Schaeffler launches global foundation to mark 75th anniversary
6 Dec 2021
Global automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler has marked its 75th anniversary with the creation of a foundation to promote innovation in environmental protection, R&D and training across the world.
Parent company Schaeffler AG and IHO Holding have set up the new Schaeffler Foundation with capital of €3 million, provided by both partners with a commitment to additional annual donations.
The Foundation will be operate worldwide and focus on three areas: climate and environmental protection; research and science; and education, qualification and equal oOpportunity.
“Schaeffler’s pioneering spirit has always been crucial to the success of the company. Even throughout its challenging phases, the company has demonstrated a high degree of resilience and a constant willingness to view profound change as an opportunity,” stated Georg F. W. Schaeffler, chairman of the Schaeffler AG supervisory board.
“As shareholders, we are particularly aware that this success, spanning several decades, is primarily driven by our committed employees around the globe, as well as our customers and suppliers.”
To mark the anniversary year, the Schaeffler family arranged for their history to be systematically researched byrenowned historian Gregor Schöllgen. The research, which also covers the period prior to the company's founding in 1946, is to be made available online.
Founded by brothers Wilhelm and Georg Schaeffler, the firm grew out of Industrie GmbH, which the duo set up in Germany in 1946.
Their venture was boosted by Georg Schaeffler’s invention of the cage-guided needle roller bearing, which revolutionized motion and mobility in the automotive and industrial sectors. Over successive decades the company absorbed three independent companies – INA, LuK and FAG – to develop into a single entity that now employs more than 83,900 employees in 200 locations in more than 50 countries.
In 1965, the Schaeffler brothers’ investment in LuK saw it become a technological leader with innovatives including the diaphragm spring clutch, the dual-mass flywheel and a variety of engine components. LuK became a fully owned entity of Schaeffler in 1999.
Two years later, Schaeffler took over FAG Kugelfischer Georg Schäfer AG in Schweinfurt, making it intothe world's second-largest manufacturer of rolling bearings. The IPO stock launch of Schaeffler AG took placein 2015.
