Gotha gear plant
The Gotha gear factory is a supplier to the machine and automotive industry in Gotha in Thuringia .
history
1924–1948 machine and gear wheels
The company Maschinen- und Zahnräder was founded by Theodor Ehrlich at the current location of ZF Friedrichshafen in Gotha . It started with two employees. In 1945 there were already 442 employees. The machine park had grown to 40 machines. All types of gears such as spur, worm and bevel gears were produced . The program was rounded off by items for end users such as hand trucks . After 24 years, Theodor Ehrlich was expropriated by the Soviet military administration on June 1, 1948 because he was taking on an order for the Wehrmacht .
1948–1960 VEB machine and gear factory in Gotha
On July 1, 1948, the company was converted into a state- owned company called VEB Maschinen- und Zahnräderfabrik Gotha . The number of employees grew to 650, including 130 trainees. The product range included:
- Manual transmission for cars and tractors
- Gearboxes for machines
- Spare parts for automobiles
- Gears up to the largest module
- Water turbines and automatic speed regulators.
1960–1990 VEB Getriebewerk Gotha
In 1960 the company name was changed again. From now on the company was called VEB Getriebewerk Gotha . This name has persisted in the population to the present day. One still speaks of the "transmission plant". The product range included:
- Gearboxes for construction machinery
- Gearboxes for agricultural machinery
- Railway transmission
- Marine gear
The Gotha location was now the center for bevel gear production in the VEB Kombinat gearboxes and clutches . Most of the trams in the GDR ran with gears from Gotha. Gearboxes from Gotha were used in many applications and were mostly developed for specific projects. The products from Gotha have proven themselves in many ship applications as well as in opencast mining excavators for lignite . On the other hand, ball joints were also produced in large numbers for the Wartburg in Eisenach .
The products were exported to the entire economic area of the Comecon . For a customer in Finland were angular gear for container cranes manufactured exclusively. During this time, the plant produced the widest range of products in its history. Technically, it was possible to copy a powershift transmission for construction machinery including its hydraulic control from the West German ZF Passau GmbH. The number of employees grew continuously. In 1990 there were around 1200 employees and 150 apprentices in training.
1990–1995 Getriebewerk Gotha GmbH (from 1992 HURTH-Getriebewerk Gotha GmbH)
After the fall of the Berlin Wall , the company was placed under trust management and during this time it was converted into a GmbH . After the introduction of the D-Mark , the former sales areas of Eastern Europe collapsed. In 1992, with only 220 employees and 20 trainees, the company was sold to HURTH in Munich . HURTH self-produced gearboxes for rail, marine and electric forklift applications. The production of gearboxes for electric forklifts has now started in Gotha . Considerable investments were made in a new hall and the modernization of the machine park.
1995–2011 ZF Gotha GmbH
The HURTH Group sold its entire transmission division to ZF Friedrichshafen on January 1, 1995 . The company name has now changed to ZF Gotha GmbH . At that time, the location belonged to the work machine drive technology division of ZF. This division was managed by ZF Passau . ZF Gotha was developed into a competence center for forklift systems. In addition to the products for electric forklifts from the HURTH era, powershift transmissions and axles for forklifts powered by internal combustion engines were now also produced in Gotha. These products were previously manufactured in Passau and Arco / Italy. The only non-forklift product was excavator slewing drives. ZF is continuing the investment projects started by HURTH even further. In 2001, an assembly plant of ZF Achstrieb GmbH ( Thyrnau ) was put into operation on the premises of ZF Gotha GmbH . In this highly automated plant, axle drives for all-wheel drive cars and SUVs are assembled in very large numbers.
At ZF Gotha GmbH, the complete product range for electric forklifts was renewed between 2001 and 2011. The old products for internal combustion forklifts , however, were discontinued. By 2011 the portfolio had developed from a pure transmission to complete electric drive systems including electric motors, brakes and, in some cases, steering systems. With the drive solutions that can be installed, customers received simplified logistics and were able to reduce their own development costs for the drives. The systems developed into volume products for ZF Gotha and accounted for the majority of sales of over 50 million euros. The very successful export to China began in 2002 . ZF Gotha started system assembly of electric drives for forklifts near Chicago / USA in 2006 . Gearboxes from Gotha were completed there with electric motors made in America and delivered to forklift manufacturers in the USA and Canada . Another step was taken in 2008 with an analog system assembly in Hangzhou / China. The export share for ZF Gotha was around 75%.
On June 21, 2008, the Industrieweg was renamed Passauer Strasse at the suggestion of the Lord Mayor. The company, whose main plant at that time, ZF Passau, was based in Passau within the ZF Group , was given the address Passauer Straße 1.
Since 2011 ZF Friedrichshafen AG
In 2011 the ZF Group adopted a new corporate structure. In this context, on August 1, 2011, the retroactive merger of almost all German GmbHs with ZF Friedrichshafen AG took place on January 1, 2011. The last managing director of ZF Gotha GmbH was Dirk Bald. With the restructuring, the development and sales of forklift systems were also relocated to the Passau location. Component production was split between the Passau and Steyr / Austria locations. Before the completion of the installation in December 2012, the one millionth drive system for forklifts could be installed in Gotha. Since the beginning of 2013, all systems for electric forklifts have been assembled in Stankov / Czech Republic and Hangzhou / China. This ended product development and sales in one of the most important companies in Gotha.
The assembly of axle drives for all-wheel drive cars and SUVs continues in Gotha. Today the plant is a production facility of ZF Friedrichshafen AG.
After the restructuring was completed, around 130 jobs for coupling assembly were gained in 2013. The transition to a purely automotive location was thus successfully completed.
Publications
- Series of publications by URANIA Kultur und Bildungsverein Gotha e. V. on the company history of the city of Gotha issue 20/1
- Series of publications by URANIA Kultur und Bildungsverein Gotha e. V. on the company history of the city of Gotha, issue 20/2
Web links
- Change of managing director - LogistikJournal. 1/2008
Individual evidence
- ^ ZF Gotha has a new address ( Memento from April 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) - Press release from the City of Gotha from June 21, 2008.
- ↑ Heiko Stasjulevics: Appropriate address. In: Thüringer Allgemeine - Gothaer Allgemeine, June 23, 2008
- ↑ Conny Möller: Eight years of movement. In: Thüringer Landeszeitung - newspaper for Gotha, December 12, 2007
- ↑ Product anniversary for forklift drive systems In: we> move The newspaper for all ZF employees, Passau location, issue 2/2012 (May)