Heraeus enters the field of vacuum metallurgy when it succeeds in melting chromium-nickel alloys under vacuum conditions.

Leybold starts manufacturing industrial vacuum equipment.

Degussa decides to build vacuum furnaces too.

Together with Degussa AG and Metallgesellschaft AG Leybold founds the Leybold-Hochvakuum-Anlagen GmbH.

Spinning off its vacuum engineering division W.C. Heraeus founds Heraeus Hochvakuum GmbH. Thereafter both companies merge to Leybold-Heraeus GmbH.

Degussa AG acquires all shares of Leybold-Heraeus GmbH, which is then renamed Leybold AG.

Degussa spins off its Durferrit business including Degussa Industrial Furnaces, while Leybold AG sheds its vacuum metallurgy division. The two spin-offs merge to form Leybold Durferrit GmbH.

The vacuum metallurgy and vacuum heat treatment business become part of the newly founded ALD Vacuum Technologies GmbH.

ALD founds a sales subsidiary in Tokyo, Japan.

Through founding the Own & Operate GmbH, ALD substantiates its service area of vacuum heat treatment.

The joint venture Vacuheat (Germany) becomes the first vacuum heat treatment service center.

ALD enters into the vacuum coating business by acquiring all EB/PVD activities from Leybold AG.

With ALD Thermal Treatment Inc. ALD starts off a vacuum heat treatment center in the USA.

ALD TT Port Huron is established as the 2nd vacuum heat treatment center in the US.

ALD Holcroft is founded as a joint venture with AFC Holcroft to market new vacuum technologies in the US.

ALD founds Furnaces Nuclear Applications Grenoble SAS (FNAG) in Grenoble.

AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V. emerges from the Safeguard International Fund. Therein ALD forms the Engineering Division.

Foundation of the vacuum heat treatment center ALD Tratamientos Termicos S.A. de C.V., in Ramos, Mexico.

Participation in Dynatech Furnaces, Mumbai, India.

ALD-C&K Vacuum Technologies Co., Ltd. is founded in Suzhou as a joint venture between ALD and C&K (China) Co., Ltd. from Hong Kong.

ALD acquires all shares of Dynatech Furnaces and names the company ALD Vacuum Technologies India Pvt. Ltd..

ALD opens a branch in Moscow, Russia and Bangkok, Thailand.

ALD founds the Russian company ALD Vacuum Technologies OOO in Moscow.

ALD France is founded as a merger of FNAG and Thermique Industrie Vide SAS (TIV).

ALD acquires the remaining 50 % of the joint venture ALD Holcroft and rebrands it ALD Vacuum Systems.

ALD moves into new headquarters with offices and production halls at Otto-von-Guericke-Platz 1 in Hanau.

A new storage and shipping building is put into operation at headquarters, centralizing all ALD business areas on one site for the first time.