1883-1939 In 1883,
Friedrich Fischer of
Schweinfurt designed a machine to allow steel balls to be ground to an absolutely round state for the first time – and in large volumes. On 29 July 1905, the FAG brand was registered with the patent office in Berlin. The registered trademark FAG is an acronym for "Fischer's Automatische Gussstahlkugelfabrik," or "Fischer's Automatic Steel Ball Factory."
Third Reich In 1939,
Certified Public Accountant Wilhelm Schaeffler, an employee of the
Dresdner Bank, "acquired" Davistan AG, a Jewish founded textiles company 30 percent below value; the owner, Ernst Frank, had bankrupted in April 1933, because of the boycott and fled Germany. The company was located in
Katscher in
Oberschlesien. In 1941, Wilhelm Schaeffler joined the
NSDAP. In 1942, Wilhelm Schaeffler changed the Jewish-sounding name of the company to
Wilhelm Schaeffler AG and his brother, Georg Schaeffler bought 25 percent of the company by the end of 1942. In the summer of 1943, Wilhelm Schaeffler founded a
limited partnership for the production of armaments and textiles (dropping devices for the air force,
fire bombs,
needle bearings for tanks, Wehrmacht vests, mattresses and coats). The historian Gregor Schöllgen who investigated the history of the company on behalf of the Schaeffler family claimed in 2009 that there was no evidence for a connection to Auschwitz". for which he was strongly criticized in 2011 by his colleagues Tim Schanetzky,
Cornelia Rauh and Toni Pierenkemper.
1946-1989 In 1945, with the Soviet army advancing, the company was moved to the Upper Franconian
Schwarzenhammer. 300 "Schaeffler people" as well as machines, raw materials and semi-finished goods arrived in 40 railway wagons. After the end of the war Schwarzenhammer was part of the
American occupation zone. In August 1945, the "factory of agricultural machinery" was founded there. After Wilhelm Schaeffler returned from Polish imprisonment in mid-September 1952, this company together with Schaeffler KG was
liquidated. In 1949, the needle roller cage, developed by Georg Schaeffler, made the needle roller bearing a reliable component for industrial applications which propelled INA (Industrie Nadellager) to success. In 1951, the Saar Nadellager oHG was founded in
Homburg as the first INA branch in Germany In 1958 a factory was opened at
São Paulo Brazil. In 1965, INA acquired the company August Häussermann in
Bühl (Baden) and renamed it LuK Lamellen und Kupplungsbau GmbH. In 1989 the carpet business was sold.
1990-1999 In 1991 and 1992 the company expanded Eastward: plants were opened in
Skalica,
Slovakia, and
Ansan,
Korea and in 1995 the INA Bearings China Co. Ltd. was founded in
Taicang,
China. In 1999, INA took over LuK GmbH.
21st century • 2002: Acquisition of FAG Kugelfischer AG, Schweinfurt. • 2003: INA, FAG and LuK form the Schaeffler Group. • 2008: In August 2008, the Schaeffler family agreed to a staggered €12 billion
acquisition of larger rival
Continental AG Germany, whereby the family would defer taking a majority stake until at least 2012. • 2009: President and CEO of the Schaeffler Group, Dr.
Jürgen M. Geissinger, was elected president of the World Bearing Association. • 2011: Schaeffler Group became Schaeffler AG and Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG as the family sold off €1.8 billion worth of shares, reducing its stake from 75.1% to 60.3%. • 2013: On 4 October, an employee letter said "... Mr. Klaus Rosenfeld will take over as acting CEO in addition to his current responsibilities as Chief Financial Officer". • 2013: The third generation of Schaeffler's electric axle, presented in Schaeffler's ACTIVeDRIVE, becomes a pilot production product. • 2014: Schaeffler opens its first Russian plant in
Ulyanovsk, from which it supplies products to both domestic and overseas automobile manufacturers as well as to the railway industry. • 2015: Schaeffler successfully completes its initial public offering on 9 October 2015, under the motto "We share our success". • 2016: The strategy "Mobility for tomorrow" is adopted. U.S. and China plants are expanded and a new facility is opened in
Chonburi,
Thailand, along with a new office in
Moscow, Russia. • 2018: Schaeffler fitted four electric motors from the ABT Schaeffler FE01 Formula E car to an Audi A3 for testing only. • 2018: Schaeffler acquired the
drive-by-wire company
Paravan for development of
autonomous vehicle technology. • As of 2021, the family owned 46% of Continental shares and 49.94% of Vitesco Technologies. == See also ==