03/19/2026
1926: Brothers Carl and Wilhelm Berges found the engineering factory C.&W. Berges in Marienheide (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). They start with presses and punching machines for metal and plastics processing.
1940: Expansion into stepless mechanical drive systems (the core business today).
1947: First exhibitor at the Hannover Fair.
1949: Patent No. 922979 for V-belt drive units.
1970: Foundation of the Italian subsidiary Berges Italiana (later Berges Mechanics Srl) in Naturns, South Tyrol.
1972: Rebranding to Berges Antriebstechnik GmbH.
1982: Move to new premises in the “Industrial Area Rodt,” Marienheide.
1989: Conversion to GmbH & Co. KG.
1997: Strategic focus exclusively on mechanical drive technology.
2003: Acquisition of the “System Becker” asymmetrical pulley technology—making Berges the broadest-range specialist.
2004: ATEX certification for variable-speed units.
2009–2010: Modernisation of production and start of customer-specific parts machining.
2018: Italian entity (Berges Mechanics) takes over full operations of the former Berges Italiana.
2021: Berges Mechanics (Naturns) acquires the German parent company Berges Antriebstechnik GmbH & Co. KG. Since then, the entire group has been led from Naturns by the South Tyrolean brothers Manuel and David Tappeiner (a return to family ownership and management roots).
2026 - We celebrate 100 years of engineering and delivering expertise to the world.
