The German vacuum specialist Leybold is a traditional market leader. Founded in 1850 by Ernst Leybold in Cologne, the company has achieved numerous groundbreaking milestones and product developments. Now, in 2025, the renowned manufacturer is celebrating its 175th anniversary. Leybold's core competencies include the development and manufacture of standardized, individual solutions for vacuum generation and process gas conveying as well as customer-specific vacuum systems. The components, systems and services play an important role in many areas worldwide, for example in industrial coating, analytics or research and development processes.
With its application expertise and the quality of its products and services, Leybold has a major influence on the efficiency of processes and value chains. This is particularly important at present, as the market dynamics and global challenges, such as climate change, are especially great. The currently relevant applications of vacuum technology in structural change include metallurgy, the automotive and coating industries, solar, display and food applications, analytics and processes for the production of lithium-ion batteries for electromobility.
Vacuum metallurgy began in 1913: Dr. Wilhelm Rohn, head of the physical testing laboratory at W.C. Heraeus GmbH, developed a process for melting high-purity metals in a vacuum in Hanau, which was patented in 1918. In 1931, Wilhelm Carl Heraeus succeeded in vaporizing metals on glass - this paved the way for vacuum coating technology. Subsequently, vacuum technology was increasingly used in process engineering.
In September 2016, the Swedish company Atlas Copco AB, based in Stockholm, acquired 100 percent of Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum, which is now part of Atlas Copco's Vacuum Technique business unit. In the multi-brand group with around 53,000 employees and customers in over 180 countries, Leybold is an important brand that plays an important role with its great tradition and good reputation.
