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ZF Group history
ZF Group company history timeline
The new company's staff was dedicated and prolific: by 1916, ZF had already registered ten patents.
The following year brought a great loss for the company when on March 12, 1917, Graf Zeppelin died four days after major surgery.
1918: The company starts making transmissions for automobiles.
The first radio station in the world started broadcasting in the USA in 1920.
With the founding of the AG in May 1921, ZF also came into possession of an important technological asset: Alfred von Soden transferred to the company all the patents filed under his name for a semi-automatic transmission he had developed.
1921: ZF is transformed into a joint stock corporation.
On November 1st 1922 the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) is founded in London.
Only on November 15, 1923, when the so-called Rentenmark was introduced, the value of which was secured by real estate and property, did the situation begin to stabilize.
In 1923, the German currency devaluation, which had started already at the end of the war, spun out of control.
The Zahnradfabrik recorded a balance sheet surplus of 81.2 quadrillion paper marks for the 1923 fiscal year.
In 1924, the Zahnradfabrik was able to present an orderly – and, for the first time, printed – balance sheet.
ZF had acquired the relevant license from Minerva Motors S.A. in Antwerp in February 1925.
In order to improve contact to the customers located farther north, ZF established a subsidiary on Gerichtstrasse in Berlin (Wedding district) in October 1925.
ZF responded by developing and launching the Einheitsgetriebe, a standardized gearbox that allowed mass production at low cost, in 1925.
Part of this enclave also included the Berlin-Wittenau ZF plant, in operation since 1925 and the largest gear factory in the greater area of Berlin, in the French sector.
Starting in 1925, ZF engineers applied a new approach in the manufacture of noiseless transmissions by installing helical-toothed gears.
Already in the founding year of 1925, four profile grinding machines were set up to operate according to the so-called Minerva method.
When ZF built the plant in Berlin in 1926 and thus first started producing outside of the Lake Constance region, the Group also began to struggle with the tension between regional identity and global strategy.
The delivery of the first marine reverse-reduction gears in 1926 not only extended the production program, but also enlarged the access to the marine industry.
Development of the first transmission that was ready for volume production, which utilized the advantages of the so-called Minerva helical gearing, continued until June 1929.
It was, above all, the commercial success of the standard transmissions and Aphon transmissions that ensured the survival of ZF. Board of Management members Alfred von Soden and Hans Cappus responded to this in the 1929 Annual Report:
In the middle of 1931, ZF filed a patent on a freewheel, which, when installed between the transmission and the driven axle, significantly facilitated shifting in all gears and also saved fuel.
In 1932, the company ventured into steering systems, starting out with a license production of American "Ross-Steering." Two years later, the company launched its first completely synchronized four-gear transmission for automobiles--a technological milestone which also became an economic success.
At the beginning the subsidiary incurred losses, but ironically in 1932 – at the height of the global economic crisis – ZF Berlin was able to record a modest profit of 14,500 Reichsmark for the first time.
Following politial intrigues behind the scenes the president of the German Reich Paul von Hindenburg appoints a new Reichskanzler on January 30th 1933: Adolf Hitler.
The "seizure of power" of the National Socialists on January 30, 1933, most certainly unleashed little euphoria among Zahnradfabrik corporate management.
National Socialist leader Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 and funded a highway construction program to create jobs.
From 1933 on ZF delivered 477 five-speed transmissions designated as type FG35 for a light tank, officially declared as “agricultural tractor” which were essentially based on the Aphon transmission originally developed for large passenger cars.
Shortly after the beginning of 1933, the slow economic upturn was overshadowed by political events.
In 1935, ZF collaborated with Maybach to develop a higher-performance version of the tank, which was equipped with the ZF FG31 Aphon transmission.
The tragic explosion of the Zeppelin "LZ 129 Hindenburg," in which 35 of the 96 passengers lost their lives on May 7, 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey, brought the "Zeppelin-Era" to a sudden end.
The LZ Group decided already in 1937 that the tank transmissions developed at Maybach should be manufactured primarily at the Zahnradfabrik plants.
Limited slip differentials began to be manufactured here already in 1938.
On September 1, 1939, German soldiers marched into Poland, marking the beginning of another devastating world war.
More than 2700 vehicles of this type were built until 1939.
A first verifiable and noteworthy mention of a sizable number of these ZF workers is from 1940.
On May 12th 1941 the engineer Konrad Zuse presented the first automatic program-controlled digital calculating machine - nowadays called a computer.
During the war, in 1942, Board of Management members von Soden and Cappus were thus faced with the challenge of realizing the mass production of the Olvar transmission.
After numerous postponements, the company was founded on May 13, 1943.
1944: The company premises in Friedrichshafen are destroyed almost completely during World War II.
In April 1945, Friedrichshafen was occupied by French troops.
On May 6, 1946, the regional governor located in Tettnang, Pierre Ulmer, informed ZF representatives of Allied Control Council plans to dissolve the company.
Not before the middle of October in 1946 did Ernst Mühlhauser, a lawyer, call attention to the fact that the Zeppelin Foundation must consequently be transferred the municipality.
1946-50: Reconstruction and Growth
In the summer of 1946, differences between the established ZF management led by Hans Cappus and the French occupation authorities had become insurmountable.
Production initially took place in Friedrichshafen, but was relocated to Passau in 1946.
In a remarkable initiative of April 1947, Merglen formulated a written request in a letter to approximately 150 persons living in the occupied area to report candidly on their situation, expectations, and potential grievances.
In 1947, the Zeppelin Foundation as a private entity was dissolved.
The end of dismantling finally reached ZF first in July 1948, as company management came to an agreement with the French authorities to support the construction of a French transmissions factory (SOFEN) through the leasing of machines.
The French high command in Baden-Baden released ZF from receivership on September 30, 1948, however.
In September 1948, official receiver Emile Knipper informed ZF general managers Maier, Pirker, and Schmäh that he had granted Schwäbisch Gmünd Plant Manager Klug full power of attorney to act on behalf of ZF in all commercial matters.
The A15 rolled off the assembly line for the first time in 1948.
Also of particular interest to the employees was the re-opening of the ZF company health insurance fund in 1949.
In 1950, the Berlin plant started operations.
1950: The city of Friedrichshafen becomes ZF's majority owner.
1951-70: Expanding Reach and Range
By 1951, exports accounted for 6.5 percent of total sales.
ZF started operating the "Jägerwinkel" recreation home in the Bavarian Allgäu region in June 1952.
When construction began in the summer of 1953, workers discovered some ancient remains, which teacher and historian Ulrich Paret identified as a Roman bathhouse.
In its 1953 Annual Report, the ZF Board of Management lamented that the race to find the brightest minds in the German automotive industry was now in full swing:
A modern year-end bonus was introduced in 1953, by which the workforce participated in the economic success of the company at the end of every fiscal year.
While the Ross steering systems were being incrementally replaced by the Gemmer steering systems in the ZF portfolio, production increased dramatically in the steering division, which had been based entirely in the Schiesstal (a district of Schwäbisch Gmünd) plant since 1953.
In 1954, ZF acquired a production license for steering mechanisms from the United States firm Gemmer while its own hydraulic steering gained market acceptance.
The hall of the Graf-von-Soden company restaurant accommodated up to 2,500 people at its inauguration in February 1955.
The background was an enormous surge in demand: In heavy truck manufacturing, the restrictions on truck size and payloads introduced by German Minister of Transport Hans-Christoph Seebohm (CDU) in 1956, led, among other factors, to a sharp downturn in demand.
In 1956, the Friedrichshafen apprentice training shop re-opened at its customary spot above the tool shop.
The introduction in 1956 of the spindle-type power steering system for vehicles with particularly high axle loads represented the first proprietary development coming out of Schwäbisch Gmünd.
The first seminar in April 1958 had the significant title of "Youth Psychology;" in the next year, courses entitled "Managing People" and "How to Treat People" followed.
In 1958, the company started developing transmissions for helicopters and machine tools.
ZF's first fully automated passenger car transmission emerged in 1958 under the model designations of 2HP14 and had only two gears.
Beginning in 1958, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce offered courses on pedagogical, practical work-related, and technical topics for the instructors.
An unusual sight presented itself in front of the Friedrichshafen housing production loading ramp on the morning of April 13, 1959: Nine ZF employees stood there with their large suitcases, surrounded by their wives and children, many in the company of relatives.
1959: A production plant is established in São Paulo, Brazil.
In 1959, ZF achieved a growth in sales of 29 percent compared to the previous year.
As an easing of the corresponding regulations was announced to take effect as of July 1960, freight forwarders and logistics companies again stepped up their orders for large trucks.
The plant in Passau started making axles for trucks and tractors in 1960.
In the 1960 fiscal year, for the first time, a substantial number of foreign workers were employed at the German ZF plants.
More than 65,000 transmissions had already rolled off the assembly line in Friedrichshafen in 1960.
The start of manned space fights: on April 12th 1961 Yuri A. Gagarin orbits the earth in his space capsule.
By June 1961, Dach had thus developed
The erection of the Berlin Wall, which began with police and East German border patrol cordoning off sector borders during the night of August 12 to 13, 1961, was one of the most radical events of the Cold War.
In 1961, ZF introduced a new automatic transmission for mid-sized cars.
For ZF, the computer age began in 1962 with the installation of an IBM 1401, a compact system under the prevailing standards, the dimensions of which approximated the size of a kitchen.
Production moved into "Plant 2" at the beginning of 1962.
On September 8, 1963, former farmer Jim Clark won the Italian Grand Prix and with it his first Formula One World Championship title.
In 1963, ZF expanded its construction machinery business to include transmissions.
In 1963, an IBM 1620, conceived for technical tasks and already possessing a plotter for the graphical output of results, was installed at the ZF location in Friedrichshafen.
The first ZF automatic passenger car transmissions manufactured in volume production rolled off the assembly line in 1965.
In 1965, he secured his second Formula One World Championship title.
A day later, a telegram arrived in Friedrichshafen with the message: "Jimmy Clark and Colin Chapman were really delighted with your transmissions at the 1965 Indy 500.
Although the maiden flight that already took place in 1967 was a success, development was by no means concluded, as manufacturer MBB announced its goal of increasing the permissible take-off weight.
ZF motorsports experienced a tragic setback in 1968, when Jim Clark was killed in an accident caused by tire damage at the Hockenheimring on April 7.
The start of a new era in space travel is broadcast live to 500 million TV viewers throughout the world: on July 20th 1969 Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin become the first men on the moon.
In March 1970, ZF-BorgWarner GmbH was founded for the purpose of producing automatic transmissions.
In 1970, a subsidiary for the manufacturing of automatic transmissions for passenger cars was established in Saarbrücken, together with Chicago-based Borg-Warner Corporation.
Construction on a new research and development center in Friedrichshafen began in August 1971.
The first pocket calculator, presented in 1971, works with completely different resources, a microchip amongst others.
Our new Group Executive Doctor Ernst Braun, who joined the company from SKF in Schweinfurt in 1971, wanted to reform this structure – either through acquisitions of the sales companies operating abroad, or by founding new companies.
In March 1972, ZF acquired all the shares in the subsidiary, which was now called ZF Getriebe GmbH.
After the United States partner opted out of the business in 1972, the company was renamed ZF-Getriebe GmbH. To keep the stream of refined and new technologies flowing, ZF employed more than 800 engineers and technicians.
In 1972, exports reached 35 percent of total sales.
When Federal President Gustav Heinemann paid a surprise visit to ZF in Friedrichshafen on a Sunday in the spring of 1972, the spokesman of the Board of Management, Robert Pirker, made the uncertain economic development a central topic.
As part of this strategy, ZF acquired a 50 percent share of Industrias Subsidiarias de Aviación S.A. (ISA), headquartered in Seville, Spain, in December 1973.
1973: The manufacture of automatic transmissions for passenger cars begins in Saarbrücken.
In 1974, French automaker Peugeot ordered 400,000 automatic 3 HP 22 transmissions over the course of seven years--a milestone that created a basis for further growth.
ZF had been continuously working with licensing partners in Hungary since 1974.
Operating activities began on May 1, 1979, with eleven employees.
1979: ZF of North America is founded.
Since its introduction at the 1979 International Motor Show in Frankfurt am Main, the unit, in its basic design, is still part of the product portfolio today.
In fact, contacts to the Soviet Union, where steering systems as well as commercial vehicle transmissions were being produced under ZF licenses, had existed since 1980.
ZF filed for a patent for the first inverted portal axle in the summer of 1980.
1981: The electronic ZF-Servotronic steering system is launched.
Ltd. in Pune was established already in 1981, with the participation of the Indian automaker Bajaj Tempo Ltd.
With its Servotronic technology introduced in 1982, ZF presented the first steering system in which Servo support was designed to be dependent on speed.
In 1982, the company was able to record its first successful business deals for volume production products.
The small French bus manufacturer "Cars & Bus Le Mans" was a customer from the very beginning, at the end of 1983, and would later be acquired by Renault.
Volume production started in 1983 under the model designation of AV130.
Similar to the acquisition of Lemförder in 1984, ZF banked on federalism: The renowned SACHS brand was maintained; ZF Sachs initially continued to act independently on the market with its own portfolio.
On March 11th 1985 Michail Gorbatschow takes over the office of Secretary General of the Soviet Communist Party.
Key customer Kässbohrer integrated the ZF low-floor axle in its volume production starting in 1985.
When the new production facility was inaugurated in February 1986, ZF Chairman of the Works Council Frithjof Reizner spoke of a "miracle" – and meant not only the punctual completion of the hall, but also the anticipated revenue from the export of the transmissions.
Volume production of the Servotronic began in 1986 for the BMW 7 Series, and shortly thereafter also for other vehicles.
The critical press coverage of his initial years as CEO was forgotten when Baur extended invitations for his last annual press conference in July 1989.
As rendered in the 1989 Annual Report, Lemförder provided competencies in chassis technology and was "involved in all essential development projects of German and European original equipment manufacturers."
In 1990, ZF teamed up with two Japanese companies and started making pumps and other components for steering systems in the United States.
After a short-lived boom of auto sales due to the reunification of Germany in 1990, another recession caused automakers to drop their output by up to 30 percent.
Since January 1992, the abbreviation of "ZF," which was originally implemented solely for the logo and used internally only, also represents the company as a whole.
1992: The company is renamed ZF Friedrichshafen AG.
A major impetus for this was a shift in business relations between OEMs and suppliers, this transformation was predominantly initiated by one man: the Spaniard José Ignacio López, who had assumed responsibility for purchasing at General Motors, the world's largest automotive company, in 1992.
In order to get the development of a new airship type off the ground, the Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH (ZLT), whose shareholders included ZF Friedrichshafen AG as well as its subsidiary Lemförder Metallwaren, was established in September 1993.
In 1993, passenger car production in Western Europe, still the most important market for ZF, shrank by 15 percent.
At the IAA Commercial Vehicles in 1994, ZF presented the EE drive, an electric wheel-hub motor purpose-built for low-floor buses.
After a negotiation phase of two years, the first production company was founded in 1994 in the form of ZF Shanghai Steering Co.
In the marine business, ZF also bought HURTH Marine Gear S.p.A., headquartered in the northern Italian city of Arco, in January 1995.
Furthermore, ZF intensified its cooperation, ongoing since 1995, with LiuGong, one of the largest manufacturers of construction equipment in the world.
Compared to the level of 1995, this represented more than a doubling of sales.
By the end of 1995, teamwork had been introduced at ZF across almost the entire company.
Also at the begin-ning of 1995, ZF purchased the rail drives and industrial trucks business units.
In 1995 ZF invested more money into its foreign activities than it ever had since the founding of the company.
In 1996, losses amounted to two-digit million figures, and for the first time in 48 years ZF did not pay any dividends to its stockholders.
Hermann Sigle, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at Mannesmann Sachs since 1996, reports:
Under the management of ZF Passau, another production site was established in the United States university city of Tuscaloosa (Alabama) starting in 1996, 26 miles from the Daimler-Benz plant in Vance that was inaugurated in 1996.
In November 1997, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung re-ported that ZF had been granted approval to manufacture the axles for the new Mer-cedes-Benz M-Class:
Eight New Technology airships have been built since 1997.
After about nine years of development work, the time had finally arrived: ZF volume production of the AS Tronic began in 1997.
In 1997 the opportunity arose for ZF to integrate the Renault trans-mission plant in Bouthéon (Loire department) into a joint venture.
"ZF Friedrichshafen ist in Südamerika über den Berg," Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 25, 1998.
1998: ZF ventures into China.
In 1998, ZF exceeded the sales benchmark of 10 billion Deutschmark for the first time.
1999: The Steering Systems Division is integrated into a joint venture with Robert Bosch GmbH.
The entire industrial division of Mannesmann, including future ZF subsidiary Sachs, had been incorporated into Atecs Mannesmann AG already in 1999.
Elizabeth Umberson, who rose to the position of plant manager in 1999 as the first woman in the history of ZF to do so, recalls:
The ZF Art Foundation has been supporting the International Piano Festival of Young Masters in Lindau since 1999.
The acquisition of the Mannesmann Group by British competitor Vodafone was sealed shortly before midnight on February 3, 2000.
To help coordinate the new system-partner approach, ZF participated in the establishment of an electronic marketplace, Supplyon AG, together with other leading suppliers of vehicle components, in 2000.
Klaus Bleyer, CEO at the time, headed the year-long preparation phase and successor Siegfried Goll signed the relevant contracts in August 2001.
2001: ZF acquires four business divisions of Mannesmann Sachs AG.
When it was announced in the 2001 Annual Report that ZF and Sachs fit together "like the nut on a bolt," it was more than a catchy marketing slogan.
Since roundtrips on the Zeppelin NT began to be offered in 2001, almost 200,000 passengers all over the world have enjoyed this exclusive touristic adventure.
The award was granted for the first time in 2001 as part of a competition.
In 2003, ZF corporate management, after obtaining agreement from the Doctor Jürgen Ulderup Foundation, decided to change the ownership structure.
In order to gain a foothold in the future field of hybrid drives, ZF formed a strategic alliance with automotive supplier Continental in 2005.
In 2005, ZF Group sales exceeded EUR 10 billion for the first time.
Volkswagen commissioned the alliance in 2006 to build a complete hybrid drive module.
Furthermore, in 2006, donations of EUR 1 million went to the development of the IT infrastructure and the library.
In order to extend its international development network, ZF founded ZF Engineering s.r.o. in Pilsen (Czech Republic) in July 2007, thereby simultaneously acquiring the Czech company Value Engineering Services.
ZF Electronics had emerged from the acquisition of the Cherry Corporation in 2008.
ZF, however, was able to launch its proprietary hybrid technology onto the market already in 2008: The Mercedes S400 Hybrid introduced the same year encompassed an electric motor by ZF Sachs.
ZF celebrated the shipment of its two millionth unit already in 2008.
In order to also offer a corresponding product in this segment in addition to the very successful 8HP, ZF engineers had been working on the world's first 9-speed automatic transmission (9HP) since 2009.
The Wissenswerkstatt (Knowledge Workshop) association was inaugurated in Friedrichshafen early in 2009 and advocates learning already in childhood.
The start of volume production of the 8HP took place already in 2009.
In 2010 ZF decided to build a new plant for the production of wind turbine gearboxes in the US city of Gainesville.
The automatic transmission of the 8HP model range was in such great demand that production capacity in Saarbrücken was expanded as early as 2010.
The purpose of reorganizing the four divisions, which ZF launched under the slogan of "Go4ZF!" in 2010, was to ensure a clear division of competence, also to the outside.
In France, ZF bought Fonderie Lorraine, located near Saarbrücken, from bankrupt Honsel AG in 2010.
In 2010, for instance, "ZF hilft." made EUR 350,000 available for microloans to women in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh so that they could set up an economically independent existence.
In November 2011, ZF acquired Belgian specialist Hansen Transmissions International NV, which operated plants in China and India in addition to production in Belgium.
The Servotronic ranks among the most prominent success stories of ZF: 25 years after the start of production – in 2011 – the twelve-millionth system was shipped.
In 2012, EUR 415,000 was collected for projects in Chad and Kenya.
2012 saw the largest donation ever made to an educational institution to date: With a grant totaling EUR 20 million, ZF enabled the new construction of the Zeppelin University campus on the "Fallenbrunnen" former military barracks grounds in Friedrichshafen.
Moreover, there are long-standing partnerships with universities in China, including an endowed professorship established in 2012 for passenger car chassis technology at the Tongji University in Shanghai.
Under the designation of "Atlas 1," ZF finally, in February 2014, introduced the first wind turbine gearbox developed under the ZF brand.
As a signal that the integration of component supplier TRW, which ZF took over in spring 2015, has largely been completed, ZF fundamentally revises its corporate design.
In the anniversary year of 2015, ZF launched the largest humanitarian relief project in the company's history: the "100 Years – 100 Schools" campaign in cooperation with UNESCO. The ambitious goal: to finance 100 educational institutions in the poorest regions of the world.
Uber gets into damage control with the story of a changed company post 2017
At 1.79 million, demat accounts opened in June fewest since Feb 2021
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ZF Group competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elringklinger Ag | 1935 | $1.8M | 10,001 | 8 |
| HyPro | 1969 | $8.7M | 50 | 32 |
| Ruger | 1949 | $535.6M | 2,120 | 14 |
| ABB Motors and Drives US | 1920 | $1.5B | 5,500 | - |
| Kennametal | 1938 | $2.0B | 10,000 | 133 |
| The Timken Company | 1899 | $4.6B | 17,000 | 228 |
| Tenaris | 1984 | $4.3B | 19,399 | 116 |
| Amstore | 1914 | $28.3M | 350 | - |
| RB Royal Industries | 1942 | $8.2M | 58 | 1 |
| Heatron | 1977 | $50.0M | 4 | - |
ZF Group history FAQs
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ZF Group may also be known as or be related to ZF Transmissions Gray Court, LLC, Zf Transmissions Gray Court, Llc, Zf Transmissions Gray Court Llc, ZF Group, ZF Friedrichshafen, ZF TRANSMISSIONS GRAY COURT and Zf Friedrichshafen AG /Poland.