Kabelwerk Eupen AG
Belgian family-owned manufacturer of cables, plastic pipes and foams, based in Eupen and active for over 110 years.
Last updated September 26, 2026
AI crawler reads
No AI crawler has read this profile since Oct 28, 2026.
Overview
Kabelwerk Eupen AG is a Belgian industrial manufacturer headquartered in Eupen, in the German-speaking Community of Belgium, near the border triangle of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The company operates three business fields: Eupen Cable, Eupen Pipe and Eupen Foam. Eupen Cable has produced power and telecommunications cables for more than 110 years and delivers to over 70 countries. Eupen Pipe offers a broad range of temperature-resistant PVC and polyethylene pipes for gas, water, wastewater and cable protection applications. Eupen Foam supplies foam blocks and custom-cut foams, mainly to the bedding and furniture industries, as well as to medical, packaging and industrial sectors. The company describes itself as an independent family business that combines tradition and innovation, with development, production, quality assurance and sales working closely together at one location. Its roots go back to a hemp rope manufactory founded in 1747 by Jean Pierre Bourseaux; the cable works itself was established as a joint-stock company in 1909 by the Bourseaux brothers. After the Eupen district became part of Belgium in 1920, the company continued under Belgian company law. It grew by acquiring buildings from the declining textile industry from 1956 onward, added plastic pipe extrusion in 1956, foam production in the post-war period, coaxial cables in the 1960s, safety cables for nuclear power plants from the 1970s, and later specialized in slotted/radiating cables for mobile communications in mines, tunnels and car parks. Kabelwerk Eupen is the largest industrial employer in its region, with around 1,100 employees in 2015, about 850 of them at the Eupen site. Revenue is roughly 80% from cable production and about 10% each from foam and plastic pipes; around 80% is generated domestically and about 15% in neighbouring countries. The company remains family-influenced, with members of the founding family still active in key roles. The 2021 floods in Western and Central Europe caused major damage, with production partially restarting only two months later and a loss of 40 million euros in 2021.
History
The history of Kabelwerk Eupen begins with a hemp rope manufactory founded in 1747 by Jean Pierre Bourseaux (1723–1769) in Eupen, then part of the Austrian Netherlands. In the early 20th century, when Eupen still belonged to the German Empire, his fifth-generation descendants, brothers Matthias Peter August Bourseaux (1871–1934) and Matthias Joseph Carl Bourseaux (1881–1966), recognized the opportunity presented by emerging electric lighting and began producing electrical wires in a former furniture and paper tube factory in the town centre. Demand grew so quickly that the company soon moved to larger premises. Near the Kammgarnwerke AG, founded around the same time, they took over the factory building of the former Feder wool spinning mill on the banks of the Weser in 1909 and founded the joint-stock company 'Kabelwerk Eupen'. Further investments such as a wire drawing machine and a rubber mixing plant followed, enabling the production of bicycle tyres and rubber soles, the latter made until the early 1970s. After the Eupen district was annexed to Belgium in 1920 following the Treaty of Versailles, the company continued under Belgian company law, coming under German legal supervision again only during the German occupation of Belgium between 1940 and 1944. In 1921 the subsidiary Kabelwerk Rhenania GmbH was founded in Aachen, where a production facility for fibre optic cables was established from 1995. While neighbouring Kammgarnwerke and other textile companies could not recover from the world economic crisis, the war years and the rise of synthetic materials, the cable works successively took over their vacated buildings from 1956, including the former white spinning mill of the Kammgarnwerke in the Hütte district, an old mill complex and a tannery in the Oe, later the Oebahnhof buildings and extensive meadowland. In the white spinning mill, a first plastic foam production site was set up, which had to move to a meadow site in the Weser valley around 1969 due to fire risk; a new building was erected in 1971 along Oestraße, at the time one of the most modern and largest of its kind in Europe with a production hall of 18,000 m³. In 1956 plastic pipe extrusion began at the main plant, moving in the early 1970s to the vacated former foam plant in the old white spinning mill. In the 1960s, especially after the early introduction of cable television in Belgium, the cable works expanded its product range with coaxial cables, used for mobile phone antennas. From the 1970s it produced safety cables for nuclear power plants; the flame-retardant properties of this product were further developed and it is still installed in sensitive areas of new nuclear power plants. At the beginning of the 1980s, with the final closure of the Kammgarnwerke, the cable works had taken over all its factory buildings and also built or modernized numerous of its own production buildings. A focus was now on the production of protective pipe systems for fibre optic cables. The following decades were marked by further research and development to improve manufacturing processes. The cable works gained a strong market position through the production and further development of slotted cables (also called radiating cables), used for example in mines, underground car parks or tunnels to maintain mobile phone reception. The revenue of Kabelwerk AG consists of 80% cable production and 10% each from plastic foam and plastic pipe production. About 80% of revenue is generated domestically and around 15% in neighbouring countries. Due to strongly fluctuating market prices of the most important raw material copper, revenue is also subject to strong fluctuations. The cable works became the most important employer in the region, employing around 1,100 people in 2015, of whom 850 at the Eupen site, making it the largest industrial employer in the region. Members of the founding family have been and still are active in important functions, such as a son of one of the founders, Ritter Alfred Bourseaux, from 1976 until his death in March 2026, or Frédéric Charles Bourseaux, Vice President of the Board of Directors since 2026. The 2021 floods in Western and Central Europe caused major damage at the cable works; parts of production restarted only two months later. Due to the flood, the company made a loss of 40 million euros in 2021.
- 2026
Frédéric Charles Bourseaux becomes Vice President of the Board of Directors; the company participates in InnoTrans 2026 in Berlin.
- 2021
The 2021 floods cause major damage; production partially restarts two months later; the company reports a loss of 40 million euros.
- 2015
The company employs around 1,100 people, 850 at the Eupen site, making it the largest industrial employer in the region.
- 1995
A production facility for fibre optic cables is established at the Aachen subsidiary.
- 1980
With the final closure of the Kammgarnwerke, the cable works has taken over all its factory buildings; focus shifts to protective pipe systems for fibre optic cables.
- 1971
New foam production building erected along Oestraße, one of the most modern and largest of its kind in Europe at the time.
- 1970
Production of safety cables for nuclear power plants begins.
- 1960
Product range expanded with coaxial cables, especially after the early introduction of cable television in Belgium.
- 1956
Plastic pipe extrusion begins at the main plant; the company starts taking over buildings from the declining textile industry.
- 1921
Subsidiary Kabelwerk Rhenania GmbH is founded in Aachen.
Products and positioning
Leading European manufacturer in the cable, plastic pipe and foam industries, combining tradition and innovation as an independent family business.
Power cables
Telecommunications cables
Coaxial cables
Fibre optic cables
High-security cables
Railway signalling cables
Tunnel radio cables
Fire safety cables
PVC pipes
Polyethylene pipes
Foam blocks
Custom-cut foams
Sources5 sources
Cite this profile: Cite the canonical profile. /brand-wiki/kabelwerk-eupen · Editorial policy · How profiles are compiled