- ZF Sachs
Sachs is a German manufacturer of
motorcycle s,moped s, motorized bicycles and ATVs.On
August 1 ,1895 the Schweinfurter Präzisions-Kugellagerwerke Fichtel & Sachs oHGwas founded inSchweinfurt by inventorsErnst Sachs andKarl Fichtel , to produceball bearing s and bicyclehub s. 1897 the company introduced the world first freehubBy 1911, the year Fichtel died, the company had approximately 7,000 employees. In 1923, the oHG partnership was changed to a stock corporation, and the ball bearing division was sold to the
SKF , a Swedish ball bearing corporation, with the condition that the production remain in Schweinfurt permanently.From 1929 to 1996, F&S also produced motors, first for bicycles, and later for motorbikes,
two-stroke snowmobiles , and small cars. In 1929 F&S started production of automobile components, mainlyclutch es andshock absorber s. Ernst Sachs died in 1932, and, in 1936, his son Willy Sachs donated the "Willy-Sachs-Stadion" sporting arena to the city of Schweinfurt. In 1987, the GermanMannesmann AG acquired the majority of F&S stock, and, in 1997, F&S was renamed to Mannesmann Sachs AG.In the early 1970s Sachs produced the revolutionary
Wankel rotary engine powered Hercules motorcycle.In 2001, Sachs was sold to
ZF Friedrichshafen AG and renamed to ZF Sachs AG . The bicycle division was sold to a US-company, theChicago -based SRAM corporation, leaving the Sachs division of ZF to focus on the production of automobile components fordrivetrain s andchassis . As of 2003, ZF Sachs AG had 16,511 employees in 19 countries and a sales volume of 2.1 billioneuro s.ee also
*
Sachs Motorcycles
*Gunter Sachs External links
* [http://www.zfsachs.de ZF Sachs AG Homepage] (in German)
* [http://www.sachs-bikes.de/en Sachs Bikes English site]
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