| Type | GmbH with foundation as owner |
|---|---|
| Industry | Technology |
| Founded | 1913 |
| Headquarters | Heuchelheim, Germany |
| Key people | Gerhard Federer Heinz-Joachim Mäurer Arno Roth |
| Products | Components and systems for various industrial sectors |
| Revenue | € 880 million (2010)[1] |
| Employees | over 8.200 worldwide |
| Website | www.schunk-group.com |
The Schunk Group is a Mittelstand company headquartered in Germany. The most important fields of endeavor are carbon technology and ceramics, environmental simulation and climate technology, sintered metal technology as well as ultrasonic welding technology.
The Schunk Group has a presence in 28 countries with more than 60 operative companies. Consolidated sales came to EUR 880 million in 2010 and the number of employees is about 8,200. Companies in the Schunk Group are organized into business units and operate independently on their relevant markets.
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The company was founded by Ludwig Schunk and Karl Ebe in 1913 in Fulda to produce carbon brushes. In 1918 the company moved to Heuchelheim near Giessen. The childless founder Ludwig Schunk (1884-1947) bequeathed the company's entire assets to the Providential Fund for Company Members. That fund was meant to provide voluntary financial support to employees and former employees or their relatives in case of neediness, invalidity or old age. Today, the registered association Ludwig-Schunk Stiftung (Ludwig Schunk Foundation) performs, as trustee, the tasks set forth in the company founder's will.
The Schunk Group is divided up into four divisions:
The Materials Division manufactures construction components, among other things from carbon/graphite, carbon compounds, silicon carbide and quartz. It is broken down into the following business units:
The companies Weiss Umwelttechnik GmbH and Weiss Klimatechnik GmbH operate under the trademark of the Weiss Group. Karl Weiss GmbH was founded in 1956 as a manufacturer of electrophysical equipment. In 1978 it was taken over by the Schunk Group. The Weiss Group consists of the two business units, Environmental Simulation and Air Solutions. In the course of several decades the company consortium expanded both nationally and internationally. The Weiss Group has a total of over 21 companies and more than 70 representation offices in 14 countries worldwide and employs about 1,800 people (with 850 in the main plant at Reiskirchen-Lindenstruth in Hesse).
Weiss Environmental Simulation produces test equipment and systems for environmental simulation. The product program comprises testing systems for temperature and climate testing, weathering, temperature shock, corrosion and long-term testing in all test area sizes as well as major area systems and process integrated systems for environmental simulation and biology. The Weiss Air Solutions core business includes development and manufacture of complete ceiling systems for operating rooms, industrial clean room technology and air conditioning of computer rooms.
The Sinter Metals Division of the Schunk Group consists of the firms of Schunk Sintermetalltechnik GmbH Giessen, Schunk Sintermetalltechnik GmbH Thale and Sintermetalltechnik S.A. de C.V. Mexiko. Schunk Sinter Metals primarily produces sintered structural parts such as gearwheels, camshaft adjusters, locking cams, metal injection mold (MIM) parts as well as precision bearings. The main users are in the automotive and electric industries, or are producers of household and power tools and medical technology.
Schunk Sonosystems GmbH came about by merging the firms of Schunk Ultraschalltechnik GmbH and STAPLA Ultraschalltechnik GmbH. The products of this division cover the entire spectrum of welding applications using ultrasonic welding. This likewise includes amalgamation of non-ferrous metals and thermoplastic synthetics. In the late 1970s Schunk developed ultrasonic metal welding to industrial marketability. It is now mainly used to weld cable trees in the automotive industry.
Ludwig Schunk and Karl Ebe in 1913 founded the carbon brush factory Schunk+Ebe oHG in Fulda. In 1918 the company moved to Heuchelheim. In 1923 brush holders were included in the product line. Starting in 1924, there was manufacturing of electrographite and after 1928 the manufacture of metal contacts as well. In 1932 sinter metal production was started with sintering bearings. After the death of Ludwig Schunk in 1947, the estate of the founder, who had not had any children, passed to the "Providential Fund" of Schunk+Ebe oHG. In 1948 and 1949 a construction program was set up to expand the operation from 500 to 1200 employees. There followed in 1956 the incorporation of Schunk & Ebe S.A. in Brussels, the first foreign subsidiary. At present, Schunk is represented in Europe with 34 operating countries (outside of Germany). In 1957 Schunk Electro Carbón S.A. de C.V. was incorporated in Mexico, becoming the first company on the American continent. In 1969 there followed the founding of the Brazilian company Schunk do Brasil Ltda. in Sao Paulo.
In 1978 what was then Weiss Technik was taken over. In the same year, Schunk Graphite Technology LLC. was founded in Wisconsin. Schunk's presence in the United States was reinforced in the 1980s and 1990s. Currently, Schunk is present in the US with three operating companies. In 1993 the product spectrum was broadened with the division of ultrasonic welding technology. In 1986 a training program to train future generations of skilled workers in theory and practice was set up.
In 1991 the company experienced a crisis due to diversifications that failed, particularly in the field of automation technology. In the following year, 1992, there was restructuring, with the sale of automation technology.
In 1997 the acquisition of EHW Thale (sinter metal technology and enamel technology) and the incorporation of Pichit Industrial Works Co Ltd. in Pichit in Thailand followed. Today, Schunk has a presence in Asia with eight companies. In 1999, Schunk (Aust) Pty. Ltd. was founded in Rowville, Australia.
In 2004 the Federal President, in connection with his first official trip through Germany, visited the plant. In 2005, the company was awarded the prize of "Hesse Champion" by the prime minister of Hesse, Roland Koch. In 2006 the Schunk Group joined the Make Things initiative of the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI) (Association of German Engineers). In 2007, the internet portal created by Schunk in the framework of that initiative, www.ingenieurparadies.com (Engineers Paradise), commenced operation.
In 2007 EHW Thale Email GmbH was sold to a group of three private investors. In 2008 Schunk received the VDI's Best Practice Award in the Promoting initiative category for its [http://www.ingenieurparadies.com) Engineers Paradise internet portal. The Ministry of the Environment of Baden-Württemberg once again awarded a prize to Schunk for its innovative manufacturing design of a fuel cell stack.
In 2010 Schunk completed the largest expansion in its almost 100 years of corporate history. Over the course of four years permanent investments were made in the division of high temperature applications. Thanks to this expansion of its capacity at the Heuchelheim site, Schunk today produces the largest carbon fiber plates for the semiconductor and solar industries worldwide.