The Hecking family was already mentioned as linen weavers who were also active as traders and entrepreneurs in the Stadtlohn town chronicle, compiled by Friedrich Dorweiler.

Documentary evidence for the existence of the Heinrich Hecking company in Stadtlohn, which formed the nucleus for all Hecking operations in Westphalia.

Onset of the cotton yarn processing in Stadtlohn.

Installation of Stadtlohn’s first steam engine by Heinrich Hecking and his sons Engelbert and Heinrich. The steam engine drove 100 mechanical weaving looms that were imported from England.

By this time, 180 looms were operating.

The company took on the name of “H. Hecking Söhne,” which remains to this very day.

The number of looms had grown to over 400 over the course of general industrialization.

A second weaving mill was established. Starting with 100 looms, it had grown to nearly 500 machines by 1930. Altogether, in both operations, around 1,000 looms were in use.

Werner Hecking built the Heinrich Hecking Spinning Mill, with 10,000 mandrils.

The Spinning Mill became affiliated with H. Hecking Söhne. It was expanded to 25,000 mandrils under the proprietorship of Gottfried and Werner Hecking.

The company encompassed 3 operations and employed around 500 workers.

Both weaving mills were destroyed in the final days of the war; the spinning mill was severely damaged. Cleanup work began immediately after the war. 

Onset of rebuilding and start-up of the spinning mill. 

The first looms were in operation once again. The spinning mill operated according to allocations of cotton. 

300 looms were operating. 20,000 mandrils in the spinning mill were able to produce, after the supply of raw material became more secure. 

The first Stadtlohn textile company to install 50 Swiss automatic looms, the company was among those operations in Westphalia advancing modern large-scale automation. 

The automation of the weaving mill proceeded, with the installment of shuttleless Sulzer looms. H. Hecking Söhne was one of the first companies in Westphalia to deploy this technology, which would prove to be trend-setting in the weaving industry. 

Mr. Hans-Werner Hecking became sole proprietor.

On Nov. 2, an outsourcing agreement was concluded with the city of Stadtlohn;   ground was already broken for the new weaving mill on Nov. 11.

The new building was completed. The weaving mill as well as the administration moved to the new location in Sprakelstrasse. That same year, the spinning mill was converted to fully-automated rotor spinning machines. 

A cooperation was founded with Abraham Dürninger company in Herrnhut, Saxony, and looms were installed. 

The Hans-Werner Hecking family founded the Baumwollweberei Zittau (BWZ, cotton weaving mill) in Zittau, Saxony. Operation 4, as part of the former Lautex association, was taken over.

In conjunction with a partner, a loom was constructed that was capable of producing fabric widths of up to 1,250 cm. More machines were installed in the following years. 

Building of a finishing facility by BWZ in Zittau.

The first group of Dornier air-jet looms was installed alongside the tried-and-trusted projectile looms.

A 370 kWp solar power plant was put into operation by BWZ.