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Company type | Aktiengesellschaft |
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FWB: SHA | |
Industry | Automotive, Aerospace, Industrial |
Founders | Wilhelm Schaeffler Georg Schaeffler |
Headquarters | , Germany |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Klaus Rosenfeld, (CEO) |
Revenue | €25 billion (2023) [1] |
Number of employees | 120,000 (2023) [1] |
Subsidiaries |
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Website | www.schaeffler.com |
Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG, also known as the Schaeffler Group (Schaeffler-Gruppe in German), is a German manufacturer of rolling element bearings [2] for automotive, aerospace and industrial uses. [3] It was founded in 1946 by brothers Dr. Wilhelm and Dr.-Ing. E. h. Georg Schaeffler. [4]
The firm is currently majority owned by Maria-Elizabeth Schaeffler-Thumann and her son Georg F. W. Schaeffler through a series of holding companies. These holding companies, controlled by the Schaeffler family, also own controlling interests in Continental AG and Vitesco Technologies. [5]
Schaeffler Group owns the brands INA, FAG, and LuK. In Germany, these main brands are marketed by Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG and LuK GmbH & Co. oHG.
Schaeffler has an Indian subsidiary, Schaeffler India, which is publicly listed on the National Stock Exchange of India and the Bombay Stock Exchange. [6]
During the 2008 merger, the company revealed that in World War II it had exploited thousands of slave labourers in its plants in German-occupied Poland. Around this time the director of the museum now standing at the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp claimed that after the war 1.95 long tons (1,980 kg) of human hair had been found at Schaeffler factories, and had been used in upholstery in its automotive products. The historian at Schaeffler denied this particular allegation. [15]
In August 2008, the Schaeffler family agreed to a staggered €12 billion acquisition of larger rival Continental AG, whereby the family would defer taking a majority stake until at least 2012. [16] However, in 2011 the family sold off €1.8 billion worth of shares, reducing its stake from 75.1% to 60.3%. [17] Currently, the family owns 46% of Continental shares. The family also owns 49.94% of Vitesco Technologies. [5]
Schweinfurt is a city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding district (Landkreis) of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultural and educational hub. The urban agglomeration has 100,200 (2018) and the city's catchment area, including the Main-Rhön region and parts of South Thuringia, 759,000 inhabitants.
ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, originally Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a German technology manufacturing company that supplies systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and industrial technology. It is headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German state of Baden-Württemberg. Specializing in engineering, it is primarily known for its design, research and development, and manufacturing activities in the automotive industry and is one of the largest automotive suppliers in the world. Its products include driveline and chassis technology for cars and commercial vehicles, along with specialized plant equipment such as construction equipment. It is also involved in the rail, marine, defense and aviation industries, as well as general industrial applications. ZF has 162 production locations in 31 countries with approximately 168,700 (2023) employees.
ZF Sachs AG, also known as Fichtel & Sachs, was founded in Schweinfurt in 1895 and was a well-known German family business. At its last point as an independent company, the company name was Fichtel & Sachs AG.
Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Schaeffler is a German billionaire businessman and owner of 80% of the holding company INA Holding Schaeffler GmbH & Co. KG, which includes the manufacturer of rolling element bearings Schaeffler AG. His mother, Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler, owns the other 20%. Both inherited their fortune from Schaeffler's father, Georg Schaeffler, who died in 1996. Schaeffler is the head of the supervisory board of Schaeffler Group and a member of the supervisory board of Continental AG. As of May 2023, Schaeffler was ranked by Forbes as the 171st richest person in the world, with a net worth of $10.2 billion.
Rieter is a producer of textile machinery based in Winterthur, Switzerland.
Continental AG, commonly known as Continental or colloquially as Conti, is a German multinational automotive parts manufacturing company that specializes in tires, brake systems vehicle electronics, automotive safety, powertrain, chassis components, tachographs, and other parts for the automotive and transportation industries. Continental is structured into six divisions: Chassis and Safety, Powertrain, Interior, Tires, ContiTech, ADAS. It is headquartered in Hanover, Lower Saxony. Continental is the world's third-largest automotive supplier and the fourth-largest tire manufacturer.
The Renk Group AG is a German global manufacturer of transmissions, engines, hybrid drive systems, vehicle suspension systems, plain bearings, couplings, and testing systems. The company builds special gearboxes for tanks, frigates, icebreakers, and industry and is a leading supplier of running gear and damping systems for tracked and wheeled military vehicles. Renk is headquartered in Augsburg and in addition to its headquarters, also manufactures in Rheine, Hannover, Winterthur, Bath, and Sterling Heights.
Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler is a German businesswoman and one of the owners of Schaeffler Group, one of the world's largest producers of rolling bearings. The other owner is her son Georg F. W. Schaeffler.
The PACE Award is an annual award from Automotive News. The focus of the award is an innovation (i) developed primarily by a supplier, (ii) that is new to the automotive industry, (iii) that is in use, and (iv) that "changes the rules of the game". Awards have been given for products, materials, processes, capital equipment, software and services. A panel of independent judges from industry, finance, research, and academia choose finalists from the initial applicants, make site visits to evaluate the innovation, and then gather to select winners, independent of the sponsors. Winners to date include suppliers from Japan, Korea, China, the US, Canada, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, Poland and other European countries. Among the most awarded companies over the years are BorgWarner, Delphi Automotive, Federal-Mogul, Valeo and PPG Industries as well as Robert Bosch GmbH, Gentex Corporation, and Siemens.
Friedrich Fischer from Schweinfurt, Germany is considered the father of the modern ball bearing, having invented the process for milling standard bearings in 1883.
IAV GmbH Ingenieurgesellschaft Auto und Verkehr,, abbreviated to IAV GmbH, is an engineering company in the automotive industry, designing products for powertrain, electronics and vehicle development. Founded in Berlin in 1983 by Prof. Dr. Hermann Appel as a university-affiliated research institute, the company employs over 8,000 members of staff, and supplies automobile manufacturers and component suppliers. In addition to development centres in Berlin, Chemnitz and Gifhorn, IAV operates at sites in France, United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, China, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and the United States.
Georg Fischer comprises four divisions GF Piping Systems, GF Building Flow Solutions, GF Casting Solutions, and GF Machining Solutions. Founded in 1802, the corporation is headquartered in Switzerland and is present in 45 countries, with 187 companies, 76 of them production facilities. Its over 19 800 employees generated sales of over CHF 4 billion in 2018. GF offers pipes for the safe transport of liquids and gases, lightweight casting components in vehicles, and high-precision manufacturing technologies.
Georg Schäfer was a German industrialist and art collector. After his death, most of his art collection was housed in the Museum Georg Schäfer in Schweinfurt.
Barden Corporation is a ball bearing manufacturer based in Danbury, Connecticut, USA with factories in Danbury, Winsted, Connecticut and in Plymouth, England. It previously had factories in Bridgeport, Connecticut and Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Certina Holding AG is a holding company for niche manufacturers, specialised construction and IT companies with its headquarters in Grünwald near Munich in Germany, growing organically and through acquisitions.
NTN Corporation is one of the most prominent manufacturers of bearings in Japan, second domestically only to NSK Ltd. The company is one of the largest exporters worldwide of friction-reducing products, such as constant-velocity joints.
Jürgen M. Geissinger is a German technology business executive and chief executive officer of Senvion S.A., a Hamburg-based wind turbine manufacturer. Geissinger is best known for his role as the Chief Executive of Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG, a technology conglomerate known for its bearing solutions and precision components for engine and transmission systems for automotive, as well as industrial and aerospace applications. During Geissinger’s tenure as CEO, annual sales have risen more than fivefold. Schaeffler AG, employing over 76,000 people across 180 locations in 50 countries, with annual sales of $14 billion, is also the controlling shareholder of Continental AG with 49.9% of its shares.
Elmar Walter Degenhart is a German manager and was chairman of the Board of Continental AG from August 2009 to November 2020.
Howden Turbo GmbH is a German engineering company, based in Frankenthal in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The company was formed after Colfax Corporation acquired Siemens Turbomachinery Equipment GmbH (STE) from Siemens in October 2017 for €195 million. The old brand name Kühnle, Kopp & Kausch has been returned to use. The Kühnle, Kopp & Kausch AG was a German mechanical engineering company based in Frankenthal. The company was acquired by Siemens and bore the name Siemens Turbomachinery Equipment GmbH (STE) until 2017. The company was renamed Howden Turbo GmbH through the sale to Colfax Corporation and Howden.
Vitesco Technologies Group AG, headquartered in Regensburg, is a German automotive supplier for drivetrain and powertrain technologies. Vitesco Technologies was a business area of Continental AG until it became independent in September 2021. The company develops devices for electric vehicles as well as internal combustion engines.