SKF
 |
|
| Publicly traded Aktiebolag | |
| Traded as |
Nasdaq Stockholm: SKF B : : SKFINDIA |
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Founded | 1907 |
| Founder | |
| Headquarters | Gothenburg, Sweden |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
Leif Östling (Chairman), Alrik Danielson (President and CEO) |
| Products |
|
| Revenue |
 SEK 70.975 billion (2014) |
|
SEK 7.801 billion (2014) |
|
|
SEK 4.750 billion (2014) |
|
| Total assets |
SEK 81.639 billion (2014) |
| Total equity |
SEK 24.404 billion (2014) |
|
Number of employees
|
48,593 (end 2014) |
| Subsidiaries |
|
| Website | www |
SKF, Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB (Swedish: Swedish ball bearing factory AB), later AB SKF, is a leading bearing and seal manufacturing company founded in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1907. The company manufactures and supplies bearings, seals, lubrication and lubrication systems, maintenance products, mechatronics products, power transmission products, condition monitoring systems and related services globally.
Today, SKF is the largest bearing manufacturer in the world, and employs approximately 48,600 people in 140 production and manufacturing sites, which in addition to 15,000 worldwide distribution locations encompasses 130 countries worldwide. With an annual Turnover of SEK 70.975 Billion, and total assets of SEK 81.639 Billion in FY2014, SKF has been listed as one of the largest companies in Sweden and among largest public companies in the world according to Forbes Global 2000 ranking.
Sven Wingqvist, at the time a thirty-year-old plant engineer responsible for repairs and maintenance at Gamlestadens Fabriker, was dissatisfied with the performance of the ball bearings then in use. These were rigid ball bearings, imported from Germany, and if the long shafts on the machinery in a textile mill were the least bit misaligned, the ball bearings would become overheated and break down, bringing production to a costly halt. In spring 1907, Wingquist presented a breakthrough – a double row self-aligning ball bearing with a spherical raceway in the outer ring, shared by both rows of balls. This allowed the inner ring to align freely in relation to the outer ring, with no negative impact on the function of the bearing. The new bearing solved the problem associated with misalignment of the shafts and thus did away with the frequent production stops. Self-alignment was particularly useful in the less-than-perfect machinery of the times and in buildings with subsidence problems, which was the case at Gamlestadens Fabriker, since much of the land on which Gothenberg has been built is clay.
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Wikipedia