Faun GmbH

Tadano Faun GmbH

Products	All-Terrain Cranes, Truck-Mounted Cranes, Rough-Terrain Cranes
Number of employees	800 employees
Website	www.tadanofaun.de

Tadano Faun GmbH (own spelling TADANO FAUN) is a German manufacturer of mobile cranes based in the Franconian (Bavaria) town of Lauf an der Pegnitz. It is a 100% subsidiary company of the Japanese Tadano Ltd. All Tadano all-terrain cranes are developed and produced in the plant in Lauf an der Pegnitz and then distributed across the globe by Tadano Faun GmbH’s global sales and service network.

Also, cranes are developed and built in Lauf and then mounted on commercial truck frames. Tadano Faun GmbH organises the sales and services of the Tadano Group for Europe and other selected markets for the all-terrain cranes, exclusively produced by the holding company in Japan.

In 1845, Justus Christian Braun founded a foundry in Nuremberg that merged with the Ansbach vehicle factory in 1918. The Fahrzeugfabriken Ansbach und Nürnberg [vehicle factories of Ansbach and Nuremberg], in short Faun, were formed in this way. In 1986, the owners at the time, the Schmidt family, sold the company to the construction machine manufacturer Orenstein & Koppel. The municipal vehicle department was detached and continued as a company of the Kirchhoff Group with the plant in Osterholz-Scharmbeck running under the name of Faun Umwelttechnik [Faun environment technology]. In 1990 the remaining part of the company was acquired by Japanese mobile crane manufacturer Tadano Ltd. Since then, the Faun GmbH has represented the manufacturing company and the Tadano Faun GmbH the sales company. In 2012, both companies merged to form the single company of Tadano Faun GmbH.

In the 1920s, Faun mainly developed municipal vehicles for waste disposal and street cleaning. Between 1924 and 1928, they also made automobiles. The first model, the 6/24HP K 2 model had a four-cylinder engine with an engine displacement of 1405cm³ and an output of 24HP. In 1926, it was followed by the 6/30HP K 3 model with a four-cylinder engine and an engine displacement of 1550cm³ that provided an output of 30HP. In the 1930s, Faun added heavy trucks which could take loads of up to 15t and tractor units to its product portfolio.

During World War II, the Faun plants were destroyed to a large extent. In 1946, manufacturing began again, first using pre-war and war designs. In 1948, the first new post-war design was introduced to the market: a small 4.5t truck with diesel engine with an output of between 90 and 100HP. In 1949, the L7 model was introduced providing a load-carrying capacity of 6.5t and a 150HP engine by Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz. Tractors were also built[1]. The L7 was available as traditional American-style truck and as cabover. From 1951 and 1950, the L8 (180HP and 8t live load) and Sepp (130HP and 6.5-7t live load) models replaced the former Faun models. From 1953 on, the triple-axle L900 truck was built, a vehicle for operating on difficult and heavy construction sites. The L900 could carry up to 16 tons. The L8 and the L900 models were produced until 1962, the Sepp until 1955. In 1955, modernised models with a new identifier system came to the market (F55, F56, F64, F66, F68), with a live load capacity of 4.5 to 5.6t. In 1955, Faun acquired a light Cab Over Engine from the Ostner plants for its own delivery programme which underwent a technical overhaul in 1957 and was built until 1968. From 1956 onwards, heavy trucks and tractor units were added to the programme, which were also available with four-wheel drive.