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| Type | Private company: Aktiengesellschaft (AG) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 20 August 1915 |
| Headquarters |  Friedrichshafen, Germany |
| Key people | Hans-Georg Härter (CEO) |
| Industry | Automotive |
| Products | Automotive |
| Revenue | 12.6 Billion Euros (2007) (US$ 18.9 Billion) |
| Employees | 60,000 (April, 2008)[1] |
| Website | ZF.com |
ZF Friedrichshafen AG is a leading worldwide supplier of driveline and chassis technology. With 119 production locations in 26 countries, ZF provides components and systems to the automotive, commercial vehicle, off-highway/construction, marine, rail, and aviation industries, as well for industrial applications.
History and Milestones
The company was founded as Zahnradfabrik (in German literally gearwheel factory) in 1915 in Friedrichshafen, Germany to produce gears for zeppelins and other airships but had moved into the automobile market by 1918, a move consolidated by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Some of the most important milestones that followed:
1920: Patent application submitted for the Soden pre-selector transmission.
1921: Under a rampant inflation and investor fears the company goes public as the Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen AG with the Zeppelin Luftschiffbau GmbH holding 80% of the stock options, valued at 4 Million Marks.
1929: A thriving auto industry warrants the series production of the innovative helical ZF Aphon Transmission for cars and commercial vehicles.
1932: Launch of steering systems production under license. Today: ZF Lenksysteme GmbH.
1953: Market launch of the first fully synchronized transmission for commercial vehicles worldwide.
1961: Development of a fully automatic transmission for passenger cars. With series production beginning in 1969 and later proving highly popular, the 3 HP 20 is built to be swappable with the company's manual transmissions. The 1960s sees ZF supplying transmissions to major German automakers (including DKW and BMW ) as well as Peugeot and Alfa Romeo.
1977: Start of volume production for automatic transmissions for commercial vehicles. Worldwide subsidiaries and factories were opened in the 1970s, and the company moved into India, South Korea.
1984: Majority shareholding gained in Lemförder Metallwaren AG. Today: ZF Lemförder GmbH.
1986: Start of USA transmission production in Gainesville, Georgia, for pickup trucks. ZF became a major supplier to Ford in the 1980s.
1994: Development of an automatic transmission system for heavy commercial vehicles. The company expanded into China in the 1990s.
1999: World premiere for the first automatic 6-speed transmission. Series production begins in 2001, with the BMW 7 Series as the first client. Today, ZF produces around 1 million six-speed automatic transmissions annually.
2001: Acquisition of Mannesmann Sachs AG. Today: ZF Sachs GmbH.
2002: Presentation of the world's first 4-point link – a newly developed chassis module for trucks and buses.
2003: First deliveries of the active steering systems for passenger cars.
2004: Ford starts volume production of the continuously variable transmissions (CVT) for passenger cars developed by ZF.
2005: The 10-millionth airbag casing, the 5-millionth passenger car axle system and the 2-millionth Servolectric electric power steering system are delivered.
2006: ZF produces the 10-millionth passenger car automatic transmission.
2007: World premiere for the first automatic 8-speed transmission, boasted to achieve a 15% improvement in fuel economy in comparison with standard 5-speed automatic transmissions.
2008: Acquistion of the Cherry Corporation. Incorporated into the ZF Electronics GmbH Corporate Division. This pushes ZF past the the 60,000 employee mark for the first time in its history.
The company has six worldwide research and development (R&D) sites to provide product development related to the local markets. ZF invests approximately 5 percent of its sales revenue on R&D annually.
Products
ZF products include automatic and manual transmissions for cars, trucks, buses and construction equipment; chassis components (ball joints, tie rods, cross-axis joints, stabilizer bars, control arms); shocks and struts; electronic damping systems including Continuous Damping Control (CDC), Active Roll Stabilization (ARS); clutches; torque converters; axle drives; and industrial drives.
Through the ZF Lenksysteme Division (a 50-50 joint venture between ZF and Bosch), steering components and systems are produced, including steering columns, gears and pumps; Electric Power Steering (EPS); and Active Steering.
With the rise in popularity of the semi-automatic transmission in trucks and buses, ZF introduced the ZF-AS Tronic. The company also manufactures manual and automatic truck and bus transmissions. ZF transmissions are the ones used most commonly in buses. The Ecomat automatic transmission range which was introduced in 1980, is frequently used in buses.
ZF Lemförder, ZF Sachs, and Boge are all divisions/business units of ZF specializing in original equipment and aftermarket solutions for the automotive industry.
Overseas facilities
- ZF has a re-manufacturing facility and customer support operation in Nottingham, England, to service OEMs like JCB, Terex, Jaguar and fleet users with gearboxes and axles. [2]
- ZF Group North American Operations is headquartered in Northville, Michigan.
- ZF Group Asia Pacific Operations is headquartered in Shanghai, PR China.
See also
References
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: ZF Friedrichshafen |
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