Meantime, this new product line has been launched successfully in different markets.

The years 2008 – 2010 were marked by constant widening of production and storage capacities as well as automating bagging and palletizing. The years 2014 and 2015 were dominated by constructing the completely new production plant II, comprising of a new grinding site, pelleting site, a new bagging line and a new storage facility. This meant an important increase of production capacities and by using and installing efficient machinery which are the latest state of the art, the company is prepared also for future challenges.

Since 2013 the company Westerkamp has installed an energy management system according to DIN EN 50001 and the first certification took place in 2014.

Due to its innovative ideas, their investments and expansion in local and international markets, the company Westerkamp will continue to grow in future.