The company history of AFS
More than 40 years ago, Gerhard Arlt and Dieter Frei founded AFS Entwicklungs + Vertriebs GmbH. What began as a distributor of accessories and consumables for the film industry has now become a globally successful company with over 100 employees.
We invite you to join us in looking back on the past years.
1985: Founding
AFS Entwicklungs + Vertriebs GmbH is founded by Dieter Frei and Gerhard Arlt. AFS stands for Arlt-Frei-Systeme. Company address: Dieter Frei's private address.
1986:First premises
Move to a two-room apartment in Augsburg: Sales office and development workshop. The first proprietary product is created there: the high-voltage perforation detector, known as the bag counter.
1987: First employees
Relocation to Biburg, a suburb west of Augsburg. Three rented office spaces and a mechanical workshop in a former triple garage are the new home of the up-and-coming company. With the first employees, the first AFS corona station and the world's first corona generator with microprocessor control are created.
1989: Expansion of production
Move into the first new building in Neusäß, also in the west of Augsburg. This is where the tried-and-tested SD generators and the AVB-100C, of which hundreds have been built, are manufactured. The downside of success: after just two years, the new building is already too small, and the decision is made to build a new one. During this time, the number of employees grows to 26.
1990: Digital memory
With its second generation of SD generators, AFS introduces operating and error memories for Corona pretreatment systems.
1993: New production facilities
Move to the second new building, this time just across the street. Around 150 corona and perforation systems are produced each year in the 2,200 m² facility.
1993: The rotary knob
AFS invents its well-known user interface with a push-and-turn knob to operate the “Segmatic.” The iPod follows in 2001.
1996: Changes
Dieter Frei leaves the company for health reasons. Gerhard Arlt takes over his shares.
2000: Digital twin
AFS creates a digital copy of every single machine produced on its own servers. After-sales and service benefit from this easily accessible internal pool of information.
2004: New building in Horgau
Relocation of mechanical production and the design department to a newly constructed hall in Horgau, the third new building.
2008: New headquarters in Horgau
Relocation of the purchasing department and administration to a newly constructed office building in Horgau and closure of the Neusäß site. With more than 60 employees, AFS manufactures approximately 300 Corona systems annually at the new location.
2013: Modular generators
The first modular M-Generator with 12 kW output per module is delivered. The maximum possible output power reaches an unrivaled 144 kW.
2016:Remote maintenance for generators
AFS generators are now equipped with an Internet interface for remote maintenance.
2016: New production facility
In fall 2016, construction of a new production hall was completed. This enabled a further increase in production capacity and number of employees.
2018: Further growth
The 100-employee mark has been surpassed.
2020: AFS America Inc.
Founding of a subsidiary in Duncan, S.C.
2021: Resilience and records
AFS achieves record order intake across all economic sectors in a year marked by global pandemic and crisis.
2023: Energy transition
At the beginning of 2023, AFS commissioned a new 259 kWp solar park together with a 240 kWh battery storage system. The total of 358 kWp PV and the buffer created by the battery enables the company to generate a large part of its energy demand by itself.