History

Image shows the VÖGELE product range over the last 190 years: from products for the railway industry to pavers and screeds.

The story behind VÖGELE

From a smithy in Mannheim to world market leader in pavers

In 1836, Ulrich Joseph Vögele sets up a smithy in Mannheim. Initially, the company makes products for the railway industry, but what the founder cannot know then, is that decades later, this family-owned company will become the market leader in pavers, trusted by customers all over the world. Find out more about the success story which is JOSEPH VÖGELE AG.

Image shows the founder of the VÖGELE company: Ulrich Joseph Vögele

Blacksmith. Company founder. Visionary.

Who was Ulrich Joseph Vögele?

Ulrich Joseph Vögele comes from a well established Mannheim family. Like his father, he learns the craft of blacksmithing. On 15th October 1836, he sets up his own workshop in Mannheim, close to the Heidelberg Gate at number 5 in Block 6 of the city's grid system. Initially, the JOSEPH VÖGELE company specialises in products for the railway, a new and controversial mode of transport at the time. The company makes points, traversers, turntables and shunting equipment. Ulrich Joseph Vögele’s innovative and determined approach soon turns the smithy into a flourishing factory, starting a success story which continues right up to the present day.

Something you perhaps didn’t already know about VÖGELE:

a supplier to the railway industry for over 100 years

Before manufacturing pavers, VÖGELE focuses on products for the railway industry. In 1890, the company is the largest producer of railway points in Europe. Production for the railway does not stop until 1964.

An excursion into the construction industry

In the 20th century, VÖGELE is a very successful manufacturer of machines for producing and paving concrete and bitumen-based products - everything from small free-fall mixers to supply mixers to large mixing and processing systems for concrete.

The first towed spreader

Roads are needed as society becomes increasingly motorised. VÖGELE sees the potential. As early as the late 1920s, the company is developing and producing the first towed spreader, the predecessor of today’s paver.

The machines used to be called “Junior and “Senior”

Up until the 1980s, our concrete spreaders and pavers used to be called “Junior” and “Senior”. They were deployed in resurfacing, for example, and in paving the hard shoulder of motorways. The primary difference between the “Senior” and “Junior” paving trains was the higher output of the “Senior” model.

The largest VÖGELE paver

The SUPER 3000-3i, the flagship which defies superlatives: VÖGELE’s largest paver combines a maximum output of 354 kW with a maximum laydown rate of 1,800t/h and a maximum pave width of 18 m!

One of the oldest industrial companies

Founded in 1836, VÖGELE is celebrating its 190th anniversary in 2026, making us the oldest industrial entity in Germany in continuous operation.

We often celebrate marriages!

At VÖGELE, the tractor unit and the screed are joined to form a paver in a so-called “marriage”.

Our own railway connection

VÖGELE has had its state-of-the-art headquarters in Ludwigshafen since 2010. It was built on a greenfield site, customised to our requirements with plenty of space. An extremely practical feature is our own railway connection for transporting pavers.

Image shows articulated points which VÖGELE developed earlier.
Image shows that VÖGELE used to make products like mixers as well.
Image shows VÖGELE’s first towed spreader of 1928/29.
Image shows the hard shoulder of a motorway being paved.
Image shows the SUPER 3000-3i paver from VÖGELE paving on a job site.
Image shows VÖGELE employees outside the headquarters in Ludwigshafen.
Image shows tractor unit and screed being joined together to form a paver.
Image shows a bird’s eye view of the VÖGELE headquarters in Ludwigshafen.

Milestones

1836 to 1900

Continuing a family tradition

1900 to 1925

Success in the third generation

1925 to 1950

Road construction machinery

1950 to 1970

Paver with a floating screed

1970s

The first extending screed with infinitely adjustable pave width

1980s

Progressive System for Automated Grade and Slope Control

1990s

Innovative and ecological advances

2000s

InLine Pave paving method

2010 onwards

New factory and latest generation of pavers

660 Years of Road Construction Experience

In 2021, the Wirtgen Group will celebrate 60 years of Wirtgen. Time to take a look back and a look ahead. Vögele, Hamm, Kleemann, and Benninghoven have also played a leading role in shaping the industry’s technologies.

> Road Construction History