Wolff crane
| Wolffkran Holding AG
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1854 |
| Seat |
Baar , Switzerland
|
| management | Duncan Salt (CEO) |
| Number of employees | 900 |
| sales | 200 million euros |
| Branch | mechanical engineering |
| Website | www.wolffkran.com |
| Status: 2019 | |
_1900-1910.jpg)
Wolffkran (own spelling WOLFFKRAN ) is a tower crane manufacturer and rental company based in Baar , Canton Zug , Switzerland .
The company, which was founded in Heilbronn , Germany in 1854 , has grown in its 150-year history to become an internationally active group that today has its headquarters and sales in Switzerland . Wolffkran Holding AG, which has been based in Baar since 2005, is headquartered in Zug . The production sites are in Heilbronn and Luckau . Wolffkran operates beyond the borders of Germany and Switzerland in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and North America.
history
Wolff family
- Friedrich August Wolff
The founder of the company was the Heilbronn pewter manufacturer and chief master of the pewter's trade, Friedrich August Wolff (1799-1859). In 1854 Friedrich August Wolff dared to reach for another metal - iron. With the first tapping of iron castings, August 19, 1854 can be seen as the day the later company Julius Wolff & Co., GmbH was founded . A tin cup made by Friedrich August Wolff is exhibited in the House of City History in Heilbronn .
- progeny
After Friedrich August Wolff's death in 1858, the factory was divided between his two sons: The older son Karl Friedrich Wolff continued the pewter foundry and the manufacture of chemical and pharmaceutical equipment; while the younger son Julius Wolff took over the iron foundry and mechanical workshop. Julius Wolff's son-in-law Eduard Hilger had difficulties in the Third Reich because he was considered a "half-breed". Among other things, parcels of land in Heilbronn-Sontheim were lost in 1941 and the Kranen-Wolff company was relocated, which is why Helga and Joachim Hilger made reimbursement claims in the post-war period.
Company Jul. Wolff & Co.
Jul. Wolff & Co. was dedicated to general mechanical engineering . Large, individually manufactured parts as well as small workpieces in masses were created. The production program included steam engines , road and garden rollers , turbine wheels , calenders for paper production, tools , sewer parts and walkways , but also ship bollards , bridge railings , lamp posts and chains of all kinds.
One of the early suppliers was August Stotz's Heilbronn art forge , which made iron structures for shaft and elevator scaffolding.
In 1913, Wolff presented the world's first quickly assembled and mobile tower crane with a luffing jib at the Leipzig trade fair . The company received a gold medal from the trade fair for “its technical masterpiece for the glory of the fatherland”.
In 1938, crane construction became the company's most important line of business. The name Wolffkran was introduced. Thanks to their universal design, the hoists from Heilbronn were used in building and civil engineering in storage areas of construction and steel companies, sawmills, quarries and as loading cranes in ports and shipyards.
In 1953 the son-in-law of the last name-bearer Wolff, Eduard Hilger, incorporated the company into the world-famous large company Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG.
In 1954, Wolffkran entered into a partnership with MAN , which in November 1953 acquired a 51 percent stake in Julius Wolff & Co. GmbH.
In 1963 Wolffkran developed the firing pin connection . Instead of screwing or riveting the tower elements to one another, this method involves inserting them into one another, pushing firing pins into the holes provided and securing them with split pins or cotter pins. This secure bolt connection can be easily dismantled.
In 1973 Wolffkran introduced the modular system , the components of which result in the crane that is optimal for the application. The tower is assembled from individual tower elements at the required height and the boom length can also be changed using additional components.
In 1977 MAN increased its stake to 100% and Julius Wolff & Co. GmbH became MAN Wolffkran.
In 1989 Wolffkran was the first tower crane manufacturer to use FU technology (frequency converter-controlled hoist drive) for all drives .
The first luffing crane with an electronic interior followed in 1995 . The WOLFF 100 B was presented as the latest variant of the B series, which has a maximum load capacity of 3 tons in a single rope strand.
In 2005, Hans-Peter Koller and Peter Schiefer became the new owners of Wolffkran. Wolffkran AG's headquarters were relocated to Zug in Switzerland.
In 2008 Wolffkran Werk Brandenburg GmbH was opened in Luckau as the second production facility next to the Heilbronn plant.
From 2017, Wolffkran will sponsor the Wolffkran Open in Ismaning for three years
2019 Duncan Salt becomes CEO at WOLFFKRAN. Dr. Peter Schiefer remains Delegate of the Board of Directors.
Product range
- Trolley cranes WOLFF clear cranes (centerless) WOLFF cross cranes (classical peak)
- Luffing cranes
- System components
literature
- Johannes Karl Westermann: Tower cranes in building construction: Investigations into automatic load handling devices . Thesis. Ed .: Universität Karlsruhe [TH]. Karlsruhe 2005.
- Dirk P. Moeller: Crane and Construction Machinery Museum: From Idea to Reality . In: Steel construction . tape 82 , no. 4 . Ernst & Sohn, Berlin April 3, 2013, p. 302–308 , doi : 10.1002 / stab.201320047 ( ISSN 0932-6375 and ISSN 0038-9145 ).
- Stephan Bergerhoff, Heinz-Gert Kessel, Pius Meyer: Tower cranes: 100 years on construction sites all over the world . Podszun, Brilon 2010, ISBN 978-3-86133-560-3 .
- Stefanie Ehmann, Alexandra Waldenmaier, Erik Bohr (photos): Between heaven and earth . Ed .: Wolffkran. Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-613-02724-4 .
- Martin J. Dougherty: Cranes: The Most Spectacular Construction Equipment in the World . Parragon, Bath UK 2008, ISBN 978-1-4075-2396-5 .
Web links
- Website of the AG Kran- und Baumaschinenmuseum e. V.
- Overview and information about tower cranes at kran-info.ch
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Entry of "Wolffkran Holding AG" in the commercial register of the Canton of Zug ( Memento from June 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on December 3, 2015)
- ^ A b c Manfred Stockburger: Change of boss at the traditional Heilbronn company Wolffkran . In: Heilbronn voice . September 3, 2019 ( Stimme.de [accessed September 5, 2019]).
- ↑ Compana Profile wolffkran.com, accessed November 19, 2017
- ↑ Biographical data from Heilbronn City Archives, contemporary history collection, signature ZS-12922, entry on Friedrich August Wolff in the HEUSS database
- ^ Biographies of the Heilbronn economy . In: Manfred Kaiser, Felix F. Voigt: Heilbronn - young city on the way into the future . Druckhaus Heilbronn, Heilbronn 1970, p. 102.
- ^ Hans Ulrich Eberle : Brief company biographies. In: City and District of Heilbronn. Theiss, Stuttgart / Aalen 1974, ISBN 3-8062-0121-8 , pp. 381-407, on this p. 406.
- ^ The machine factory Julius Wolff & Co., GmbH. Heilbronn . In: Heilbronn . Städtebuchverlag H. and R. Heimrich, Stuttgart 1967, p. 62.
- ^ Biographies of the Heilbronn economy . In: Manfred Kaiser, Felix F. Voigt: Heilbronn - young city on the way into the future . Druckhaus Heilbronn, Heilbronn 1970, p. 102.
- ↑ Heilbronn City Archives , HEUSS database: cf. The connection between the sale of the property in 1941 and the relocation of the Kranen-Wolff company and the “mixed breed” property of the manager and father of the applicant Eduard Hilger
- ↑ Refund procedure for the parcels 3603 - 3609/3 Markung Sontheim (Vorb .: Helga and Joachim Hilger) 1941–1952. Heilbronn city archive, HEUSS database, signature B033-444
- ↑ Advertising brochure with images of work by August Stotz Söhne from the years 1905–1910. A. Landerer (print), Heilbronn 1910/1912, p. 8.
- ↑ Manfred Stockburger: At Wolffkran, the new lead wolf comes from outside . In: Heilbronn voice . July 6, 2006 ( Stimme.de [accessed on February 28, 2010]).