Zeppelin construction machinery
| Zeppelin Construction Machinery GmbH
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|---|---|
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| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1954 |
| Seat | Garching near Munich , Bavaria |
| management | Chairman: Fred Cordes (2017)
Thomas Weber (2012) |
| Number of employees | 1,681 (as of May 2019) |
| sales | 1,036 million euros (as of May 2019) |
| Website | www.zeppelin-cat.de |
The Zeppelin Baumaschinen GmbH , headquartered in Garching near Munich, is part of the holding company Zeppelin GmbH . The company's central business area is the sales and service of new and used construction machines from Caterpillar Inc. in Germany.
history
Beginnings of airship construction
The origin of Zeppelin Baumaschinen GmbH goes back to the airship construction of Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin (1838-1917). The Count's rigid airships were used in the first decades of the 20th century for both passenger and military purposes. With the accident in Lakehurst in 1937, when the airship Hindenburg went up in flames, airship travel initially came to an end. Under the Allied occupying powers it was forbidden to pursue aviation activities any further. That is why Metallwerke Friedrichshafen GmbH was founded in 1951 as the successor company to Zeppelinwerke. Attempts were made to transfer the know-how in the manufacture of large, light, but high-strength structures made of aluminum to other areas, for example to the manufacture of antenna and radio relay systems and of silos and apparatus for the chemical industry . In addition, there was a division that dealt with the repair of French military trucks, which were available in large numbers after the war.
Zeppelin and Caterpillar team up
At the beginning of the 1950s, the American agricultural and construction machinery manufacturer Caterpillar , which was particularly specialized in machines with track drives , tried to expand its overseas business. For this he was looking for a new partner in Germany who would take over the sales and service of the machines. The choice fell on Metallwerke Friedrichshafen GmbH, also because of their experience in the repair of chain drives. In 1954, a contract was signed between the two companies, which to this day forms the foundation of the business relationship between Caterpillar and Zeppelin. A branch network was set up in West Germany and West Berlin within a very short time . Even then, Caterpillar had a wide range of advanced and reliable machines. These were in great demand in Germany in the course of the reconstruction measures and the booming construction activity due to the economic miracle . From the very beginning, Zeppelin concentrated on building up its own comprehensive service network. The declared aim was to be able to offer German building contractors complete solutions from a single source. This included not only trading in new and used construction machinery, but also maintenance and repair, the supply of spare parts, financing and project and operational advice.
Foundation of Zeppelin Baumaschinen GmbH
Since the 1990s, the company has also increasingly expanded its activities outside of Germany. Zeppelin now sells Caterpillar products in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the Ukraine, Belarus, North and Southwest Russia as well as in the Central Asian countries Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. At the beginning of the 1990s, the company still operated under the name Zeppelin Metallwerke GmbH and was divided into an industrial area in Friedrichshafen and a trading area based in Garching near Munich. In 1994, Zeppelin Baumaschinen GmbH was founded from the trading sector in Germany.
2008 economic crisis
During the economic crisis in 2008 and 2009, the construction machinery market in Germany collapsed by around 43 percent. Zeppelin Baumaschinen GmbH was not spared from this either. In 2009, their sales fell by 32 percent compared to the previous year (source: Zeppelin Annual Report 2009, p. 46). However, thanks to a solidarity pact that was concluded between the company management and the employees, almost all employees could be kept in the company. The employees voluntarily accepted salary cuts for this. By retaining the workforce, it was possible to take advantage of the strong upswing in demand in 2010 and generate total sales of EUR 765 million (source: Zeppelin Annual Report 2010, p. 44).
organization
structure
The core business of Zeppelin Baumaschinen GmbH today is trading in new and used construction machines and the corresponding service. The German branch network currently (as of 2019) comprises 35 branches, which are controlled from the headquarters in Garching near Munich. The rental business with construction machinery, initially carried out by Zeppelin Baumaschinen GmbH itself, was transferred to Zeppelin Rental GmbH & Co KG in 2004 . The sales and service of Caterpillar engines was transferred to Zeppelin Power Systems GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg. Both companies also belong to Zeppelin GmbH, Friedrichshafen.
Personal details
Since entering the construction machinery trade, the service sector has been continuously developed. Around 1200 of the total of around 1600 employees (as of 2019) work in service, over half of them as field service fitters. Around ten percent of the employees are apprentices either in commercial professions or as agricultural and construction machinery mechatronics technicians . There is a separate training center in Kaufbeuren for training and further education of employees . Michael Heidemann is the CEO of Zeppelin Baumaschinen GmbH. Fred Cordes was appointed Managing Director with effect from January 1, 2012. Further managing directors are Thomas Weber (since September 1, 2012) and Arne Severin (since January 1, 2013).
Products and services
Zeppelin construction machinery
Zeppelin sells around 150 different types of machines in Germany for the construction, mining and industry sectors. There are also accessories, attachments and equipment for construction machines and construction sites. Caterpillar manufactures machines of almost all weight classes, from one to 6200 tons of operating weight. In 2013, the company also took on the sales and service of mining equipment manufactured by Caterpillar Global Mining LLC. Zeppelin thus sells and maintains earth moving and transport equipment as well as machines for road construction and civil engineering, machines that are used to mine raw materials , and machines that are used in demolition and recycling .
service
In addition to trading in new and used construction machinery, service is playing an increasingly important role. This includes in particular the minimization of machine downtimes and project and operational advice.
See also
literature
- Heinz-Herbert Cohrs: Cat & Zeppelin. Half a century in Germany. Podszun-Motorbücher Verlag, Brilon 2000, ISBN 3-86133-242-6 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Website of Zeppelin Baumaschinen
- ↑ zeppelin-cat.de
- ↑ Overview of Zeppelin Baumaschinen GmbH , accessed on January 7, 2020.
- ↑ The management of Zeppelin Baumaschinen GmbH , accessed on January 7, 2020.
- ↑ [1] Service brochure, accessed on January 7, 2020.