Our core values are deeply ingrained in our DNA. We strive to improve the lives of millions of people around the world with our products and services. We do this by constantly looking for ways to deliver smart, outcome-based solutions and improved experiences which benefit patients as much as healthcare professionals.
We want to become a leading player in the global healthcare market and be a driving force, constantly advancing healthcare for all. To guide us toward our vision, we follow three core values: high performance, a customer-oriented approach, and an unwavering passion for our work. These values are an essential part of our DNA, anchored in more than 200 years of company history. They help us stay true to our mission: “help, care, and protect”.
In 1818, industrial pioneer Ludwig von Hartmann acquired the Meebold spinning mill. His son, Paul Hartmann Sr., later founded the Paul Hartmann Bleaching, Dyeing and Dressing Company, a dressing material factory that revolutionized wound care.
However, our founding fathers were more than industrial pioneers. They brought drive, optimism, and commitment to improving healthcare that live on in the business to this day. Thanks to them, we still strive for innovation and continue to actively improve healthcare.
It all started with Ludwig von Hartmann, born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1766. By 1791, he was the Director of the Heidenheim-based textile factory Meebold, Schüle and Co. Under his management, the company acquired a bleaching factory and, in 1812, he built one of the first mechanical cotton mills in Germany.
Six years later, in 1818, he took over the company and renamed it Ludwig Hartmann Company. It quickly became one of the largest cotton mills in Germany, producing caps, stockings, and handkerchiefs. By now, Ludwig was one of the most important industrial pioneers in the kingdom of Württemberg.
In 1843, Ludwig handed over the company to his three sons Carl, Eduard, and Paul Sr., who divided it between them. The sons gradually brought the indebted company back to profitability, changing its name to Ludwig Hartmann’s Sons. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 1870s, however, that the company added medical products to its product range.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, the lack of adequate dressings in military and civilian hospitals became more and more apparent. To improve the situation, Paul Hartmann Sr. consulted with two influential figures of his day: Prof. Victor von Bruns and Sir Joseph Lister. Before long, this cooperation was to prove decisive for the future of the company.
Victor von Bruns, a surgeon from Tübingen, had invented a way to degrease cotton, enabling it to absorb more liquid. In 1873, Hartmann began mass-producing and selling this new kind of wound dressing based on von Bruns’ findings, thus radically improving wound care and revolutionizing healthcare.
Equally important for the future of the company was Hartmann’s exchange with the British surgeon Joseph Lister, which started around the same time. Lister was the first person to treat wounds with bandages soaked in carbolic acid, thereby discovering a much more effective form of wound healing. When Hartmann read about these findings, he immediately contacted the surgeon, who then gave him precise instructions on how to produce the dressing material he had developed.
Shortly afterwards, in 1874, the production of Lister’s bandage began, which was soon to become another bestseller at HARTMANN. Even though the two never actually met in person, their lively exchange of letters was an important cornerstone of HARTMANN’s success as a healthcare provider.
Arthur Hartmann, the third of Paul Hartmann Sr.'s four sons, interrupted his medical studies during the Franco-Prussian Wars of 1870/71 to become a medical sergeant. Annoyed by the lack of suitable dressing material on the battlefield, Arthur convinced his father Paul Hartmann Sr. to produce absorbent cotton for bandages and later also for other dressings. The spark of an important medical innovation.
Arthur Hartmann later became an ear, nose and throat doctor and was also responsible for significant innovations in this field.
