Knauf Group

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Gebr. Knauf KG

logo
legal form Limited partnership
founding 1932
Seat Iphofen , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management
  • Alexander Knauf
  • Manfred Grundke
  • Jörg Kampmeyer
Number of employees 35,000
sales € 10 billion
Branch Building materials industry
Website www.knauf.de
As of December 31, 2019

The Gebr. Knauf KG based in Lower Franconia Iphofen is the holding company of the companies in the Knauf Group operate worldwide in over 86 countries around 220 works and 75 Rohsteinbetriebe. The family company is a manufacturer and distributor of systems for drywall , flooring, plaster and facade under the Knauf brand .

history

Company foundation in Saarland

The two mining engineers Alfons Knauf and Karl Knauf founded a gypsum mine in Schengen on the Moselle in 1932 . In the following year they acquired a bankrupt lime works in neighboring Perl and converted it into a plaster works with three chamber kilns. This main plant is still in operation today as a dry mortar mixing plant for Marmorit products. The company was initially called the Rhineland Gypsum Industry and Mining Company . The first buyers for Knauf products were cement factories on the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, which secured the company's existence in the early years due to cheaper shipping of the products. The first expansion took place in 1935, when the Knauf brothers in Siersburg acquired another gypsum factory and leased the gypsum pit on the Gauberg. When this turned out to be unproductive, they signed a contract to mine a disused gypsum mine in Mechern , in which gypsum was still being extracted until 1960, and in 1936 they took over another gypsum quarry in Hüttenheim near Iphofen . In 1937 the Gauberg mine was closed again. Around the same time, the Knauf brothers opened warehouses in Duisburg and at Krupp in Rheinhausen . In 1938 the company took over another gypsum quarry in Stadtoldendorf and in the same year renamed Gebr. Knauf Westdeutsche Gipswerke . The annual production was now around 28,000 tons of gypsum, with which Knauf was already competing for market leadership with the largest German gypsum producer Euling & Mack .

During the Second World War , the gypsum works in Perl and the gypsum pit on the Hammelsberg were destroyed as part of the western campaign . Alfons Knauf then moved to the Iphofen location, Karl Knauf to Stadtoldendorf. After the occupation of France, the entrepreneurs returned to Saarland and slowly rebuilt the factory in Perl. In 1943 they leased the Markt Einersheim gypsum works . Towards the end of the war, however, only the plaster works in Siersburg, the plaster works in Markt Einersheim and the quarry in Stadtoldendorf were in operation. At the end of the war, all businesses were placed under forced administration.

New beginning after the Second World War in Iphofen

Headquarters of the Knauf Group in Iphofen Aerial photo (2019)

In the immediate post-war period, it was initially not foreseeable whether the Knauf families would ever regain ownership of their businesses, especially since several of the trustees or sequesters tried to get hold of the businesses themselves. Karl Knauf therefore moved to Iphofen and founded Fränkische Gipswerke GmbH there in 1947 , with which one wanted to compete with the earlier companies under trust management and ultimately take over them. In June 1948 the operations in the American and British zones were transferred back. Nevertheless, a modern rotary kiln gypsum plant was built in Iphofen, with which the pre-war turnover could be reached again in 1950. In the same year, Knauf also acquired the Frankfurter Gipswerke GmbH plant in Frankfurt's Osthafen, which was in trouble due to the currency reform . In 1951 the operations in Saarland were transferred back and in 1953 the plant in Iphofen was enlarged. The Saarland and those managed from Iphofen initially remained independent, but were closely linked by cooperation agreements. At the Perl plant, the production of perllite ceiling tiles and plasterboards began, followed in 1957 by plaster of paris, including the well-known gypsum in a tube . Gypsum boards were also produced in the factories in Frankfurt and Iphofen, and gypsum fiber boards from the end of the 1950s . In Marktbreit own originated transfer station knob on Main . The company profited from the construction boom of the reconstruction years during the so-called economic miracle .

Following the example of cigar ribbons, the packaging of the products was marked with colored ribbons in the early 1960s. The Rotband adhesive plaster , which was also advertised directly on construction sites by demonstrators, became particularly well known . Initially, production took place primarily in the Siersburg plant, where a new plant was built in 1960 to increase the production volume six-fold to 210,000 tons of plaster of paris. The economic success of this product enabled the company to expand, which has now acquired numerous smaller gypsum plants, including Sartor & Engel in Trier , Früh & Co. in Saarfels , Brill in Strasbourg and an anhydrite mine in Veltenheim . With the takeover of the Brill gypsum works with an attached building material wholesaler, Knauf also succeeded in opening various branches in France (Mülheim, Nancy, Lion, Paris).

In 1962, Knauf set up a plant in Castrop-Rauxel for the production of wall panels made of industrial plaster . In the same year, the sales office in Neuss was converted into a manufacturing plant for wall panels. Flow screeds were later made there. In 1964, Knauf acquired all of the shares in a gypsum factory in Wittershausen , which expanded through the participation of two other companies to form the United Gipswerke GmbH , with the Knauf entrepreneurial family later also acquiring the shares of the partners. A new factory for the production of plaster of paris was built in Wittershausen. The old plant was left to the local fire brigade, who burned it down in a controlled manner as part of an exercise. The plant in Wittershausen, which has been expanded several times, now produces hand plasters, machine plasters and stucco plaster, especially for the Swiss market. In 1966 another new plant for plasterboard was built in Königshofen , with a capacity of 15 million square meters per year. Production continued in Königshofen until the 1980s, after which the factory there was closed and the systems were used for other purposes within the Knauf operations.

In the 1960s, the construction industry switched from the manual to the mechanical preparation of plaster of paris. As a result, Knauf developed the Gipsomat plastering machine and the MP 75 machine plaster tailored to it . The plastering machines were manufactured by the Putzmeister company and Knauf was the sole distributor for ten years.

Railway line and production facility at the headquarters of the Knauf company in Iphofen

In 1969, Nikolaus Knauf , the son of Alfons Knauf, and Baldwin Knauf , the son of Karl Knauf, the eldest sons of the company founders, joined the company management as personally liable partners. Her seven siblings became limited partners in 1970 . At the same time, in the late 1960s, the still independent operations in Saarland began to be administered centrally within the Knauf Group from Iphofen. In 1972 Gebr. Knauf Saar-Gipswerke GmbH was finally merged into Gebr. Knauf Westdeutsche Gipswerke GmbH . The plant in Iphofen was extensively expanded and modernized from 1968. The plant in the nearby Markt Einersheim was also modernized as the Iphofen II plant and also expanded to become the company's training center. The plant in Stadtoldendorf received a production line for plasterboard in 1970. In 1970/71 a new production facility for machine plaster was built in Neuherberg . In 1989 they experimented for the first time with the loose transport of such products in containers, which resulted in Knauf Transport GmbH . With the majority stake in Deutsche Perlite GmbH in Dortmund, the diversification of Knauf products began in 1970, by using perlite as an aggregate for mortar and plaster and producing insulation boards. Deutsche Perlite GmbH today produces Perlcon boards and Perlcon TE at various locations, including Iserlohn , Lübeck and Bülstringen . The company has its own sales branches in Austria and its products are sold in the rest of the international market through the Knauf branches. In Iserlohn, Deutsche Perlite GmbH has been manufacturing Aquapanel cement panels since 2001 in a joint venture with the United States Gypsum Corporation , the world's largest gypsum manufacturer.

In 1971, Knauf took over the Frisalit works in Satteldorf and Neumorschen . The plant in Satteldorf was modernized for the production of gypsum fiber boards, and machine plasters are produced in Neumorschen. The factory in Neumorschen put the world's first belt checkweigher into operation in 1981 and was awarded the environmental protection prize of the State of Hesse in 1983 because of its special fabric filter. In addition, a new plasterworks was built in Vellberg near Satteldorf in 1971/72. In 1972 Knauf also took over the majority of the Kurhessische Gipswerke in Hundelshausen , with which a German-Hungarian joint venture for the production of partition panels was later started in Székesfehérvár in Hungary. In 1972/73 a new plasterboard production plant was built in Lauffen ob Rottweil , and in 1974 a plastering plaster plant in Embsen . The construction of a new main administration building in Iphofen followed in 1974.

Reorientation in the 1970s

With the oil and construction crisis from 1973 onwards, sales of the previous products stagnated. There has also been a change in the sources of raw materials. It was therefore decided to further diversify the products and to expand the company to include plant and mechanical engineering. Knauf had employed numerous engineers for the construction of its gypsum works . The plant constructors who had now become vacant were transferred to Knauf Engineering GmbH , which was founded in 1974 and focused on the planning and construction of plastering plants abroad. The first tasks of this new branch of the company included the expansion of a gypsum factory built by Knauf in Tehran from 1969 to 1971 and the construction of a gypsum combine in Fleurus in Algeria. Other major projects all over the world followed. When procuring the raw materials, people switched from traditional gypsum mining in gypsum pits to using FGD gypsum from waste gases. As a joint venture with Research Cottrell from New Jersey, Knauf founded Knauf Research Cottrell GmbH , which, following the construction of a pilot plant in Cochise County (USA), developed numerous flue gas desulphurisation systems for the production of high-purity FGD gypsum and was taken over by Noell in 1985.

PFT Putz- und Fördertechnik GmbH & Co. KG was founded in 1972 to develop pumping and conveying devices and designed continuous mixing pumps. The surprising success of the G4 mixing pump ultimately led to the establishment of our own machine factory in the Iphofen II plant, where 20,000 G4 mixing pumps had rolled off the production line by 1990. Together with the successor G5 , more than 60,000 such pumps had been manufactured by 2002. PFT has subsidiaries in eight countries and a global sales network in 46 countries.

In 1974 Knauf designed a hardware store program with products for the burgeoning home improvement market , including plasters , screeds and adhesives , which were presented as a trade fair innovation at BAU 76 in Munich in 1976 and subsequently sold through hardware stores. The DIY store program was one of the first of its kind in German-speaking countries and was very successful. As early as 1983 it was offered in over 800 sales outlets. The product range could be expanded many times, due to the great demand for the products even another production facility was built in Iphofen. The DIY store program had grown to around 200 products by 2003. The Knauf DIY store segment has received several awards from the specialist press and trade, today maintains sales and trading structures in almost all European countries and operates a large production facility in Belchatow in Poland. Also in 1974 the VVG Versicherungs-Vermittlungs-GmbH was founded , which takes on insurance protection and risk management within the Knauf Group and offers additional services within the framework of the employers' liability insurance association .

In 1979 Knauf took over Richter System GmbH & Co. KG in Griesheim , a manufacturer of metal profiles for carrier systems, and transformed the company into a manufacturer of wall and ceiling construction systems. One of the more important company acquisitions was the takeover of Koch Kalk und Bau GmbH in Bollschweil in 1982 , which produced mineral finishing plasters. This enabled Knauf to expand its product range to include lime plasters , which are marketed under the Koch brand name, Marmorit . From 1983 to 1997, Knauf was also involved in the Rhenish Limestone Works for the extraction of raw lime , and after the strong expansion of Marmorit, parted with its shares again. In 1999, Marmorit GmbH also took over Krautol-Werke in Darmstadt in order to expand its product range to include paints and synthetic resin-bound plasters.

It was not until the 1980s that new plants were built again in Germany. With the Neuss II plant in Neuss, a large production facility for the manufacture of hand and machine plasters from FGD gypsum from regional power plants was built. A large production plant for flowing screed was built in Hüttenheim in 1985 and was extensively modernized in 1992. In Gelsenkirchen-Buer , a gypsum plant was built next to the Scholven power plant in 1986 for Gipswerk Scholven GmbH, which for the first time produced so-called alpha gypsum there using the Japanese method of the Nitto Gypsum Division for the VEBA Division Ruhr, in which Knauf acquired shares in 1992.

International expansion

The internationalization of the company began in 1970 with the establishment of a plasterboard and plasterboard factory in Weißenbach near Liezen in Austria. From Weißenbach, where the Austrian sales center was also opened, the company later opened up the entire Southeast European market.

In 1972 Knauf founded N. et B. Knauf et Cie. In Belgium . who built a plaster works in 1973 in Ehein south of Liège. In 1991 Knauf also took over the Belgian competitor Isolava in Wielsbeke and in the following years advanced to become the market leader in Belgium. In 1974 Knauf BV was founded in Utrecht to sell German and Belgian products in the Netherlands. A large training center was also built in Utrecht in 1990. In 1977 a sales branch for Italy followed in Treviso , 1984 in Gambassi also an own plaster plant and in 1993 a plaster profile plant in Riolo Terme . The profile factory was relocated to Castellina Marittima at the end of the 1990s and the production of plasterboard started there. In Switzerland, some Knauf products have been marketed by H. Leu AG in Biel-Benken since 1971 . In 1981 Leu sold the entire PFT range and all plasters from Knauf, later Knauf acquired a stake in Leu and finally took over the company completely. The company has been operating as Knauf AG / SA since 1992 .

In 1978, Knauf set up a glass wool insulation plant in Shelbyville , Indiana, in the USA. In 1987 a plant in Lanett , Alabama, followed to open up the market in the southern USA, and in 1990 another plant in Shelbyville. In 1990, Knauf also took over another insulation production plant, Southern Ohio Foam in Lebanon , Ohio. This was followed in 2002 in Shasta Lake , California, by the construction of the largest Knauf insulation plant to date in the USA.

In 1985, the La Rhénane holding , based in Ungersheim in Alsace, was acquired. The company then called Knauf La Rhénane SA united 25 companies and plants in France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and dedicated itself to the production of expanded polystyrene . After the takeover, Knauf relocated the head office to Wolfgantzen , bought additional companies and built various plants. Knauf's operations in France were later divided into two divisions: Knauf La Rhénane continued to focus primarily on polystyrene production, while Knauf SARL was active in the area of ​​gypsum products. When Knauf La Rhénane took over the Swiss insulation manufacturer Alcopor , the Knauf insulation division was created under the name Knauf Insulation , which has factories and sales companies in several European countries.

Knauf UK GmbH , founded in 1988, set up its first plasterboard plant in the UK near Sittingbourne , which was followed by a second plant in Immingham in 1990 . The Plâtres Knauf et Cie. Was founded in France . SCS which opened a plasterboard plant in Saint-Soupplets in 1988.> Also in 1988 Knauf acquired 50% of the shares in the Greek plasterboard manufacturer Michanokataskevatsi , which was then renamed Knauf Tsepalitdis . In 1991 Knauf took over all shares and converted the company with production facilities in Amfilochia to Knauf ABEE . The Greek plant also delivers to North Africa and the Middle East, for which the subsidiary Knauf Lebanon SARL , based in Beirut , was founded in Greece in 1996 . In 1990 Knauf built a plasterboard factory in Guixers near Solsona , Spain .

After the peaceful revolution and the opening of the former Eastern Bloc, in 1990 Knauf founded a joint venture with the Gipswerk in Rottleberode and the Dessau Cement Construction Combine in the GDR, Eurogips Produktions- und Vertriebs-GmbH , with five branches in Leipzig , Rostock , Berlin , Dessau and Dresden erected. Knauf acquired all shares in Eurogips in 1990 and had the plant in Rottleberode comprehensively modernized in the following years. In 1993, Knauf also acquired the former Kalkhütte Hotel-Restaurant , which was founded in 1851 as Kalkhütte, but had already completely fallen into disrepair , had the dilapidated building renewed true to the original and has been operating it again as a hotel with restaurant since 1997 by Knauf Kalkhütte GmbH . In 1995, Knauf built a production complex for processing the FGD gypsum that arises next to the VEAG power plant in Schwarze Pump . In 1996 an anhydrite plant in Boxberg followed in the new federal states. In 1992 Knauf took over the Danish company Danogips A / S with two plasterboard plants in Denmark and one in Sweden . With its Dano wall system, Danogips was one of the market leaders for lightweight construction systems in Scandinavia and had also had a sales office in Germany since 1974. With the takeover of Danogips, Knauf also served the strong demand in the new federal states during the building boom in the post-reunification years. When this subsided, the panel production in Vojens, Denmark , was closed in 2000 and the production of Danogips products was relocated to the Schwarze Pump plant. In 1994 Knauf acquired all shares in the Swedish paper and cardboard manufacturer Inland AB in Lilla Edet , in which Danogips had previously held a stake. The further expansion in Scandinavia took place in 1993 with the establishment of Knauf-Kipso OY in Finland , which took over all shares in Suomen Kipso OY in 1995 . The gypsum board plant near Pori in Finland was initially supplied with Spanish natural gypsum, but was then converted to processing FGD gypsum from five Finnish power plants.

In Eastern Europe, Knauf first gained a foothold in Hungary , where the sales company Knauf Kft. Budapest was founded in 1989 and a production facility for plaster and mortar was opened in Veszprém in 1991 in a joint venture with Austrian companies . A plant in Bugyi ( Pest County ) followed in 1996, and another in Vác in 2001 . The Czech Knauf Praha spol.sr.o. was founded from Knauf in Austria in 1991 . which initially only sold Knauf products in the Czech Republic and then acquired the largest Czech plaster and mortar plant in Prague -Kbely in 1993. As a joint venture with the Czech power plant group ČEZ , Knauf Počerady spol.sr.o. In addition, a plasterboard plant was built in Výškov- Počerady in 1993/94 , which processes FGD gypsum from a neighboring power plant.

In Poland , following the Bełchatów power plant, a plasterboard factory was built up to 1997, which processes the 300,000 tons of FGD gypsum that is produced annually in the power plant. Another Polish plant in Jaworzno was the largest East European plasterboard plant ever when it was opened in 1999. In Croatia , Knauf Knin doo took over all shares in the gypsum building board plant in Knin in 1997 ; in a joint venture with Lasselsberger, Lasselsberger Knauf doo also acquired a dry mortar plant in Đurđevac, Croatia, in 2000 . In 1997, Knauf also took over the majority of shares in the Debar Gypsum Construction Combine in Macedonia and transformed the company into Knauf Radika AG . The plant in Debar was modernized and a second production facility was added. The products of this company branch are not only sold on the Macedonian market, but also in neighboring Albania . In 1997, Knauf acquired a gypsum fiberboard plant in Vidin in Bulgaria . The products of this plant are offered in German and Austrian home improvement stores under the brand names Vidifloor and Vidiwall . In Turkey , Knauf acquired 50% of the shares in the company Biltepe AS, which then traded as Tepe-Knauf Insaat ve Yapi Elemaniari Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi from 1997 , and the affiliated sales company Tepe Alccipan AS Tepe-Knauf is the market leader for plasterboard in Turkey. In addition to the main plant in Ankara , there has also been a new plant in Kullar near İzmit since 2003 .

A scientific and technical exchange between Knauf and Soviet universities had already taken place since 1970. From 1993 onwards, Knauf invested around 300 million euros in Russian building material combines in order to acquire production facilities, but also to develop and secure its own raw material sources, to achieve the quality standard of the cardboard required for plasterboard production, to set up sales and trading structures and to recruit personnel for To train production and trade. Knauf also made extensive investments in the social and cultural environment of the company locations , including the reconstruction of the Neptune Fountain in Saint Petersburg and the reconstruction of the Orthodox Church of Ovstug in the Bryansk Oblast . Within ten years up to 2003 Knauf acquired 14 company investments in Russia, two in Ukraine , two in Moldova and one in Kazakhstan . A total of around 7,500 employees were employed in these companies. The Knauf Group in Russia includes plants in Krasnogorsk , Kolpino , Psebai , Novomoskowsk , Kommunar , Dzerzhinsk , Chelyabinsk and Baskuntschak , in Ukraine in Kiev , in Moldova in Bălți and Criva (in the Briceni district ) and in Kazakhstan in Qapshaghai . After Siemens , Knauf was the second largest German investor in Russia in 2003.

In 1995 Knauf entered into a joint venture with two Chinese partners and then took over their shares. The Knauf Plasterboard (Wuhu) Co. Ltd. operates a plasterboard plant in Wuhu , Knauf New Building Material Products Company Ltd. operates a similar plant in Dongguan , and Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Company Ltd. one in Tianjin . In South America , a plant was opened in Queimados, Brazil, in 1997 and a plant in Mendoza , Argentina, in 1998 . In 1994, Knauf set up a large production facility in Fenne for processing the FGD gypsum produced in the Saar mines. The plant in Fenne has replaced the old Siersburg site, the majority of which will continue to be used at the Belzi site in Moldova. In 1995 Knauf also took over the mineral fiber board manufacturer AMF in Grafenau . In 1997, the Knauf company headquarters in Iphofen was extensively expanded due to the immensely growing business area. The production facilities in Iphofen were also converted to processing FGD gypsum by 1999. The raw material is mainly obtained from coal-fired power plants in eastern Germany. The Talns type freight wagon was developed in cooperation with DB Cargo to transport the material .

On June 2, 2003, the main German company was converted to Knauf Gips KG . In 2011 the Knauf Group had a turnover of over 5 billion euros, around 10% of which was invested in new systems in order to adapt the production capacities to a future increase in demand.

On April 24, 2019, Gebr. Knauf KG and USG Corporation (NYSE: USG) announced the completion of the takeover of USG by Knauf. USG common stock will no longer be traded on the New York (NYSE) and Chicago (CHX) stock exchanges and will be delisted from the NYSE and CHX. On September 30, 2019, the Knauf Group took over the non-American activities of Armstrong World Industries . The takeover was only approved by the supervisory authorities subject to certain conditions. In accordance with the requirements, parts of the acquired Armstrong World Industries were sold on to the financial investor AURELIUS Equity Opportunities . With both acquisitions, the company with 250 plants and around 35,000 employees could increase sales to around 11.2 billion euros in 2020.

Companies

The companies of the Knauf Group operate under the umbrella of Gebr. Knauf KG as a holding company in over 86 countries around the world, around 220 plants and 75 rough stone companies. The family-run company is a manufacturer and distributor of plaster / facade systems, floor systems ( dry screed ), dry construction systems ( plasterboard ), insulation materials, packaging and machine technology for processing plasters and mortars . In addition, the company maintains its own academy for further training of craftsmen and building materials dealers as well as an endowed professorship in the field of architecture at the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences .

In January 2013, the group was ranked 24th in the Wirtschaftsblatt magazine's ranking of the 500 largest family businesses in Germany .

The company is a member of the Federal Association of Building Materials - Stones and Earths eV and the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) .

The following companies belong to the Knauf Group in Germany:

  • Gebr. Knauf KG, Iphofen
    • Knauf Gips KG, Iphofen
    • Knauf Insulation GmbH, Simbach am Inn
    • Knauf Insulation Operation GmbH, Simbach am Inn
    • Knauf Insulation Holding GmbH, Iphofen
    • Knauf Engineering GmbH, Iphofen
    • Danogips GmbH & Co. KG, Neuss
    • Marbos GmbH & Co. KG, Dortmund
    • Knauf AMF GmbH & Co. KG, Grafenau
    • Knauf Bauprodukte GmbH & Co. KG, Iphofen
    • Knauf PFT GmbH & Co. KG, Iphofen
    • Knauf Riessler GmbH & Co. KG, Wolpertshausen
    • Richter System GmbH & Co. KG, Griesheim
    • Sakret Bausysteme GmbH & Co. KG, Dortmund
    • VG-Orth GmbH & Co. KG, Stadtoldendorf
    • VG-ORTH GmbH & Co. KG, Witzenhausen
    • Knauf VVG Versicherungsservice und -Vermittlungs GmbH, Iphofen
    • Knauf Trans GmbH, Iphofen
    • Knauf Information Services GmbH, Iphofen
    • Knauf Aquapanel GmbH, Dortmund
    • Knauf Aquapanel GmbH & Co. KG, Dortmund
    • Opitz Holzbau GmbH & Co. KG, Neuruppin
    • Climowool GmbH, Bernburg
    • Deutsche Heraklith GmbH (Deherag), Simbach am Inn
    • GFR mbH, Würzburg
    • Knauf Integral KG, Satteldorf

Knauf Museum Iphofen

On June 30, 1983, the Knauf Museum was opened in a baroque building originally built as an inn in Iphofen in 1688, directly on the market square . It houses original casts of exhibits from the world's great museums. In 2010 the Knauf Museum was expanded to include a new building (design: Architects Böhm & Kuhn, Iphofen) for special exhibitions, which was awarded the Bavarian Tourism Architecture Prize artouro on November 16, 2011 . The prize was awarded by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Bavarian Chamber of Architects in cooperation with Bayern Tourismus Marketing GmbH.

Awards

  • Nikolaus Knauf and Baldwin Knauf were made honorary citizens of the community of Weißenbach (Styria) in 1982 and, together with Harro Seth von Knauf Iphofen, were awarded the Great Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria in 1990. Manfred Winkler, Managing Director of Knauf Austria, received the Golden Decoration of Honor in 1993 for services to the State of Styria. In 2017, the Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg awarded Baldwin Knauf the X-ray Medal - Science Prize.
  • In 1982, 1997, 2005 and 2015 Knauf was awarded the Building Materials Market Oskar initiated by Werner Wohlfarth . The Knauf gypsum works in Neumorschen was awarded the State of Hesse's environmental protection prize in 1983.
  • In 2012, the Region Mainfranken GmbH recognized Knauf Gips KG as one of the most family-friendly companies in Mainfranken. Knauf Gips KG won the “Mainfranken Sustainability Award” for the first time in 2012 in the “Over 250 Employees” category in both 2012 and 2015. In the “Most Family-Friendly Employer Mainfranken 2012” competition, the jury selected the company as one of the TOP 5, combined with the “particularly family-friendly” award.

Projects

From 2013 to 2016 Knauf and the Knauf joint venture Cocoon AG (Switzerland) participated in an EU research project ELISSA (Energy Efficient Lightweight-Sustainable-SAfe-Steel Construction) at the University of Naples. It was investigated how buildings with a lightweight steel construction behave in the event of an earthquake.

As part of the international Solar Decathlon Europe 2014 competition, Knauf supported architecture students from the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. Under the project name Symbiont, the OnTop team developed an addition to a building in the Nassauische Heimstätte in Frankfurt as a plus energy concept . The two-storey, around one hundred square meter residential unit supplies itself and the existing buildings below with solar energy. The prototype was built on a 1: 1 scale as a competition entry in Versailles from June 28 to July 14, 2014 and ended up in seventh place. The project took first place in the special European Social Housing Award , which was awarded by the European umbrella association for social, municipal and cooperative housing construction CECODHAS Housing Europe.

criticism

In 2002 the company was fined 85.8 million euros as part of the discovery of the plasterboard cartel .

In March 2009, a class action lawsuit was filed in Miami, Florida (USA) against three Chinese partner companies of Knauf Gips KG in connection with corrosive plasterboard. These affected plates damage copper pipes with corrosive fumes. Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin (KPT) does not see any health risks in the affected product. Two other independent class actions are pending in Louisiana and Florida. The lawsuits against Knauf KG were ended on December 15, 2011 with a settlement. Knauf Gips KG undertook to pay for the renovation of the affected houses. A compensation fund was set up, which was initially filled with 390 million dollars and into which Knauf Gips KG has to keep increasing. The class action lawyer estimates the total liability to be close to $ 1 billion.

In July 2009 it became known that a company under the control of Knauf Gips KG threatened to dismiss its Iranian employees if they were caught during a demonstration against the government. Earlier, a senior official was arrested at a Friday demonstration and demanded that notification be given as a condition for his release. A confidential letter to this effect (signed by Isabel Knauf, who belongs to the founding family of the Bavarian building materials manufacturer Knauf Gips KG) was published by the Wall Street Journal . Knauf Gips KG then stated that the letter was "poorly worded" and needed correction. Freedom of expression will not be restricted and participation in demonstrations will have no consequences.

literature

  • Werner Rödiger, Herbert Schumacher, Wilfried Demel: Growing and Becoming. Biography of the Knauf family of entrepreneurs . 1st edition. Knauf Gips, Iphofen 2003, ISBN 3-927374-36-9 .

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b https://www.knauf.de/profi/wir-bei-knauf/ueber-uns/
  2. ^ Rödiger et al. Biography of the Knauf family of entrepreneurs. Pp. 15-35.
  3. ^ Rödiger et al. Biography of the Knauf family of entrepreneurs. Pp. 37-40.
  4. ^ Rödiger et al. Biography of the Knauf family of entrepreneurs. Pp. 50-61.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Rödiger including biography of the Knauf family of entrepreneurs. Pp. 78-113.
  6. ↑ The designation MP 75 is explained by the abbreviation for machine plaster and the 75% higher performance of machine plaster compared to normal plaster, cf. Rödiger et al. 2003, p. 97.
  7. ↑ a b c Rödiger including biography of the Knauf entrepreneurial family. Pp. 140-150.
  8. ↑ a b Rödiger including biography of the Knauf entrepreneurial family. Pp. 153-169.
  9. ↑ a b Rödiger including biography of the Knauf entrepreneurial family. Pp. 237-245.
  10. ↑ a b Rödiger including biography of the Knauf entrepreneurial family. Pp. 171-183.
  11. ^ Rödiger et al. Biography of the Knauf family of entrepreneurs. Pp. 186-194.
  12. ^ Rödiger et al. Biography of the Knauf family of entrepreneurs. Pp. 216-225.
  13. ^ Rödiger et al. Biography of the Knauf family of entrepreneurs. Pp. 195-212.
  14. ↑ a b Rödiger including biography of the Knauf entrepreneurial family. Pp. 249-258.
  15. ↑ a b Rödiger including biography of the Knauf entrepreneurial family. Pp. 281-298.
  16. ↑ a b Rödiger including biography of the Knauf entrepreneurial family. Pp. 301-320.
  17. ^ Rödiger et al. Biography of the Knauf family of entrepreneurs. Pp. 323-329.
  18. ^ Rödiger et al. Biography of the Knauf family of entrepreneurs. Pp. 330-339.
  19. ^ Rödiger et al. Biography of the Knauf family of entrepreneurs. Pp. 342-375.
  20. ^ Rödiger et al. Biography of the Knauf family of entrepreneurs. Pp. 379-386.
  21. ^ Rödiger et al. Biography of the Knauf family of entrepreneurs. Pp. 390-402.
  22. ↑ Knauf - Current announcements
  23. ^ Armstrong World Industries Completes Sale of EMEA and Pacific Rim Business to Knauf - Armstrong World Industries. In: armstrongworldindustries.com. September 30, 2019, accessed on January 16, 2020 .
  24. ↑ Merger control: Commission approves takeover of Armstrong's non-American ceiling division by Knauf, subject to conditions. Press release. European Commission, December 7, 2018, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  25. ↑ AURELIUS will take over parts of the Armstrong ceiling business from Knauf. In: aureliusinvest.de. August 9, 2019, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Company Knauf: The rise to the top of the industry is done. In: mainpost.de. December 8, 2019, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  27. ↑ Top 500 - The largest family businesses in Germany (PDF; 307 kB) . In: Wirtschaftsblatt 1/13 (accessed via Archive.org)
  28. ↑ [1]
  29. ^ Region Mainfranken, Sustainability Award , accessed on February 29, 2016.
  30. ↑ Gypsum board cartel: EU Commission imposes heavy fines on four companies
  31. ↑ Impulse, issue 10/12, p. 69.
  32. ↑ Farnaz Fassihi, Matthew Karnitschnig: German Firm in Iran Bans Staff protest. In: Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2009.
  33. ↑ Original letter on the web space of the Wall Street Journal (English) from July 21, 2009 (PDF; 318 kB)
  34. ^ Wall Street Journal : German Firm in Iran Bans Staff Protests , July 31, 2009.
  35. ^ Spiegel Online : German company forbade Iranian employees to demonstrate , July 31, 2009.
  36. ↑ Press release (PDF; 332 kB), July 31, 2009.