History of JOA

Since 1932, Curt G. Joa, Inc. has been recognized as a leader in engineering and building specialty lines of machinery that produce disposable products such as feminine sanitary napkins, baby diapers, and adult incontinence products. JOA machines are working in the factories of leading producers of these products in over 55 countries around the world.

Curt G. Joa, Inc., a privately held and family owned business, has been actively involved in the soft disposables industry for over 70 years.

1903: Curt G. Joa was born to George and Anna Joa on August 8th in Mannheim, Germany. George was an Architect/Design Engineer and a farmer. Mr. Joa's siblings included one sister — Millie, and one brother – Paul. By the age of 14, Mr. Joa could speak German, English, Spanish, and French and he had already worked as a farmer, bookkeeper, carpenter, and a translator. Mr. Joa attended Wurzburg University receiving an equivalent to a Doctorate’s degree in Business Management, Union Programs, and Accounting. By 1924 he also earned a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Frankfurt University.

1924: On August 11th, at 21 years of age, Mr. Joa left Germany for the United States. He boarded the S.S. Arabic from Hamburg, Germany and headed for New York. The ship encountered a hurricane near Halifax, Nova Scotia. Approximately 100 lives were lost and the ship was left powerless. The ship was towed to the New York port where Mr. Joa began his new life in America.

Mr. Joa first lived in Philadelphia with his uncle, and then in Terre Haute, IN where he became a milk truck driver. He also studied at the Brazil Technical School and at Evansville College during his off time.

Mr. Joa’s first business was to provide the farmers, from whom he picked up milk, an errand running service. He started with one truck and quickly expanded to three trucks in one year. He sold the business and was able to put $1000 into savings.

1925: Mr. Joa’s first engineering job was at the Bucyrus Erie Co. in Evansville, IN. He later transferred to their plant in Milwaukee, WI. Deciding to move on, he took a job at the A.O. Smith Co.

It was in Evansville that he met Martha Frieda Rydberg who would become his wife in 1925. They had three children, Curt Jr., Anna Mae, and Ruth Joyce. Later, Mr. Joa and his family moved to Manitowoc, WI where he worked for the Mirro Aluminum Co. as a tool and die designer.

1930: Mr. Joa opened an office as a free lance Efficiency Engineering consultant. He thought that he could provide a much needed service to help companies to streamline their processes and become more efficient. Soon thereafter, he was given an opportunity to design an automated process to produce sanitary napkins. This project was to automate the hand-making of sanitary napkins. The product of the time had a cellulose wadding filler wrapped in surgical gauze with extended ends. After demonstrating a working model of part of the process, he was commissioned to make the first machine on October 8th, 1931.

1932: Mr. Joa established an engineering consulting company bearing his name. On June 6th, Mr. Joa applied for his first patent. Curt G. Joa, Inc. received its first patent, U.S. Reg. No. 1,957,651 for an End-Fold Mechanism for sanitary napkins in 1934.

1935: Mr. Joa and his family moved to Sheboygan Falls, WI where he continued to build machinery. Another business opportunity came along in the form of a failing woodworking company by the name of The Jenkins Co. He was given a chance to save The Jenkins Co., and in 1942 he merged his two companies together ultimately employing nearly 280 workers.

1942: The JOA Company supported the war effort by producing various parts for the U.S. Navy. Even during this time, JOA engineers continued working on improvements to the sanitary napkin machine. This led to developments such as pin discs for pulp fiberization, JOA Patent No. 2,510,229 and a finger chain stacker, JOA Patent No. 2,254,291.

1950: Mr. Joa always kept in mind his past experiences. Along with the manufacturing branch he had a farms division. As part of that business, he invited young men from Milwaukee up to Sheboygan Falls during the summer to work on those farms. The group shown below is only one of them but one in which he and Mrs. Joa were very proud. Each of these boys went on to become very successful in their own right but one of them, Jim Lovell became an astronaut and invited Mr. and Mrs. Joa to Cape Kennedy to view a space shuttle launch from the VIP launch site.

1952: In the fifties, JOA introduced its first production machine, the dual lane Model 400J Sanitary Napkin Machine. Features included a fluff-filled pad, a nonwoven overwrap, a poly bead longitudinal seam and automatic stacking and cartoning and a guaranteed production rate of 400 napkins per minute.

1953: Mr. Joa was an avid private pilot and owned his own airplane. With a winter home in Florida, Mrs. Joa did not want Mr. Joa commuting back and forth from Wisconsin to Florida as much, so the first JOA plant was opened in Ft. Pierce, FL. It later moved to Lake Wales where it was located until 1965.

1957: Mr. Joa sold the Jenkins portion of his business to a Mr. Karl Kohler. The Kohler-JOA company was born. Mr. Joa still held interest in the company, but he wanted to focus on other ideas.

1960: On November 15th, a groundbreaking ceremony was held marking the beginning of construction of the new 18,000 sq. ft. building at the current site. Many additions have occurred since the historic first building was completed.

1961: Mr. Joa introduced a profit sharing plan to his employees with this opening statement: “There is always room here for an ambitious employee who has the spirit, talent, and a conscience to contribute his share without constant supervision.”

1962: New products and new product features led to new production equipment including the Model 300 machine for insert diapers, the Model 53J for hospital underpads and the Model SN250 for the newly designed tabless sanitary napkins.

1965: Mr. Joa relocated the Florida Division of JOA to a new site in Boynton Beach, FL. This factory concentrated primarily on the design and manufacturing of machines for sanitary napkins and insert diapers. Meanwhile, the Sheboygan Falls facility concentrated on the new plastic backed diaper machinery.

1966: On February 22nd, Curt G. Joa, Inc. received the “E” Award for Excellence in Exports from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Subsequently, in 1972, the “E” Star Award for Exports was  awarded to Curt G. Joa, Inc. for continuing to export over 50% of its machinery sales.

1968: In 1968, the Model 83 Wingfold Baby Diaper Machine was born, with a design speed of 250 diapers per minute. The development of pressure sensitive hot melt adhesives was of landmark importance in the evolution of these products and machines.

1972: The seventies saw significant advancement in raw materials, which led to sophistication in product design. Introduction of tape closures and leg elastics for diapers and poly inserts and peel strips for napkins, spawned the JOA Model 85E and the JOA Model SN300 machines, respectively. As the wingfold adult diaper market developed, specialized machinery was also developed for these products.

1982: JOA responded to the demand for higher productivity in the baby diaper industry with the J5 electronic line shaft machine, capable of 500 ppm. On a parallel path, the SN500 sanitary napkin line was offered at production rates up to 650 ppm. The Model FWS500 was designed as a universal upgrade to fold, wrap and stack all designs of feminine care products. The first adult incontinence products machinery was developed for fully contoured, elasticized diapers in three sizes.

1988: An 83,000 square foot (7700 square meters) assembly and testing facility with secure, fully equipped testing bays was added to the main plant.

1991: An additional 80,000 square feet (7400 square meters) were added to the main plant

1992: One of this decade’s challenges was to design new machines that had built-in flexibility to allow the machines to follow product evolution. JOA engineering developed these new process requirements while at the same time applied the new technology to existing machines as retrofits. Upgrades to diaper and napkin production machinery included: drum forming of 3D fluff cores, tension controlled autosplice material unwinds, on-line laminated backsheet assemblies, stretch waistbands, hook and loop diaper fastening systems with and without stretch, elastic side panels for napkins and light inco products and high-speed stacking systems.

This decade also saw significant advancements in the production speeds and efficiencies across the complete range of standard JOA lines for the manufacture of baby diapers, feminine napkins and light and heavy adult incontinence products.

From 1994 through 1999, JOA developed and introduced its line of machinery to produce baby training pants and adult protective underwear. These specialty machines continue to evolve as these pants-type products advance through their respective improvements.

1995: A new offsite facility with all necessary capabilities for the design, development, and testing of highly confidential projects was constructed.

1997: Curt G. Joa, Inc. expanded its machining and fabrication facilities by 45,000 square feet (4200 square meters) providing space fro the addition of numerous CNC machining centers, the largest of which is are a pair of Okuma Bridge Mills with travel capacities up to 204” x 100” x 58” (5.2m x 2.5 m x 1.5 m). This addition continues to facilitate the company’s ability to manufacture and fabricate custom components quickly and more efficiently.

1998: Our Adult protective underwear machine capable of producing disposable, elasticized adult incontinence underwear was developed and successfully tested.

Mr. Joa passed in November with Mrs. Joa passing shortly after in January of 1999. In their estate planning, the succession and independence of the company was secured through the establishment of a family trust that holds all company shares.

2002: This first decade in the new millennium brings with it a vast array of new technologies, two new drive platforms in particular, available for application in our equipment.

The JOA J4-MV, designed for speeds up to 300 meters per minute, is designed to provide a performance value and technology bridge between the existing J4-S servo and the J4-M mechanical platforms.

The all servo drive JOA J6 Series of machines demonstrate this leap in capability and technology by handling web speeds reaching 450 meters per minute, targeting 1000 baby diapers and 400 adult briefs per minute.

Curt G. Joa, Inc. consolidated, and the plant in Boynton Beach, FL was closed in an effort to bring a higher degree of standardization and efficiency to meet the demanding and competitive business needs of the company.

2003: Curt G. Joa, Inc. opened a new office in Europe located in Andernach, Germany. Curt G. Joa Europe GmbH is run by Gustav Schneider as the managing director. Kerstin Mallmann and Christoph Wagner contribute as project and service engineers.

2004: The Curt G. Joa added 69,000 sq. ft. of assembly and testing space. The extra space provided additional larger and secure machine testing bays.

2005: Computerized water-jet cutting technology is added to the fabrication and machining facility to provide quick and efficient turn-around of parts cut from everything from heavy steel plate to very thin sheet metal.

2005: The JOA J20 line of machines for high speed, high efficiency production of light incontinence and feminine hygiene was developed and introduced into the market.

2006: A more defined and dedicated Research and Development team was put into place to keep JOA on the cutting edge of technology in both its traditional business but also to enhance the more custom machinery designs for special products that have become prominent in our business.