Freudenberg Sealing Technologies

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Freudenberg Sealing Technologies

logo
legal form GmbH
founding 2011 as the name change from the previous Freudenberg Dichtungs- und Schwingungstechnik GmbH & Co. KG
Seat Weinheim , Germany
management Management Board, consisting of Claus Möhlenkamp (CEO, Spokesman), Ludger Neuwinger-Heimes (CFO), Theodore Duclos (CTO and COO)
Number of employees 14,073 (2019)
sales 2.22 billion euros (2019)
Branch Sealing technology
Website www.fst.de

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies headquarters in Weinheim

The seal manufacturer Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is a global supplier to the vehicle and automotive industry , the civil aviation industry , the machine and shipbuilding industry , the food and pharmaceutical industry as well as the agricultural and construction machinery industry . With sales of around 2.2 billion euros (as of December 31, 2019) and around 14,000 employees, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is the largest subgroup of the Freudenberg Group .

history

origin

In 1849 Carl Johann Freudenberg and his partner Heinrich C. Heintze took over a tannery in Weinheim . In 1929 the first leather seals for the automotive industry were produced. In 1932, as an employee of the Carl Freudenberg leather factory , Walther Simmer developed a new type of radial shaft seal with a worm spring, which was named "Simmerring" after him. In 1936 the leather sealing lip was replaced by an elastomer sealing lip . This further development was then patented for the first time in 1942. The Simmerring is a synonym for radial shaft seals and it still plays an important role in the sealing business of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies.

To open up the Japanese market, the company entered into a cooperation in sealing technology with the Tokyo- based Nippon Oil Seal Industry Company (NOK) in 1960 . In 1973 Freudenberg acquired a stake in the Brazilian seal manufacturer Rubrasil, founded in 1958 and based in São Paulo , which was taken over in 1988 together with the Japanese NOK.

In 1989 the sealing business in America was merged by Freudenberg and its Japanese partner NOK in the joint venture Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership in order to increase its presence in the seal market in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

In China, the first sealing factories were opened in 1995 in Changchun and Wuxi together with the Japanese NOK under the umbrella of the newly founded joint venture NOK-Freudenberg Group China.

In 1996 Freudenberg Dichtungs- und Schwingungstechnik GmbH Co. KG was founded as part of a decentralization of the previous Carl Freudenberg KG into independent subgroups.

In 1997 the Merkel Group in Hamburg, specializing in hydraulic seals, and in 1998 Integral Akkumulatoren in Remagen, manufacturer of pressure accumulators for hydraulics and pneumatics, were taken over.

To expand their business in India, Freudenberg, NOK and the India-based automotive supplier Sigma founded the joint venture Sigma Freudenberg NOK PVT in 2000. Ltd. In 2003, a joint production facility for seals was set up in the Indian city of Mohali .

In 2004, Freudenberg acquired the Wolfratshausen- based manufacturer of mechanical face seals Burgmann Dichtungswerke with 3,300 employees.

founding

Today's Freudenberg Sealing Technologies GmbH & Co. KG was established on May 1, 2011 as the name of the previous Freudenberg Sealing and Vibration Technology was changed. At the same time, the previously independent joint venture Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership (USA) was renamed Freudenberg NOK Sealing Technologies and managed under the umbrella of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies GmbH & Co. KG.

Development since 2011

In 2012 the company acquired 50 percent of the shares in the Schneegans Group. The company, which specializes in multi-component injection molding production processes, has been operating under the name Schneegans Freudenberg GmbH since then.

In 2014, the previously independent Freudenberg Schwab Vibration Control (vibration technology for rail vehicles) and Dichtomatik (seal trade) business groups were integrated into the Freudenberg Sealing Technologies Business Group. In the same year Freudenberg Sealing Technologies acquired the family company Tobul Accumulator Inc., a developer and manufacturer of hydraulic accumulators with headquarters in Bamberg, South Carolina, USA. In September 2015, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies acquired Ludowici Sealing Solutions, an Australian supplier of hydraulic and pneumatic seals. Freudenberg Sealing Technologies says it wants to strengthen its sales network for sealing solutions in the industrial sector and in the automotive spare parts business in Australia.

The subsidiary Schwab Vibration Control, which specializes in vibration control solutions for rail vehicles, was sold to Trelleborg AB in October 2016 . In July 2017, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies took over the British manufacturer of diaphragms and sealing solutions Metflex Precision Moldings.

At the beginning of 2018, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies took over parts of the fuel cell manufacturer Elcore and its sister company Elcomax, based in Munich . In spring 2018, the company acquired 31 percent of the shares in the US manufacturer of large-format lithium-ion battery cells, modules and systems, XaltEnergy, which has over 140 employees and is based in Midland , Michigan . In February 2019, these shares were increased to a majority stake. In September 2019, Flixmobility and Freudenberg Sealing Technologies announced that they would equip thirty buses with Freudenberg fuel cell technology on a trial basis by the beginning of 2022 at the latest. Large-scale production of the technology should take place after 2024. For cruise ships, Freudenberg is cooperating with AIDA Cruises and Meyer Werft in the Pa-X-ell2 project , within the framework of which the AIDAnova is to be operated with fuel cells from 2021 .

structure

Together with its partners NOK Corporation, Japan, Sigma Freudenberg NOK, India and NOK-Freudenberg Group China, the company has built a global network in 60 countries at more than 75 locations.

The subsidiaries Corteco and Dichtomatik complement product ranges and sales networks. Corteco supplies independent workshops and the spare parts trade with seals and cabin filters in the automotive spare parts market. Dichtomatik serves as Freudenberg Sealing Technologies' trading organization on the market for technical seals.

The business is managed by Claus Möhlenkamp (CEO, spokesman), Ludger Neuwinger-Heimes (CFO) and Theodore Duclos (CTO and COO).

Europe

The company employs around 8,000 people in Europe. The company has 22 production sites in Europe in Germany, Estonia, France, Great Britain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Hungary. In addition to the company headquarters in Weinheim, the company has sales offices in Germany in Hirschberg , Hamburg and Schwalmstadt .

America

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is represented in North and South America as Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies. The company is based in Plymouth , Michigan and manufactures seal and elastomer composite parts. The company employs around 5,200 people (2016) at 23 production, research and sales locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Malaysia.

Asia

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies operates on the Asian market with the NOK-Freudenberg Group China and Sigma Freudenberg NOK, India. NOK-Freudenberg Group China is a joint venture between Freudenberg in Germany and the NOK Corporation in Japan with locations in Beijing , Changchun , Chongqing , Guangzhou , Hefei , Hong Kong , Shanghai , Taicang , Tianjin , Wuhan and Wuxi . The company employs around 3,000 people (2016) in China.

With the joint venture Sigma Freudenberg NOK Pvt. Ltd. Freudenberg Sealing Technologies serves markets on the Indian subcontinent. The company supplies vehicle manufacturers, Indian joint venture partners of international automobile manufacturers and their suppliers.

Awards

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies was awarded the German Innovation Prize and the Innovation Prize for Climate and Environment (IKU) in the "Environmentally Friendly Technologies" category in 2011 for the development of a new process for the production of metallic support rings that saves 73% steel and, accordingly, CO 2 compared to conventional processes excellent. Instead of the previously usual punching out of the support rings, narrow strips are formed into rings in the newly developed system and then cut and welded by laser.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Freudenberg Group: Annual Report 2019 (PDF; 5.76 MB) April 2020, p. 61 , accessed on May 5, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Freudenberg Sealing Technologies - family-owned for over 165 years. Retrieved December 22, 2017 (German).
  3. ↑ Georg Küffner, Holding tight is your job, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of February 23, 2010.
  4. ↑ 85 years of Simmerring. Go on a journey through time with the Simmerring. Retrieved December 22, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Freudenberg Group: The Development of the Freudenberg Group 1849-2016. (PDF) May 30, 2017, p. 15 , accessed December 22, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Freudenberg Group: The Development of the Freudenberg Group 1849-2016. (PDF) May 30, 2017, p. 16 , accessed December 22, 2017 .
  7. ^ Andreas Ahrens, Volker Teichert, Rolf Gramm: Ecological material management in the Rhine-Neckar area . Ed .: Institute for ecological economic research. Berlin / Heidelberg 1995, ISBN 3-926930-82-9 , pp. 115 .
  8. ↑ Deutschland.de: The model entrepreneurs. (No longer available online.) FAZIT Communication GmbH, Foreign Office, December 27, 2012, formerly in the original ; accessed on December 22, 2017 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.deutschland.de  
  9. ^ Carl Freudenberg: 150 years of Freudenberg: the development of a family company from a tannery to an international group of companies . Ed .: Freudenberg & Co. KG. Mannheim 1999, OCLC 313958262 , p. 171 ff . ( ibs-bw.de ).
  10. ^ Carl Freudenberg: 150 years of Freudenberg: the development of a family company from a tannery to an international group of companies . Ed .: Freudenberg & Co. KG. Mannheim 1999, OCLC 313958262 , p. 210-211 ( ibs-bw.de ).
  11. ^ Sigma Corporation: About us. Retrieved December 22, 2017 (English).
  12. ↑ Freudenberg Group: The Development of the Freudenberg Group 1849-2016. (PDF) May 30, 2017, p. 22 , accessed December 22, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Klaus-Dieter Flörecke: Freudenberg Group wants to buy Burgmann. Automobilwoche, February 2, 2004, accessed on December 22, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Freudenberg Group: Annual Report 2011 Freudenberg Group . (PDF) March 29, 2012, p. 6 , accessed December 22, 2017 .
  15. ↑ Freudenberg Group: The Development of the Freudenberg Group 1849-2016. (PDF) May 30, 2017, p. 18 , accessed December 22, 2017 .
  16. ↑ Freudenberg joins Schneegans. Peter Olsen in Börsen-Zeitung. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  17. ↑ Annual Report 2014 Freudenberg Group, p. 9. Accessed July 16, 2018 (PDF; 7.02 MB).
  18. ↑ Sealing solutions for oil and gas production. Fluid.de. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  19. ↑ Freudenberg buys Ludowici Sealing Solutions. Jens Scheiner in the automotive industry. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  20. ↑ Schwab Vibration Control goes to Trelleborg. Gabriel Pankow in production. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  21. ↑ Freudenberg Group: Schwab Vibration Control sold to Trelleborg. October 4, 2016, accessed December 22, 2017 .
  22. ↑ Jens Scheiner: Freudenberg takes over Metflex Precision Moldings. Automobil Industrie, July 7, 2017, accessed July 21, 2017 .
  23. ↑ CHEManager: Freudenberg continues to grow sustainably. May 18, 2018, accessed July 16, 2018 .
  24. ↑ Freudenberg Sealing Technologies: Freudenberg invests in fuel cell and battery technology. May 14, 2018, accessed July 16, 2018 .
  25. ^ Jens Scheiner: Freudenberg: majority stake in Xalt Energy. Automobil Industrie, February 5, 2019, accessed April 12, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Henning Peitsmeier: Flixbuses should be even greener. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, September 26, 2019, accessed on November 6, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Rebecca Gibson: AIDA Cruises to pilot cruise industry's first fuel cell system. Cruise & Ferry, October 15, 2019, accessed on November 6, 2019 .
  28. ↑ Freudenberg Group: Annual Report 2016 (PDF; 7.88 MB) April 2017, pp. 51–53 , accessed on July 21, 2017 .
  29. ↑ Verena Senger: COO Dieter Schäfer is retiring. Automobilwoche, April 18, 2019, accessed on October 31, 2019 .
  30. ^ Freudenberg Sealing Technologies: Freudenberg Sealing Technologies as an employer. Retrieved December 22, 2017 .
  31. ^ Freudenberg Sealing Technologies: Locations. Retrieved December 22, 2017 .
  32. ^ Freudenberg Sealing Technologies: Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies. Retrieved December 22, 2017 .
  33. ^ NOK-Freudenberg: About us. Retrieved December 22, 2017 .
  34. ↑ Chris Sweeney: Freudenberg to expand sealing production in India. Rubber & Plastics News, June 20, 2017, accessed December 22, 2017 .
  35. ↑ Sebastian Matthes, Thomas Kuhn, Dieter Duerand: Die Sieger des Innovationspreis 2011. WirtschaftsWoche, March 26, 2011, accessed on December 22, 2017 .
  36. ↑ IKU: Prize Winner 2011 ( Memento from September 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). Website of the Innovation Prize for Climate and Environment IKU, accessed on September 3, 2016.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The sales and employee figures were adjusted to an equity method in the 2017 financial year following a change in the internal reporting structure . See the 2017 Annual Report, page 61