Established in 1852 by Anton Zschille in Großenhain the business was reorganized in 1872 as Großenhainer Loom und Maschinenfabrik AG (large loom and machine-tool maker) and was,  from 1898, Germany's first maker to specialise in the production of heavy weaving machines. As in other countries, (e.g. the Halifax area of England), as loom makers were skilled in the production of complicated mechanisms using the most advanced technologies of the day, found it easy to transfer these skills to the design and manufacture of machine tools. The illustrations below are from 1925..