the hard stone quarry was shut down. Building and removal businesses, which were to a great extent bound to the stone quarrying industry, are nevertheless still in business now. Besides sandstone and hard stone, limestone and coal were also mined within Lauterecken's limits in earlier times. Manufacturing operations of any great size only arose after the Second World War. In 1949, the Textilwerk Lauterecken sprang up between the Glan and Bundesstraße 420 as a branch plant of the Vogtland woollen mill in Hof an der Saale. Employed here for a time in three spinning mills and one cotton weaving mill were 1,500 workers. As a result of shrinking economic activity in the textile sector, the firm shut the Lauterecken branch plant down. After the building had long stood empty, it was taken over by the BITO (Bittmann GmbH Lagertechnik) logistics firm whose main location was in Meisenheim. A major factory that did various kinds of printing was the firm Lony, originally located in town near the former Lower Gate, later moving to the commercial-industrial development on Bundesstraße 420 going towards Medard, and later being taken over by a Swiss consortium. Likewise in business for a long time was a printing business called Giloi. Further businesses in the northeastern commercial-industrial development on Bundesstraße 420 were the Buhl leatherware factory (which made commercial articles) and the automotive-electric firm Hess/Gabel (Bosch-Dienst). Supermarkets have also located here. Established businesses Because of its central location in the northern part of the district, Lauterecken is home to three medium-size businesses and various shops. One business of national standing is the fruit juice producer Niehoffs-Vaihinger, a plant of the Cellpack Group (food packaging), which since 2003 has belonged to the industrial concern Behr Bircher Cellpack BBC (no relation to the British Broadcasting Corporation). Energy Part of the town's heating energy comes from an environmentally friendly high-performance heat pump from the firm in Freital named Thermea. It draws heat from the river Lauter, whose water has a yearly average temperature of 10 °C. Only in freezing temperatures does the alternative, a condensing boiler, spring into action. Public institutions Lauterecken is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, and also hosts its administration. Moreover, a branch of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit is located here, one of three in the Kusel district. Lauterecken has a "Pro Seniore" home for the elderly, housing both those who can live independently and those in