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Renk
The Renk Group AG is a German global manufacturer of transmissions, engines, hybrid drive systems, vehicle suspension systems, plain bearings, couplings, and testing systems. The company builds special gearboxes for tanks, frigates, icebreakers, and industry and is a leading supplier of running gear and damping systems for tracked and wheeled military vehicles. Renk is headquartered in Augsburg and in addition to its headquarters, also manufactures in Rheine, Hannover, Winterthur, Bath, and Sterling Heights.
In 2022, the group achieved a turnover of €850 million and employed 3,000 people. About 70% of its turnover was generated by tank and marine gear units. Founded in 1873, the company has been either fully owned or majority-owned by private equity investor Triton since 2020. Renk returned to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange following an initial public offering in 2024.
The company traces back to Johann Julius Renk (4 January 1848 – 3 November 1896). He completed an apprenticeship as a locksmith and lathe operator at Maschinenfabrik Augsburg, later MAN Group, and began working as a journeyman lathe operator at Maschinenfabrik L. A. Riedinger. During this time, Renk had the idea of a machine that could produce gears completely mechanically. The usual production process at that time consisted of two individual steps, the mechanical slitting of the wheel bodies and the manual filing of the finished gears using templates. In May 1873, Renk set up his own small workshop for the mechanical production of gears in Augsburg's Lechviertel district.
First, he developed a semi-automatic spur gear planing machine that worked using templates. Barely four years after founding his workshop, he also designed and built a machine tool that could produce conical wheels, today known as bevel gears. For this invention, which caused a great stir among experts at the time, Renk was awarded the patent DRP 8000/79 in 1879 (production of the first involute gearing with a pressure angle of 14.5 degrees). In the same year, the company moved to the Göggingen district of Augsburg and established Renk's headquarters there, which still exist as of 2023. In 1888, Renk owned 15 self-built gear planing machines, among other machine tools. His workforce consisted of 37 employees. Two years later, the entrepreneur founded a factory health insurance fund for his workforce.
When Renk died in November 1896, his company employed over 100 workers who produced about 12,000 gears of all kinds every year. The turnover was around DM500,000. After the founder's death, his company was converted into a joint-stock company with the name Zahnräderfabrik Augsburg vorm. Joh. Renk Act. Ges. on 11 March 1897. The newly founded company acquired the company, including land, equipment and machinery, from Renk's heirs at a price of DM666,391.51. In the corporation's first fiscal year, the workforce consisted of 130 employees.
In the years after the turn of the century, the company expanded production so that by 1913 around 700 people were employed. The company changed its name to Zahnräderfabrik Augsburg AG in the same year. In order to mitigate the consequences of the First World War and ensure the company's continued existence, it was incorporated into the mechanical engineering group Gutehoffnungshütte (GHH) from Oberhausen, which later became MAN, in 1923. Also that year, the company became publicly listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In the following years, Renk thus was able to benefit from clients within the group as well as from favourable sources of fuel, pig iron and steel. From 1926, ground gears were produced in Augsburg.
In the years before and during the Second World War, the company was a major supplier for the German Wehrmacht. Forced labourers were used on a large scale during the Second World War. In August 1942, 180 men and 30 women from the territories of the Soviet Union alone were forced labourers at Renk. In 1944, around 2,000 forced labourers for the Messerschmitt, Renk and Alpine companies were housed in the Sammellager V in Augsburg.
Among the most important customers after the Second World War were steel processing companies, such as the Group's sister company Schloemann, to which multiple large rolling mill gearboxes were supplied. By the end of the 1950s, sales had increased to around DM50 million and Renk employed over 1,400 workers. In the following decades, the company expanded its product range by acquiring rival companies. These acquisitions included the takeover of Eisenwerk Wülfel in Hanover in 1975 and the Tacke GmbH in Rheine in 1986. The French companies Société Européenne d'Engrenages (SEE) and Société d'Equipements, Systèmes et Mécanismes (SESM) joined Renk in 1989. Thus, the company expanded into the areas of plain bearings and flexible couplings through Wülfel, crown gear couplings and certain marine gears through Tacke, small marine reversing gears and brake discs through SEE as well as armoured gear units through SESM.
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Renk
The Renk Group AG is a German global manufacturer of transmissions, engines, hybrid drive systems, vehicle suspension systems, plain bearings, couplings, and testing systems. The company builds special gearboxes for tanks, frigates, icebreakers, and industry and is a leading supplier of running gear and damping systems for tracked and wheeled military vehicles. Renk is headquartered in Augsburg and in addition to its headquarters, also manufactures in Rheine, Hannover, Winterthur, Bath, and Sterling Heights.
In 2022, the group achieved a turnover of €850 million and employed 3,000 people. About 70% of its turnover was generated by tank and marine gear units. Founded in 1873, the company has been either fully owned or majority-owned by private equity investor Triton since 2020. Renk returned to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange following an initial public offering in 2024.
The company traces back to Johann Julius Renk (4 January 1848 – 3 November 1896). He completed an apprenticeship as a locksmith and lathe operator at Maschinenfabrik Augsburg, later MAN Group, and began working as a journeyman lathe operator at Maschinenfabrik L. A. Riedinger. During this time, Renk had the idea of a machine that could produce gears completely mechanically. The usual production process at that time consisted of two individual steps, the mechanical slitting of the wheel bodies and the manual filing of the finished gears using templates. In May 1873, Renk set up his own small workshop for the mechanical production of gears in Augsburg's Lechviertel district.
First, he developed a semi-automatic spur gear planing machine that worked using templates. Barely four years after founding his workshop, he also designed and built a machine tool that could produce conical wheels, today known as bevel gears. For this invention, which caused a great stir among experts at the time, Renk was awarded the patent DRP 8000/79 in 1879 (production of the first involute gearing with a pressure angle of 14.5 degrees). In the same year, the company moved to the Göggingen district of Augsburg and established Renk's headquarters there, which still exist as of 2023. In 1888, Renk owned 15 self-built gear planing machines, among other machine tools. His workforce consisted of 37 employees. Two years later, the entrepreneur founded a factory health insurance fund for his workforce.
When Renk died in November 1896, his company employed over 100 workers who produced about 12,000 gears of all kinds every year. The turnover was around DM500,000. After the founder's death, his company was converted into a joint-stock company with the name Zahnräderfabrik Augsburg vorm. Joh. Renk Act. Ges. on 11 March 1897. The newly founded company acquired the company, including land, equipment and machinery, from Renk's heirs at a price of DM666,391.51. In the corporation's first fiscal year, the workforce consisted of 130 employees.
In the years after the turn of the century, the company expanded production so that by 1913 around 700 people were employed. The company changed its name to Zahnräderfabrik Augsburg AG in the same year. In order to mitigate the consequences of the First World War and ensure the company's continued existence, it was incorporated into the mechanical engineering group Gutehoffnungshütte (GHH) from Oberhausen, which later became MAN, in 1923. Also that year, the company became publicly listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In the following years, Renk thus was able to benefit from clients within the group as well as from favourable sources of fuel, pig iron and steel. From 1926, ground gears were produced in Augsburg.
In the years before and during the Second World War, the company was a major supplier for the German Wehrmacht. Forced labourers were used on a large scale during the Second World War. In August 1942, 180 men and 30 women from the territories of the Soviet Union alone were forced labourers at Renk. In 1944, around 2,000 forced labourers for the Messerschmitt, Renk and Alpine companies were housed in the Sammellager V in Augsburg.
Among the most important customers after the Second World War were steel processing companies, such as the Group's sister company Schloemann, to which multiple large rolling mill gearboxes were supplied. By the end of the 1950s, sales had increased to around DM50 million and Renk employed over 1,400 workers. In the following decades, the company expanded its product range by acquiring rival companies. These acquisitions included the takeover of Eisenwerk Wülfel in Hanover in 1975 and the Tacke GmbH in Rheine in 1986. The French companies Société Européenne d'Engrenages (SEE) and Société d'Equipements, Systèmes et Mécanismes (SESM) joined Renk in 1989. Thus, the company expanded into the areas of plain bearings and flexible couplings through Wülfel, crown gear couplings and certain marine gears through Tacke, small marine reversing gears and brake discs through SEE as well as armoured gear units through SESM.