Friemann & Wolf

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Company premises of the headquarters on Reichenbacher Straße, 2005

The company Friemann & Wolf ( original spelling FRIWO ) was founded in Zwickau in 1884 as a machine and pit lamp factory. It was considered the largest manufacturer of miner's lamps in the world and still exists today in the form of two successor companies, Friwo Gerätebau GmbH, an international manufacturer of chargers, battery packs, power supplies and LED drivers for a wide variety of industries as well as a provider of E²MS services, and Friemann & Wolf Batterietechnik GmbH, a battery manufacturer.

history

Cutaway model of a type 300 petrol safety lamp

The company was founded on the invention of the petrol safety lamp by the precision mechanic Carl Wolf from Zwickau in 1881. Due to the success of this invention, Friwo has developed into a globally operating and expanding company with numerous branches in Germany and subsidiaries in Belgium, France, England and Austria -Hungary and the USA. In addition to the further development of the petrol safety lamp, Friwo also had a decisive influence on the development of electric miner's lamps . In 1907, Friwo built the world's first headlamps with nickel-cadmium batteries, after electric headlamps with lead-acid batteries had been on the market since 1903.

A major turning point in the company's history was the loss of most of the foreign branches due to expropriation after the First World War .

As a result of the Second World War, the Duisburg branch became the new West German headquarters, while the parent company in Zwickau was initially continued as the Soviet joint stock company SAG "Kabel" and later as VEB Grubenlampenwerke Zwickau.

In 1983 Friwo was taken over by Concordia Elektrizitäts-AG (CEAG) , the strongest competitor in the field of miner's lamps . As a result, mining lamp production was discontinued until 1994. After German reunification, GAZ Batterie GmbH and GAZ Notstromsysteme GmbH emerged from VEB Grubenlampen- und Akkumulatorenwerke Zwickau, while Hoppecke took over starter battery production .

In 1993 Friwo merged with the subsidiary Silberkraft Leichtakkumulatoren GmbH, founded in 1951, to form Friwo Silberkraft GmbH . After being taken over by the American battery company Exide in 1997, Friwo Silberkraft concentrated on the production of batteries at the Duisburg location.

The business with power supplies and chargers as Friwo Gerätebau, which only started in 1971 in the Ostbevern branch, remained with the previous owner, CEAG . In the field of chargers for mobile phones, the company was the world market leader with a world market share of around a quarter.

In 2002 the business of Friwo Gerätebau GmbH was divided into two business areas: Friwo Mobile Power (FMP) and Friwo Power Solutions (FPS). In 2008, the Friwo Mobile Power division was sold (today: Flextronics Power), then Cardea Holding GmbH, a subsidiary of VTC Industrieholding GmbH, acquired Friwo Gerätebau GmbH (previously: Friwo Power Solutions - FPS).

In 2003, Friwo Silberkraft was resold to the French Saft Group , renamed Friemann & Wolf Batterietechnik GmbH and relocated to the current location in Büdingen . Due to overlaps with other Saft products, production was concentrated on lithium manganese dioxide batteries from 2007 onwards.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ gaz-accu.com ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gaz-accu.com
  2. ^ Hermann Simon: Hidden Champions of the 21st Century. Success Strategies of Unknown Market Leaders . Springer, New York / London 2009, ISBN 978-0-387-98146-8 , pp. 6 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 42 ′ 50.4 "  N , 12 ° 28 ′ 49.2"  E