ZF Friedrichshafen

Infobox_Company
company_name = ZF Friedrichshafen AG
"Innovationen, die sich rechnen - Innovations of Great Value
company_
company_type = Private company:
Aktiengesellschaft (AG)
foundation = 20 August 1915
location_city = flagicon|GER Friedrichshafen
location_country = Germany
revenue = 12.6 Billion Euros (2007) (US$ 18.9 Billion)
num_employees = 60,000 (April, 2008) [ [http://www.zf.com/content/media/konzern/unternehmen/daten_und_fakten2007/ZF_AeB_08_D_E_3408.pdf ZF Group At A Glance] ]
key_people = Hans-Georg Härter (CEO)
industry = Automotive
products = Automotive
homepage = [http://www.zf.com/ 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

The company was founded as Zahnradfabrik (gearwheel manufacture) in 1915 in Friedrichshafen, Germany to produce gears for zeppelins and other airships but moved into the automobile market by 1918.

In the 1960s, the company began supplying transmissions to the major German automakers, including DKW and BMW, as well as Peugeot and Alfa Romeo. A popular automatic transmission (the 3 HP 20) was introduced in 1969 which was designed to be an easy swap with the company's manual transmissions. Worldwide subsidiaries and factories were opened in the 1970s, and the company moved into India, South Korea, and became a major supplier to Ford in the 1980s. The company expanded into China in the 1990s.

In 2001, ZF introduced the world's first six-speed automatic transmission for passenger cars in the BMW 7 Series. Today, ZF produces around 1 million six-speed automatic transmissions annually.

The company has six worldwide research and development (R&D) sites to provide product development related to the local markets. The company invests approximately 5 percent of sales revenue in 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.Fact|date=August 2008 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. [ [http://www.zf-group.co.uk/about.htm ZF UK website] ]
* ZF Group North American Operations is headquartered in Northville, Michigan.
* ZF Group Asia Pacific Operations is headquartered in Shanghai, PR China.

ee also

* List of ZF transmissions

References

External links

* [http://www.zf.com/content/en/import/zf_konzern/startseite/Startseite.html Official website]
* [http://www.man-mn.de/de/media/Pressemeldungen/show_press.jsp?id=86472 EDA element for hybrid trucks] .
* [http://www.motortrend.com/features/auto_news/2008/112_0807_zf_technology_showcase/index.html ZF Technology Showcase]