Vossloh - History

History

In 1883 Eduard Vossloh submitted a bid to the Royal Prussian Railway for the manufacture of spring washers for rail fasteners and was granted the commission. On 11 July 1888 the Eduard Vossloh Company was registered. Spring washers and other hardware items were manufactured at the family's blacksmiths shop. Through the early 1900s the company continued to grow, producing general hardware including decorative items and lampholders for electric lights.

In 1945 the facilities in Werdohl were destroyed by a bomb. Subsidiaries marketing lampholders which are located in Kalingrad, Wroclaw and East Germany ceased to be part of the company due to the changes in political borders at that time.

In 1946 production of holders for fluorescent tubes was allowed to take place at a plant in Lüdenscheid, by 1962 an additional plant for lighting products had opened in Selm and the Vossloh works employed 1300 people, with 500 more employed in subsidiaries. In 1966 the company obtained a license to produce a new tension clamp rail fastening developed by Prof. Hermann Meier director of the Deutsche Bundesbahn.

Recession in Germany in the 1980s resulted in the closure of two plants and employee lay-offs reducing the staff by almost half. Management was brought in from outside the Vossloh family, and Schwabe GmbH acquired; its lighting ballast products complementing Vossloh's lighting fittings product range, and on 1 December 1989 Vossloh-Werke GmbH became a public stock company or Aktiengesellschaft (AG). At this time there were three company divisions : Vossloh-Werke GmbH (Werdohl) (railway components e.g. tension clamps), Vossloh-Schwabe GmbH (Urbach) (electrical lighting products and components), and Hansa Metallwarengesellschaft mbH Thiessen & Hager (decorative products, sunblinds).

In the 1990s the reuninfication of Germany resulted, and new markets in eastern Europe resulted in additional demand for its rail fastening products on the former Deutsche Reichsbahn and elsewhere. Hoesch Maschinenfabrik Deutschland GmbH and W. Hegenscheidt GmbH manufacturers of railway wheelset machining equipment were acquired in the mid 1990s. In 1997 the company was first listed on the MDAX. In 1998 railway switch manufacturing company VAE group was acquired by Voestalpine AG and Vossloh.

However recession in the 1990s resulted in the sale of the non-'recession-resilient' decorative products division to Arquati S.p.a of Italy in 1997. Under company CEO Burkhard Schuchmann Vossloh was re-orientated as a rail industry based company during and after the 1990s; In 2002 the lighting division was sold to Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. of Osaka, Japan in 2002. and the company expanded into the rail industry market with a number of acquisitions:

• 1996: Rail related parts of the Deutsche System Technik GmbH company (traffic management and electronic information systems) are acquired after insolvency, forming Vossloh System-Technik GmbH
• 1998: The former Krupp Maschinenbau Kiel, then under Siemens' ownership as Siemens Schienenfahrzeugtechnik
• 1998: MAN Systemelektronik acquired and added to Vossloh System-Technik GmbH
• 2001: A 55% stake in NovoSignal AB (Sweden), designers of electronic interlocking and process control systems
• 2001: (VAE systems acquires Transwerk Perway Pty. Ltd (South Africa), railroad switch manufacturer)
• 2002: Passenger information and entertainment systems unit of Bombardier Transportion, Germany
• 2002: Cogifer group (France) is acquired, and Vossloh's share in VAE group is sold to Voestalpine
• 2002: Kiepe Elektrik (Düsseldorf, Germany)
• 2002: Skamo (Nowe Skalmierzyce, Poland); railroad switch manufacturer.
• 2003: MIN Skretnice (Serbia); railroad switch manufacturer.
• 2004: The diesel locomotive manufacturer formerly known as Meinfesa (in Valencia, Spain) was acquired from Alstom during that company's time of financial difficulties.
• 2004: Swedish Rail Systems AB (Sweden); railroad switch manufacturer
• 2004: Delkor Pty. (Australia); railroad switch manufacturer
• 2004: JS Industries Private Ltd., (Hyderabad, India); 51% of shares of railroad switch manufacturer
• 2005: Daksin Transtek Ltd. (Bangalore, India); railroad switch manufacturer - joint venture with Patil group (Patil Rail Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd, India)
• 2005: Beekay Engineering & Castings Ltd. (India), 60% acquired by Vossloh Cogifer

At the end of 2005 Burkard Schuchmann is succeeded by Dr. Gerhard Eschenröder as CEO until 2007 when Werner Andree replaces him. The subsidiarie, Vossloh Information Technologies GmbH was sold (Feb. 2007) to Funkwerk AG. The company continued to expand; its first acquisition in North America was Pohl Corp (switch manufacturer), followed by Cleveland Track Material Inc., both acquired in 2007. A 100% stake in French rail infrastructure company (ETF) was also obtained in 2007. The same year the company opened a rail fastening subsidiary in China.

In 2008 Vossloh infrastructure services is sold to the VINCI group of companies - this included the infrastructure parts of Cogifer SA acquired in 2002 as well as Européenne de Travaux Ferroviaires SA.

Further railroad switch manufacturers were acquired :TLK Rail (Australia) in 2007, Sportek (Denmark) and Kloos Oving B.V. (Netherlands) in 2008, and the switch and rail manufacturing parts of the Nouva Sima Sud company (Italy) in 2009.

In 2009 the company enters the rail services market in Germany, forming Vossloh Rail Services GmbH from the rail maintenance parts of Stahlberg-Roensch Group in addition to LOG Logistikgesellschaft Gleisbau mbH and ISB Instandhaltungssysteme Bahn GmbH. A rail milling and grinding joint venture Vossloh MFL Rail Milling GmbH, was formed in association with Maschinenfabrik Liezen und Giesserei in 2012.