"Commitment to the Baden-Württemberg manufacturing sites"

The Künzelsau industrial company Ziehl-Abegg has started building a new factory in Hohenlohe (Baden-Württemberg). The new construction will cost 24 million euros.
The Minister for Economic Affairs, Dr. Nils Schmid, stated during the official ground breaking ceremony: "The new building construction is a clear commitment to the Baden-Württemberg manufacturing sites, together with - and I am especially pleased about this - a commitment to Baden-Württemberg as an electromobility location."

"Ziehl-Abegg is bursting at the seams in the Künzelsau headquarters", is how Chairman of the Board Peter Fenkl explains the necessity for the investment in the Gewerbepark Hohenlohe. Ziehl-Abegg is making room for the drive technology division right next to Motorway A6. In this sector, the team surrounding Drive Head Ralf Arnold is developing and selling safe and reliable motors with special control technology for elevators - i.e. is involved directly in the original core business of the company Ziehl-Abegg, which has been growing for over 100 years. "The new construction will create the prerequisites to optimize production and to attack additional problems" explains Chief Technology Officer Norbert Schuster. The new electromobility for commercial vehicles division (keyword: gearless wheel-hub drive for commercial vehicles) will be residing in the 16,000 square metre new building.

That is why Schmid deemed Ziehl-Abegg as one of the pioneers which is investing in research and development in the still-young sector of electromobility. And one which with drive technologies that have a future is securing and creating high-grade jobs in the south-west.
The Minister for Economic Affairs verbatim: "The technological change does not merely provide opportunities for the automotive sector itself. It has potential for all companies which although not currently active in the vehicle environment have the competencies needed for electromobility. Ziehl-Abegg AG is an outstanding example of a previously ‚non-automotive’ company that is using its skills for electric drives and that is transferring them to an electromobility application."

Up to now, the entire drive division has resided in the Künzelsau headquarters. The employees in this division will relocate to the new factory at the end of 2013, so the number of employees at Ziehl-Abegg in the industrial park (Gewerbepark) will increase by about 100 people. In total, the company areal on the motorway provides an opportunity to employ an additional 1400 people in ten years. "That depends strongly on the overall economic development and the potential in the labour market" explains Chairman of the Board Fenkl.

"Künzelsau has no need to worry about jobs being cut in Künzelsau", reassures HR Board member Achim-Curd Rägle. After all, the area freed up will be used for control technology and development. Moreover, global sales, which are decisively influenced by technology, will be expanded. Ziehl-Abegg will be investing over a million euros in the headquarters to accomplish that.

"The latest crisis demonstrated that new products which save energy and which bring persistent improvements to the customers will always have a future", emphasises Fenkl with a view of the global shifts in the capital and financial markets. Ziehl-Abegg spends about 7% of the annual sales on being able to provide customers with constantly improved fans and drives. About 300 technicians and engineers work on making improvements and developments at the Künzelsau high-tech company.

The continual growth of Ziehl-Abegg can also be seen in the construction projects: In 2008, the "InVent", at a cost of 13 million, was inaugurated in Künzelsau. In 2009, the first expansion of the Gewerbepark Hohenlohe followed for 10 million euros. Now the new building for the drive division is planned, which for 24 million euros will make 16,000 square meters of space available.

Up to now in the Gewerbepark Hohenlohe, at Ziehl-Abegg the competence centre for the manufacture of so-called centrifugal fans was located in the existing factory. 300 employees machine metal there with modern laser cutting plants and folding presses. Aided by robots, fan impellers are welded together and subsequently balanced with the highest quality. Furthermore, the young process air division is also located in the industrial park.

Ziehl-Abegg (Künzelsau, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) is one of the global leading companies in the ventilation and drive technology sector with matching control technology. Examples of application areas of the products are heat and refrigeration plants or clean room and agricultural systems. Ziehl-Abegg already set the basis for modern fan drives back in the fifties: external rotor motors that are the state of the art worldwide. Another sector is electric motors for example, which provide the drive in elevators, medical applications (computer tomography) or in deep-sea underwater vehicles. The matter of electromobility in road traffic was placed into the hands of the subsidiary company Ziehl-Abegg Automotive GmbH in 2012. Production, sales and further development of a wheel hub drive which is already being used in several countries reside there.

The high-tech company provides 1,700 employees with jobs in South German production plants. Worldwide, 3,200 employees work for the company. They are spread out globally across 8 production facilities and 7 assembly sites along with several sales offices in 32 countries. The approximately 30,000 products are sold in more than 100 countries. Sales in 2011 were 358 million euros. Two-thirds of the sales are being attained in export.

Emil Ziehl founded the company in 1910 in Berlin as a manufacturer of electric motors. After the Second World War, the company headquarters was relocated to South Germany. Ziehl-Abegg AG is not quoted on the stock market and is family owned. Please visit www.ziehl-abegg.de for more information.

Ziehl-Abegg AG
Heinz-Ziehl-Straße 1
74653 Kuenzelsau
Rainer Grill
Telephone +49 7940 16-328
E-Mail: rainer.grill@ziehl-abegg.de

This release was published on openPR.