Zollern (company)
| Zollern GmbH & Co. KG
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | GmbH & Co. KG |
| founding | 1708 |
| Seat | Sigmaringendorf - Laucherthal , Germany |
| management |
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| Number of employees | 3,022 |
| sales | EUR 487.68 million |
| Branch | metal processing industry |
| Website | www.zollern.de |
| As of December 31, 2019 | |
Zollern GmbH and Co. KG (formerly Fürstlich Hohenzollernsche Hüttenwerke ; spelling ZOLLERN ) is a company in the metal processing industry with headquarters in the Laucherthal district of Sigmaringen .
The company is still partly owned by the von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family and is part of the Fürst von Hohenzollern group of companies . The shareholders are each 50% Karl Friedrich von Hohenzollern and since 1989 the Merckle group of companies . With a 300-year history, it is the oldest still existing family business in Baden-Württemberg.
history
The foundation of the company goes back to the establishment of an iron smelter by Prince Meinrad II of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in 1708. First of all, floor ore found above ground was smelted here . In 1715, the Princely Hohenzollern Hüttenwerke was rated as "the best ironworks in Swabia".
In the second half of the 19th century, the operation of the blast furnace became increasingly unprofitable and the competition increased, which is why the blast furnace was no longer operated from 1879. The company had long since focused on metal processing.
From 1906 to 1924 the oldest still existing steelworks in Europe, the Stahlwerk Annahütte , belonged to the company.
In the crisis in the metal industry in the 1970s and 1980s, the Princely House did not react to the economic decline with layoffs like most other metal companies, but tried to get through the crisis without layoffs by investing in plastics companies and selling their own real estate . This largely succeeded, but one consequence was the end of the purely family business: At the insistence of banks, investors were sought and in 1989 the entrepreneur Adolf Merckle took over 50 percent of the Zollern works. After Merckle's suicide in 2009, his son Ludwig guaranteed not to sell the Zollern shares.
On March 1, 2003, Zollern GmbH & Co. KG took over the French Federal Mogul TLC . The company in France was to be integrated under the name Zollern TLC into the division of the German Zollern BHW with locations in Braunschweig and Osterode. Zollern BHW and Zollern TLC will appear on the market together in the future.
On January 1, 2004, Zollern GmbH + Co. KG took over the shares in the sliding bearing factory and metal foundry Herzberg (GMH Herzberg) and thus complemented the product range of Zollern sliding bearing technology.
Also in 2004, the Zollern Group bought Mimtec AG, which was founded in 1999 and is based in Rorschach ( Switzerland ). With this purchase, the Zollern Group expanded its technology portfolio to include the MIM process ( Metal Injection Molding ), a relatively new but very up-and-coming process in the field of metal processing.
In 2008 Zollern exceeded the threshold of 500 million euros in sales for the first time.
In August 2011, Zollern took over its Dutch competitors, the listed company Aalberts group belonging EUR Cast BV to its competitive position in the field of investment castings for high-tech applications in the aerospace industry, the optical industry, medical technology and electrical industry to expand. Brand and work are transferred to the Zollern plant in Soest. In September 2011 Zollern opened a factory for post-processing of cast parts in Romania.
In 2014, a subsidiary was founded in India, and in 2015 the rotary table manufacturer Rückle and Treibacher Auermet doo in Ravne, Slovenia, were taken over.
In January 2019, the Federal Cartel Office prohibited the planned creation of a joint venture with the Austrian Miba AG , which was supposed to bundle the plain bearing businesses of Zollern and Miba. The companies involved then submitted an application for ministerial approval, which was approved in August 2019.
Zollern Group
The Zollern Group includes Zollern GmbH & Co. KG with the Laucherthal plant (steel profiles, foundry technology precision casting, foundry technology sand casting + forge), Herbertingen plant (gearboxes and winches, automation, direct drives, hydrostatic), Aulendorf plant (mechanical components) and Zollern- Rückle in Römerstein (rotary table systems), Zollern BHW Gleitlager GmbH & Co. KG with the Braunschweig plant (slide bearing technology) and Osterode plant (slide bearing technology) and Zollern Aluminum Feinguss Soest GmbH & Co. KG with the Soest plant (aluminum precision casting). There was also a plant in Wildemann (slide bearing technology).
Outside Germany, the Zollern Group includes Zollern & Comandita with its plant in Portugal (foundry technology), Zollern (Tianjin) Machinery CO., LTD. with the plant in China (drive technology, gears and winches), Zollern Transmissoes Mecanicas LTDA with the plant in Brazil (plain bearing technology), Zollern TLC SAS with the plant in France, Zollern Norden AB with the plant in Sweden, and Zollern North America LP with the Plant USA and SC Zollern SRL with the plant in Romania and a plant in Slovenia.
Zollern has (as of December 2016) production sites in the following 15 countries:
- Europe: Germany, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland, France, Spain, Greece and Finland
- Asia: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan
- Africa: South Africa
- North America: USA
- South America: Brazil
The Zollern Group also includes subsidiaries in:
- United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Russia, India, South Korea and the USA.
Business areas
The business fields in which Zollern is active today are the production of steel profiles , foundry technology , drive technology, slide bearing manufacture and the manufacture of mechanical engineering elements . The company is a supplier in the fields of aerospace technology, ship and engine construction, energy and information technology, as well as vehicle and mechanical engineering.
Company data
Zollern currently employs around 3,000 people in 22 plants and branches worldwide. The company's annual turnover in the 2015 financial year was around 500 million euros.
The management has been in the hands of Klaus F. Erkes since April 2008, the chairman of the advisory board is Karl Friedrich von Hohenzollern .
Mining Museum Laucherthal
At the main Zollern plant in Laucherthal, a museum was built in the former blast furnace building, which was built from 1707, for around one million euros, which explains the history of the Princely Hohenzollern ironworks in Laucherthal and how the blast furnace works. The opening took place in September 2009. The German Foundation for Monument Protection is funding the establishment of the museum in the listed building with a sum of 125,000 euros. When Friedhelm Repnik handed over this sum , the blast furnace was described as a "unique testimony to the ironworking industry in southern Germany". In addition to the blast furnace, exhibits from the former production such as columns, press bars, railing supports, cast plates and much more are on display.
particularities
A fire brigade has existed in the main Laucherthal plant since 1919 . In addition, the company has had its own brass band there , the Laucherthal Hüttenkapelle, since 1926 . A freight line of the Hohenzollerische Landesbahn crosses the Laucherthal plant. Next to the blast furnace building is a memorial for the workers who died in the wars.
swell
- Community of Sigmaringendorf (ed.): Chronicle of Sigmaringendorf 1249–1981. Sigmaringendorf, 1982.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Consolidated Financial Statements as of December 31, 2019 in the electronic Federal Gazette
- ↑ wiwo.de
- ↑ Christoph Kiefer: Zollern started with a blast furnace. Schwäbische Zeitung, July 7, 2007.
- ↑ Press release from Zollern GmbH: Zollern-Werke preparing anniversary In: Schwäbische Zeitung Sigmaringen, May 25, 2007.
- ^ Society for corporate history (ed.): German economic archives: holdings of companies, entrepreneurs, chambers and economic associations in public archives of the Federal Republic of Germany. Volume 3. Franz Steiner Verlag, 1991, ISBN 3515053425 , p. 375.
- ↑ Janko Tietz: Bohner ore and turbocharger. In: Uwe Klußmann, Norbert F. Pötzl: The Hohenzollern: Prussian Kings, German Emperors - A SPIEGEL book. DVA 2011, ISBN 978-3-641-07074-8 .
- ↑ Takeover: Zollern buys Eurocast. The brand and work of the Dutch company are transferred to the Soest plant . In: Schwäbische Zeitung of September 7, 2011
- ↑ Company history. Zollern, accessed December 28, 2015 .
- ↑ Longer examination in the Zollern case . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung of June 18, 2019
- ↑ Minister of Economic Affairs Altmaier allows controversial merger . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung from August 19, 2019
- ↑ Zollern worldwide. Zollern, accessed December 28, 2015 .
- ↑ Press release of the Zollern Group: Zollern Group wants to continue to grow strongly. In: Schwäbische Zeitung Sigmaringen, April 21, 2008.
- ↑ Ignaz Stösser: Zollern breathes life into the blast furnace. In: Schwäbische Zeitung. October 11, 2007.
- ↑ Vera Romeu: Historical blast furnace tells of hard work. In: Schwäbische Zeitung. January 29, 2009.
- ↑ Barbara celebration. Zollern commemorates the victims of war and terrorism. In: Schwäbische Zeitung. December 1, 2010.