GmbH (100% family-owned) | |
Industry |
Industrial machinery, Automotive industry, Mechanical engineering |
Founded | 1867 |
Founder | Johann Mätthaus Voith |
Headquarters | Heidenheim an der Brenz, Germany |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Key people
|
Dr. Hubert Lienhard (President and CEO) |
Products | Power transmission and paper processing units(primarily involving gears and torque converters) |
Revenue | €5.34 billion (2013/14) |
€191 million (2013/14) | |
Profit | €41 million (2013/14) |
Number of employees
|
39,302 (2013/14) |
Divisions | Voith Turbo, Voith Hydro, Voith Paper |
Website | Voith.com |
Not to be confused with the US based Voit Sporting Goods Company
The Voith GmbH, which is headquartered in Germany, is a family-owned multinational corporation in the mechanical engineering sector with worldwide operations.
The Voith Corporate Group is led by the Voith GmbH headquarters in Heidenheim, located in the German State of Baden-Württemberg. Here, the headquarters serves as a management-holding, with the executive board establishing general business strategies, taking overall responsibility for the groups operations, and providing support to the group’s affiliate companies.
The Voith GmbH has around 39,302 employees worldwide, with 14,434 working in Germany. For the 2013/14 business year, the consolidated group had revenues of €5.34 billion, profits of €41 million and a new order volume of €5.58 billion.
The Voith GmbH began as a small craftsman's workshop in the former Kingdom of Württemberg. In 1825, Johann Matthäus Voith took over this workshop from his father Johannes, which employed five craftsmen, and made tooling and spare parts for local mills. The same site used by the original workshop is now the home of the Voith GmbH Headquarters.
In the mid-19th century, Johann Matthäus Voith began developing machinery for spinning mills, wool re-processing and printing presses. In 1848, he began working with the Heidenheim paper producer Heinrich Voelter (1817–1887), with the common goal of mass-producing paper. At that time, series production of paper had failed due to the lack of rag-fiber which was used as the raw material. Wood however, being a plentiful renewable resource, was seen as an alternative. The very first patent for producing paper from wood pulp was awarded to Heinrich Voelter and Friedrich Gottlob Keller in 1846. Johann Matthäus Voith studied that patent, and then dramatically improved Keller’s design. As a result, the first Raffineur (Wood Pulp Refiner) was born in 1859 – a machine that significantly refined raw wood pulp and therefore greatly improved the quality of paper.