about careers zac safety sustainability globallink Search products support training aj labs home about history History a tale of two families, 200 years strong. AstenJohnson’s history in the paper industry dates back to 1790, when the Johnson family opened Manchester Wire Works in Manchester, England. Nearly 100 years later, the Asten family launched V. Asten and Company in Belgium, producing felts for European papermakers. The family then started a separate company Asten-Hill Manufacturing Company in Philadelphia in 1931, thirty years after the Johnsons began operations in Montreal. In 1999, Asten, Inc. and the JWI Group merged; they acquired Asten AG in Eupen, Belgium the following year. Additional changes and acquisitions quickly followed, including the 2003 addition of a sales and marketing office in Singapore, the 2004 opening of a new PMC manufacturing facility in Suzhou, China, and the 2005 acquisition of Czech Republic-based PMC manufacturer, Sitos. Today, AstenJohnson products are at work in mills throughout the world. Our products help create all types of paper, including tissue, communications and packaging. Papermakers in 56 countries trust in and profit from our headbox-to-reel understanding of their operations. timeline 1790 JWI founded in England as Manchester Wire Works 1852 Johnson Family purchases Manchester Wire Works 1882 Manchester Wire Works becomes C.H. Johnson & Sons Limited 1901 Charles Johnson opens first North American operations in Montreal, Canada 1963 Enters Dryer Market 1966 Enters drainage equipment business 1975 Opens Extrusion Facility in Williston, VT 1981 Enters Press Felt Market 1882 Oscar von Asten cofounds first Belgian-Austrian felt company in Vienna. 1890 Oscar von Asten becomes sole owner of Asten & Co. 1931 Eduard von Asten and Harold Hill open first U.S. dryer felt company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1966 Enters press felt market 1969 Asten-Hill Mfg. Co. acquires Wisconsin Wires, Inc. and becomes total length clothing company 1977 Opens specialty fabrics 1988 Opens extrusion facility in Summerville, SC 1999 Asten and JWI Group merge to become AstenJohnson 2000 Acquires Asten AG in Eupen, Belgium 2003 Opens Sales and Marketing office in Singapore 2005 Opens Dryer Facility in Suzhou, China 2005 Acquires Sitos a.s. in Strakonice, Czech Republic 2007 Opens Forming Facility in Suzhou, China 2009 Opens Press Facility in Suzhou, China 2014 Acquires Eagle Nonwovens in St. Louis, Missouri 2017 Acquires Foss Manufacturing (Northern Division) in Hampton, New Hampshire leadership history our companies code of conduct news sustainability contact corporate headquarters 4399 Corporate Road Charleston, South Carolina USA 29405 tel +1.843.747.7800 fax +1.843.747.3856 email info@AstenJohnson.com support connect Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Glassdoor Glassdoor ISO 9001:2015 certified in North America, Belgium, Czech Republic, and China. ISO 14001:2015 certified in Czech Republic. © 2021 legal notice trademarks privacy policy california supply chains act uk modern slavery act astenjohnson is a global manufacturer for the paper industry, supplying paper machine clothing like press fabrics, forming fabrics, dryer fabrics, and other advanced filtration fabrics to paper mills and pulp mills around the world.