Würth Group

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Würth Group

logo
legal form Group of companies (foundation)
founding 1945
Seat Künzelsau , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management Robert Friedmann
Number of employees 78,686
sales EUR 14.27 billion
Branch Conglomerate
Website www.wuerth.com
As of December 31, 2019

The Würth Group is a group of companies that operates worldwide, primarily in the wholesale of fastening and assembly technology products . It developed from Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG , based in Künzelsau .

history

Old Würth Group logo
Würth company in Künzelsau, art in architecture, sculpture

Würth was founded by Adolf Würth (1909–1954) for the purpose of trading screws in Künzelsau in 1945 (hence the company logo, which consists of the family name and two screw heads with cylinder and round heads). After Adolf Würth's death, his son Reinhold Würth took over the screw business together with his mother Alma Würth in 1954 at the age of 19 , which at the time was still a two-person company.

Since then, the company has developed into the world's leading trading group with the main business share in the sale of fastening and assembly materials as well as tools with over 125,000 different products. Its more than 3 million customers primarily include companies from the construction industry, wood and metalworking trades , motor vehicle companies and, increasingly, industrial customers.

Today's Würth Group operates worldwide. It employed over 78,000 people in 2019. In the Top 500 ranking of the daily newspaper Die Welt , the Würth Group took 91st place in 2006. It is one of the largest non-listed companies in Germany.

Reinhold Würth retired from the management on January 1, 1994 and took over the chairmanship of the Würth Advisory Board. On March 1, 2006, he handed this office over to his daughter Bettina Würth and has been Honorary Chairman of the Advisory Board since then and remains Chairman of the Foundation Supervisory Board of the Würth Group.

After five years of research, the group of companies opened a production facility in Schwäbisch Hall on October 27, 2006 for the series production of new types of solar cells without silicon or from copper, indium and selenium ( CIS solar cells ).

In contrast to other trading companies, Würth puts a lot of effort into research and development. In 2007, a record was reached with over 60 patents.

In 2015, the company took 13th place in the “Ranking list of the 500 largest German family businesses” published by Wirtschaftsblatt magazine .

Corporate structure

Sales in EUR million by business area (2016)

In addition to the German parent company Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, Künzelsau, the group includes over 400 companies in over 80 countries around the world, which are divided into two lines:

  • Würth Line (companies with the company name Würth ), e.g. B. Würth AG Switzerland , divided into the divisions metal, auto, wood, industry and construction
  • Allied Companies (over 260 companies) - for the most part purchased companies that operate under their traditional name or have been integrated into another Allied Company. The Allied Companies are divided into the areas of electrical wholesaling, trading, electronics, production, RECA (direct sales), tools, screws and standard parts, financial services and diversification.

The Würth company has specialized in sales via field staff . It also has numerous sales offices in Germany and a few other countries.

The Würth Group's subsidiaries include:

  • Arnold Umformtechnik GmbH & Co. KG, Forchtenberg-Ernsbach
  • Conmetall Meister GmbH, locations in Celle and Wuppertal
  • FEGA & Schmitt electrical wholesaling , Ansbach
  • Grass GmbH (motion systems)
  • Hahn + Kolb Group , Ludwigsburg
  • Hommel Hercules Werkzeughandel GmbH & Co. KG, Viernheim
  • HSK Hamburger Schraubenkontor GmbH, Hamburg
  • HSR GmbH, Neukirchen-Vluyn
  • International banking house Bodensee
  • IVT Installation and Connection Technology GmbH & Co. KG
  • Kerona GmbH, Öhringen
  • Liqui Moly , Ulm
  • Marbet Marion & Bettina Würth GmbH & Co. KG (event agency)
  • Meguin Mineraloelwerke , Saarlouis
  • Normfest GmbH, Velbert
  • Panorama Hotel- und Service GmbH (hotels, restaurants and catering)
  • Paravan , Pfronstetten-Aichelau
  • Reca Norm GmbH , Kupferzell
  • Reisser screw technology GmbH, Ingelfingen
  • Sartorius Werkzeuge GmbH & Co. KG, Ratingen
  • Special screws Güldner GmbH & Co. KG, Niederstetten
  • SWG Schraubenwerk Gaisbach GmbH, Waldenburg
  • Synfiber AS, Oslo
  • Tunap , Wolfratshausen
  • Uni Elektro Fachgroßhandel GmbH & Co. KG , Eschborn
  • Wagener & Simon WASI GmbH & Co. KG, Wuppertal
  • Waldenburger Versicherung AG
  • Würth Elektronik group of companies , u. a. with the larger sub-companies:
    • Würth Elektronik eiSos GmbH & Co. KG, Waldenburg (electronic and electromechanical components)
    • Würth Elektronik GmbH & Co. KG Circuit Board Technology, Niedernhall (printed circuit boards)
    • Würth Elektronik ICS GmbH & Co. KG Intelligent Connecting Systems, Waldzimmer (electronic connection technology)
  • Würth Industry Service
  • Würth Interwerbung, Kissing
  • Würth IT GmbH (full service IT provider for the companies of the Würth Group)
  • ITensis AG (IT service provider)
  • Würth Phoenix (IT service provider with a focus on infrastructure solutions)
  • Würth Leasing GmbH & Co. KG
  • Würth Logistics Deutschland GmbH, Bremen and Würth Logistics AG, Chur, based in Switzerland.
  • Würth Modyf GmbH & Co. KG (workwear, PPE , leisurewear)

Würth operates the Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental airfield , which operates under the name Adolf Würth Airport .

Corporate culture

Würth has a differentiated bonus system for sales representatives. This should bind good employees to the company and counteract staff turnover . The group companies and foreign sales companies are largely autonomous in their objectives, but their implementation must be made transparent.

With the architectural implementation of the foreign branches, Würth leaves its employees largely free to choose the architects and plan representative administrative buildings. At the company headquarters in Künzelsau, employees can visit an in-house art museum, the exhibitions of which change three to four times a year. The art museum is also open to the public. Employees also have the option of borrowing pictures (with the exception of the highest price category) from the Würth collection in a company's own art library for six months against a deposit.

Promotion of culture and sport

Equus fountain at the company location in Neumarkt in South Tyrol ⊙

The Würth Group is the owner of the charitable Würth Foundation , which has set itself the task of promoting art and culture, research and science as well as education and training. In the administration building of the headquarters in Kuenzelsau is the Würth Museum , in neighboring Schwäbisch Hall , the Kunsthalle Würth , with its annex, the medieval Church of St John . The Würth Foundation awards numerous prizes in various artistic fields. In addition, she is involved in the promotion of schools and universities (Künzelsau University of Applied Sciences and Bad Mergentheim University of Applied Sciences, Anne-Sophie Free School in Künzelsau). In 2005 the Künzelsau University of Applied Sciences was renamed Reinhold-Würth University of Heilbronn University in Künzelsau (RWH-Künzelsau). Würth is the organizer of the Würth Open Air Festival, an annual music festival lasting several days in Künzelsau. Several foreign subsidiaries of the Würth Group also maintain a total of eleven “art branches” in their respective home countries (as of May 2015), including the Musée Würth France Erstein in France and the Museo Würth La Rioja in Spain . In Chur the foundation maintains the Kulturforum Würth Chur . The prize money and the award of the Prix ​​de l'Académie de Berlin have been financed by the Würth Group since 2014 .

In Switzerland, Würth was the main sponsor of the Tour de Suisse from 2005 to 2012 . From 2000 to 2006, Würth was a co-sponsor of the Spanish cycling team Astana-Würth and its predecessor teams . However, after the team was excluded from participating in the Tour de France 2006 due to the Fuentes doping scandal involving the Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes , the company ended this commitment on July 3, 2006 with immediate effect.

Würth is partner of five Bundesliga clubs in football and sponsor of the German Ski Association . In addition, Würth supports the DTM in motorsport and was "Official Supplier" to the former Formula 1 team Toyota Racing . In addition, Würth is also a sponsor on the sports fields in the Hohenlohe region.

Tax investigations

From autumn 2006, the Stuttgart public prosecutor's office investigated Reinhold Würth and five other managers of the group on suspicion of tax evasion . At the end of March 2008, the investigations and negotiations became known through an indiscretion to the news magazine Spiegel . In May 2008, Würth agreed to discontinue the proceedings against a fine. The Heilbronn District Court issued a penalty order against Würth amounting to 700 daily rates. The entrepreneur is therefore considered to have a criminal record . Fines were also imposed on two other responsible persons in the Würth Group. The tax procedure is now over, as all those affected have accepted the penalty orders.

The public prosecutor's office found that all of the accused had “not gained any advantages of their own”. Rather, the cost allocations between domestic and foreign parts of the group were disputed. The legality of tax-reducing offsetting via the German parent company was the core of the dispute between Würth and the tax authorities. Since the clarification of the legality would have taken several years and thus damage to the reputation of Würth's life's work would have been expected, he accepted the lesser evil of tax back payments, fines and criminal records, so Würth.

literature

Movie

  • The screw empire - the Würth company in Künzelsau. Documentary, Germany, 2015, 29:30 min., Script and director: Hanspeter Michel, production: SWR , series: made in Südwest , first broadcast: April 15, 2015 on SWR, synopsis by ARD , online video available until April 15 2016.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Group management
  2. ↑ a b c Press release of the Würth Group on the 2019 annual financial statements
  3. ↑ Hans Georg Frank: Würth's private sphere begins in Austria. In: Schwäbisches Tagblatt , October 1, 2009.
  4. ↑ Mathias Rittgerott: solar cells. A place in the Sun. In: stern , November 16, 2006, No. 46.
  5. ↑ German Champions - SMEs as a driver of innovation. In: germanchampions.de , with a downloadable study by the Technical University of Munich and the Munich Innovation Group, 2011.
  6. ↑ The 500 largest family businesses. In : wirtschaftsblatt.de , accessed on May 3, 2015.
  7. ↑ Annual Report of the Würth Group 2016
  8. ^ Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG: Divisions Allied Companies | Würth Group. Retrieved April 21, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Company profile - Conmetall Meister GmbH. Retrieved April 21, 2018 .
  10. ↑ HSR GmbH - Imprint. Retrieved October 4, 2019 .
  11. ↑ kerona.de (see footer)
  12. ↑ LIQUI MOLY slips under the umbrella of the Würth Group . ( liqui-moly.de [accessed on April 21, 2018]). LIQUI MOLY slips under the umbrella of the Würth Group ( Memento from December 22, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Home - Würth IT GmbH. Accessed on May 11, 2020 (German, English, "Internationally oriented full service provider of holistic IT solutions and services.").
  14. ↑ The Würth Leasing GmbH & Co. KG company website, accessed on October 23, 2019
  15. ↑ Andreas Wildhagen: The Würth dynasty relies on a woman. Not just daughter. In: Handelsblatt , October 6, 2006.
  16. ^ The art branches in the Würth Group companies. In: kunst.wuerth.com , accessed on May 3, 2015.
  17. ↑ Tour de Suisse 2013 starts in Quinto. ( Memento from February 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: tourdesuisse.ch , June 16, 2012.
  18. ↑ dpa : doping. Würth ends sponsorship of the Astana-Würth cycling team. In: FAZ .net, July 3, 2006.
  19. ↑ mik / ddp : Screw billionaire Würth in the sights of the public prosecutor. In: Spiegel online , March 30, 2008
  20. ↑ sam / AFP / dpa : Würth gets away with a fine. In: Spiegel online , May 28, 2008.
  21. ↑ dpa / Reuters / jkr / tob: screw king Würth: the convicted multi-billionaire. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 28, 2008.
  22. ↑ Manfred Stockburger: 3.5 million euros fine for Würth. In: Heilbronner Voice , May 29, 2008.
  23. ↑ Martin Buchenau: Würth reaches an agreement with the public prosecutor. In: Handelsblatt , May 29, 2008.