Freudenberg (company)

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Freudenberg Group

logo
legal form Limited partnership
founding 1849
Seat Weinheim , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management
  • Mohsen Sohi (speaker)
  • Tilman Krauch
  • Ralf Krieger
Number of employees 48,851 (2019)
sales 9.5 billion euros (2019)
Website www.freudenberg.de
As of December 31, 2019

Hermannshof in today's exhibition and viewing garden in Weinheim: The residence of the Hermann Ernst Freudenberg family is now used by the company management as a conference and seminar house.
View from the Weinheim train station to the Freudenberg company building

The Freudenberg & Co. KG , based in Weinheim is a group of companies in family hands, as suppliers of various industries such as automotive, machinery, textile, construction and telecommunications industry operates. The company emerged from the trading company and tannery Heintze and Sammet under the direction of Carl Freudenberg . Carl Johann Freudenberg had been a partner in the company since 1844, with a stake of twenty percent at the time. According to his own statements, he is the world market leader for technical textiles.

Well-known products are the Vileda cleaning articles. Freudenberg products are often encountered unconsciously, for example in means of transport or radial shaft seals in car engines. In 2019, the group's companies employed around 49,000 people in around 60 countries and achieved sales of EUR 9.5 billion.

history

From foundation to World War II

Carl Johann Freudenberg and his partner Heinrich C. Heintze took over a tannery in the Müllheim Valley near Weinheim in 1849 . The company grew due to the export of its innovative products such as patent and satin leather all over the world. Between 1900 and 1904, the son of the company's founder, Hermann Ernst Freudenberg , was the first in Europe to develop a process for tanning with chrome broth instead of vegetable substances. This cut production time by months, and Freudenberg became one of the largest tanneries in Europe.

The First World War, inflation and the Great Depression in 1929 hit the company hard, because up to that point around 60–70 percent of the finished leather was exported, which was now canceled. For this reason, the founder's grandchildren, Hans Freudenberg as an engineer, Richard Freudenberg as the person responsible for human resources and finances, Otto Freudenberg as the person responsible for sales and Walter Freudenberg for purchasing, developed a new strategy: first of all, leather scraps were recycled and substitute materials were developed. This resulted in seals made of leather from 1929 and radial shaft seals with a sealing lip made of synthetic rubber Perbunan from 1936, which became a household name under the name Simmerrings .

During the Nazi era, Freudenberg was one of the German companies that had their materials tested by concentration camp inmates in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp . On the so-called “shoe test track” of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, the shoe runners commandos had to test material from the Freudenberg tannery for wear by walking . The endurance runs were de facto death marches , as the runners were shot when they collapsed due to fatigue .

The chemists and engineers at Freudenberg developed  seals and floor coverings from the synthetic rubber Buna S and Buna N. But also nonwovens , which were developed as a carrier material for the artificial leather that was later manufactured, soon found independent use as a substitute for and as an extension of woven fabrics. Due to the versatility of the nonwovens they soon became very popular. Interlinings made of nonwovens have been available under the name Vlieseline and household products from the Vileda brand since 1948 . A production program of filters for industry and consumption with the Viledon brand began in 1957 and is constantly being further developed. Seals and molded parts have been designed to measure for customers since 1934.

post war period

After the Second World War, the company's management again invested abroad during the reconstruction. The previous production sites in Austria, Switzerland, France and Great Britain were revived. From 1951, nonwovens were produced in the USA together with an American partner. From 1955 there was a factory for molded parts, and from 1968 the company management took a stake in a seal manufacturer.

In addition, further investments were made in Europe at the same time: participations and own plants were established in Great Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and other European countries. Investments in Japan were made in 1960. From 1970 to 1989 Freudenberg built up a worldwide network of production and sales locations, which includes North, Central and South America, Australia, South Africa and East Asia. Meanwhile, the product range was also expanded. From 1962 to 1965 the technology for the production of spunbond nonwovens was developed, which has since been used in medicine, agriculture and the processing industry. The lubricant manufacturer Klüber Lubrication was acquired in 1966, and in 1982 the company started producing flexible printed circuit boards together with Japanese partners .

From the 1990s until today

The first management spokesman who did not belong to the Freudenberg family was Peter Bettermann from 1997 (until 2012).

After German reunification, part of the Freudenberg company that produced parts for the automotive industry moved to East Berlin . The former factory halls and administrative buildings of the Gummiwerke Berlin in Friedrichshainer Boxhagener Strasse were still used here. In 2011 this branch moved to Berlin-Adlershof . The remaining industrial wasteland in Friedrichshain found a new buyer and investor in 2011, who initially undertook the development and eventual building under the name Freudenberg-Areal . In 2017 the name was changed to Box Seven .

In 2003 Freudenberg bought the mechanical seal manufacturer Burgmann Industries from Wolfratshausen . Burgmann forms the EagleBurgmann Industries alliance with the company Eagle from Japan, which also belongs to Freudenberg . In 2007 Freudenberg sold the building systems and shoe components division to a consortium; the company has been operating under the name nora systems since then . In 2008 Freudenberg sold Freudenberg Produktionsservice KG and Freudenberg Gebäude- service KG to Johnson Controls Global WorkPlace Solutions .

In 2010 Freudenberg Chemical Specialties took over the surface technology company SurTec International GmbH with headquarters in Zwingenberg. SurTec offers products and solutions for surface treatment and electroplating, for example for cleaning, stripping, coloring, coating and electroplating surfaces made of metal and plastic. Furthermore, in 2010 the joint venture company Freudenberg Schwab GmbH, which was founded in 1999 in cooperation with the Swiss Schwab AG and was 50% part of the Freudenberg Group, was completely bought up and expanded into a subgroup. Freudenberg Schwab produces vibration technology solutions for rail vehicles, industry, and agricultural and construction machinery. In 2012 the joint venture company TrelleborgVibracoustic GmbH was founded, which is 50% owned by the Freudenberg Group.

In February 2019, Freudenberg sold its Freudenberg IT Business Group to the IT company Syntax, which belongs to the Canadian financial investor Novacap. In September 2019, Freudenberg announced the takeover of the English competitor Low & Bonar (which holds the company Mehler Texnologies in Germany, among others ).

During the Covid-19 pandemic , the company started producing mouth-nose masks, which are sold in Germany under the name Collectex .

Company overview

structure

Freudenberg is a family company. The strategic management company of the Freudenberg Group, Freudenberg & Co. KG, belongs to 300 descendants of the company's founder, Carl Johann Freudenberg. It is one of the largest limited partnerships in Germany. The shareholders signed a partnership agreement that was extended for 30 years in July 2015.

Martin Wentzler is the chairman of the shareholders' committee. The company management consists of Mohsen Sohi, Tilman Krauch and Ralf Krieger.

Under the umbrella of Freudenberg & Co. KG, Freudenberg SE, as the parent company of the various business groups, takes on all operational management tasks. The Supervisory Board and Management Board of Freudenberg SE each consist of the same persons as the Shareholders' Committee or the management of Freudenberg & Co. KG. Martin Wentzler is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Freudenberg SE and Mohsen Sohi is the spokesman for the Management Board.

The management of the various business areas report to the management. The various companies in the Freudenberg Group are located below the management board. These companies have either the business form GmbH or SE & Co. KG (with Freudenberg SE as general partner ). The 100% Freudenberg companies are joined by numerous majority and minority holdings with various partners.

Business areas

Sealing and vibration technology business area Technical textiles and filtration business area Cleaning technologies and products business area Specialties business area
Business group Business group Business group Business group
Freudenberg Sealing Technologies Freudenberg Performance Materials Freudenberg Home and Cleaning Solutions Freudenberg Chemical Specialties
Freudenberg Oil & Gas Technologies Freudenberg Filtration Technologies   Freudenberg Medical
EagleBurgmann Japan Vilene Company   Freudenberg Service (Business Unit)
Vibracoustic     Freudenberg Business Services (Business Unit)

Key figures

year 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Sales
in € million 		3918 3868 4418 4837 5053 5341 5050 4201 5481 6006 6322 6623 7039 7572 8590 9346 9455 9468
Employee 27,693 28,479 32.004 33,385 33,526 34,330 32,738 32.134 34,200 37,031 37,453 39,897 40,456 40,474 48.010 47,653 49,137 48,851

As of December 31, 2019, the Freudenberg Group had 48,851 employees (previous year: 49,137). The number of employees is distributed across the world regions as follows: North America 10,562, Germany 11,398, in Europe excluding Germany 14,101, Africa / Australia 567, South America / Central America 1,359 and Asia 10,864.

Social Commitment

Freudenberg granted its employees voluntary social benefits at an early stage. Health insurance already existed before the legal introduction in 1884. Significant benefits were later granted: a support fund for families in need , company pensions for disabled workers , widows and orphans funds .

The Freudenberg family also founded a nursing ward, a kindergarten and a public bathtub in Schönau at the end of the 19th century . Later the city of Weinheim enjoyed the patronage of the family. An indoor swimming pool and a housing fund were created. For the company's 150th anniversary in 1999, anniversary gifts for the workforce were dispensed with and instead the Weinheim town hall was renovated with Freudenberg funds.

In 1999, the TANNER youth program was launched, with which the children and grandchildren of employees can travel to Freudenberg's locations around the world and visit employees' families.

Karl Freudenberg Prize

In 1986, on the 100th birthday of the Heidelberg chemist Karl Johann Freudenberg, the company donated the Karl Freudenberg Prize to promote young scientists in Baden-Württemberg. The formation of the jury and the award ceremony were entrusted to the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences .

Carl Freudenberg Prize

The Carl Freudenberg Prize serves to promote the next generation of university lecturers at the University of Karlsruhe (TH). It is endowed with 5000 euros and is awarded every two years for the best scientific work with scientific-technical subjects under the aspect of "scientific excellence and potential industrial usability". The prize has been awarded since 1951. The Freudenberg Group donated it on the occasion of its 100th anniversary in 1949. It is named after Friedrich Carl Freudenberg (1848–1942), who studied at the Polytechnic University, which later became the University of Karlsruhe and what is now the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Freudenberg Foundation

Logo of the Freudenberg Foundation

The Freudenberg Foundation gGmbH was founded in 1984 by shareholders of the company as an independent civil society organization for education and peaceful coexistence. It is an operational foundation.

The Freudenberg Foundation's income is generated from its stake in the Freudenberg company and from donations from the founding family and the company. In 2017, the foundation had more than 4 million euros at its disposal to support programs and projects primarily for children and young people in Germany in the areas of social inclusion and democratic culture. According to the foundation, an everyday culture in schools and society is to be supported, democratic values ​​to be strengthened and inhumane attitudes to be countered, and good educational opportunities to be given to all young people regardless of their origin.

Members of the shareholders' meeting of the Freudenberg Foundation are Jon Baumhauer , Peter Frankenberg , Petra Roth , Mohsen Sohi (chairman) and Martin Wentzler. The board of trustees includes Susanne Biedenkopf-Kürten, Dierk Borstel, Andreas Freudenberg (chairman), Yasemin Karakaşoğlu , Jonas König, Ursula Neumann, Ida Schildhauer, Uli Paetzel and Stefanie Wahl (deputy chairman).

literature

Web links

Commons : Freudenberg Group  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Freudenberg Annual Report 2019. Accessed April 22, 2020 .
  2. ↑ About us. In: freudenberg-pm.com. Retrieved February 15, 2020 .
  3. ^ Anne-Sophie Lang: Experiments in the concentration camp: blood in the shoe. November 13, 2014, accessed August 27, 2020 .
  4. ^ History of the Freudenberg site , accessed on May 18, 2017.
  5. ↑ Closing takes place: course for FIT effective. Freudenberg, February 28, 2019, accessed on July 25, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Klaus-Dieter Flörecke: Freudenberg IT sold to financial investor Novacap. Automobilwoche, January 22, 2019, accessed on July 25, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Baden Latest News, May 5, 2020, p. 6.
  8. ↑ Consolidated balance sheet of Freudenberg & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft as of December 31, 2007 in the electronic Federal Gazette
  9. ↑ Consolidated balance sheet of Freudenberg & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft as of December 31, 2010 in the electronic Federal Gazette, accessed on January 17, 2012
  10. ^ Freudenberg annual reports . Retrieved April 27, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Freudenberg Annual Report 2012. Accessed April 27, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Freudenberg Annual Report 2013. Accessed April 27, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Freudenberg Annual Report 2014. Accessed April 27, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Freudenberg Annual Report 2015. Accessed April 27, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Freudenberg Annual Report 2016. Accessed April 27, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Annual press conference: Freudenberg continues to grow sustainably. Freudenberg SE, April 17, 2018, accessed on April 18, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Ninalesenberg, Patrick Netkowski: Funding of engagement through foundations in Germany: short study . Ed .: Federal Association of German Foundations. Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-941368-06-4 , pp. 22-23 .
  18. ↑ Freudenberg Foundation: 1984 - 2009 (PDF; 7.18 MB) June 2009, p. 69 , accessed on October 29, 2018 .
  19. ^ Freudenberg Foundation: Corporate Governance. Retrieved October 29, 2018 .
  20. ^ Freudenberg Foundation: Financial data. Retrieved October 29, 2018 .
  21. ^ Freudenberg Foundation: Democratic Culture. Retrieved October 29, 2018 .
  22. ^ Freudenberg Foundation: Committees. Retrieved October 29, 2018 .