As the founders of FAN brought the first press screw separators onto the market at the end of the 80s, the principle was still largely unknown. The company toured the country with a trailer to get the word out about the phenomenal method of solid-liquid separation with a press screw. The competition smiled politely in the confidence that this would prove to be nothing but a brief fad. But the users quickly became enthusiastic. And the other manufacturers began to think about how they could copy this brilliant invention from FAN. The rest is history.
Number one
Today, FAN is active all around the world, with dealers and representatives on five continents and in over 80 countries. FAN remains the undisputed number one on the separator market. Globally, a good 10,000 FAN separators are in use in agriculture and industry, assisting their users in slurry and waste management.
Continuous research into new technologies and unflagging optimisation of the existing product portfolio remain core aspects of the company’s mission.
Birth of the FAN Green Bedding Separator
The calls for a separator for producing high-quality bedding grow ever louder. FAN takes up the challenge and develops for its customers a separator with a special screw and a new control that is capable of producing very dry solids with a dry matter content of up to 36%. Perfect for animal health. Not to mention economical and environmentally friendly.
FAN and BAB Beltec
The merger of FAN and BAB Beltec within the BAUER Group yields an extensive portfolio of technological solutions for the paper industry. FAN now covers the entire application spectrum of separators and presses in the paper recycling sector as well as in waste water treatment.
FAN’s next coup
The next revolutionary invention by FAN hits the market: the BRU (Bedding Recovery Unit), a system for producing hygienic organic bedding from the farm’s own liquid manure takes its victory lap around the globe.
FAN becomes part of the BAUER Group
On the search for a strong partner, FAN finds an ideal ally in the BAUER Group. Embedded within a prospering, internationally oriented corporate network, FAN is ideally equipped for future challenges. Signs point to continued growth.
Intense growth phase
The FAN separator is well received around the world and business is booming. The head count grows, and hundreds of machines leave the plant in Westphalia. By the end of the 90s, there are 3,000 systems in use around the world. Subsidiaries are founded in the USA, China and Singapore.
One patent after another
Progress comes by leaps and bounds. New patents are filed almost every six months. One difficult aspect of every separator is achieving the right cake formation for the solid discharge. Much research work and countless tests were required before patent DE 4232449 “Press screw separator with discharge regulator” could be registered in 1992. This solved the “cake problem” once and for all. This discharge regulator with double flap is still a feature of the PSS.
A decade of optimism
Even brilliant inventions must first be made known. The early years saw the FAN team travelling back and forth across the country to inform users about the unbeatable advantages of the press screw separator. The tremendous interest and positive resonance emboldened the team to continue working on its ideas and concepts.
Persistence leads to the goal
Dietrich Eichler, with a doctorate in systems engineering and a highly productive imagination, contributes his technological know-how and passion to the development of FAN separators. Dedicated research work yields tangible results: The “Method for dewatering of solids suspended in water by means of a press screw separator” is one of many FAN inventions for which patents are filed.
The original separator
With the passion and energy of people who believe unerringly in their vision, the now expanded team threw itself into the idea of a machine for slurry separation.
In June 1989, the original design of the FAN separator drew its first public acclaim at the “Poultry and Swine” trade fair in Hanover.
How it all began
The visionary, passionate process engineer, Friedrich Weigand, dedicated practically his entire professional life to the topic of “separating liquids and solids”. In 1986, he fulfilled his life’s dream by founding his own company in Oelde: FAN
Friedrich, Anette, Normen – FAN stands for the first names of the original FAN family.
