Vulkan Group

The Vulkan Group (own spelling: VULKAN Group) is an internationally active group of companies in the drive technology and refrigeration/air conditioning technology sectors. The owner-managed group of companies has its headquarters in Herne in the Ruhr area. Today the company is active in more than 50 countries and has 19 subsidiaries, 50 agencies and five production facilities worldwide.

VULKAN Group
(Hackforth Holding)
TypeGmbH & Co. KG
Industrypropulsion technology, cooling & air-conditioning technology, condition monitoring
Founded1889
HeadquartersHerne, Germany
Area served
Worldwide
Number of employees
1,200 (2012)
DivisionsIndustry Sector, Energy Sector
Websitewww.vulkan.com

History

In 1889 VULKAN's history began following the foundation of Maschinenfabrik Louis Schwarz in Dortmund. The company initially functioned as a supplier of brewing equipment, tanks and low pressure compressors for the already well-established Dortmund breweries. With the conversion of Schwarz & Co. Maschinenfabrik into a KG and the entry of the Von der Heydt banking family in 1898, the basis was laid to produce clutches, lifting machines, winches and reversing gears. The world's first clutch, which was capable of being activated under load, was produced for use in lifting machinery, hoists and reversing gearboxes.

At the end of World War I in 1918, the Heinrich Behrend company was taken over and the company was renamed Dortmunder Vulkan AG. The couplings are used in transmissions of all kinds - rolling mills, cranes, ships, locomotives, presses and winches. The reversing gear designed by Otto Hegemann introduced a new epoch in marine gear manufacturing.

The machine factory Hackforth & Co. in the former Wanne-Eickel took over the production for the Vulkan company in 1941. The Second World War ended the first chapter of the successful development of both companies. 

In 1945, reconstruction began on the site on Heerstraße, the current headquarters of the company in Germany.

A new era of the company was initiated in 1951 with the licensing agreement with Waldemar Zadow. The company received the exclusive right to manufacture and distribute a highly flexible coupling worldwide. Production of this VULKAN EZ coupling, for which a patent application had been filed, began. In 1956 Bernhard Hackforth acquired the company. The company headquarters was officially moved from Dortmund to Wanne-Eickel. In line with the progress in the diesel engine sector, the range of flexible couplings was further developed up to torques of 220 kNm.

In 1967, the company produced the largest flexible coupling ever manufactured.

Since the 1970s, numerous subsidiaries have been established. The company, which was run as a sole proprietorship, was converted into a limited partnership and traded under the name Vulkan Kupplungs- und Getriebebau Bernhard Hackforth GmbH & Co. KG. 1978 saw the beginning of diversification: The company Vulkan Lokring Rohrverbindungen GmbH & Co. KG was founded. In October 1977 Bernhard Hackforth handed over the sole management of Vulkan Kupplungs- und Getriebebau to his son Bernd Hackforth in order to concentrate on managing the new companies of the Vulkan Group.

VULKAN Kupplungs- und Getriebebau in 1982 developed a coupling with an extremely high torsional flexibility, which bore the name RATO. Following this, the manufacturing of the patent-registered RATO S coupling began.

In 2005 VULKAN Kupplungs- und Getriebebau established an in-house vulcanization ensuring the control, knowhow and reproducible quality of a core process. To harmonize the global range of products and to optimize the marketing strategy, the business of the Vulkan group was divided into the following four business divisions in 2008: VULKAN Couplings, VULKAN Drive Tech, VULKAN Lokring. The fourth generation takes over responsibility since 2011: Sebastian Hackforth becomes managing director. Vulkan inaugurates the new company headquarters at its headquarters in Herne in 2015.

The divisions

The Hackforth Holding GmbH & Co. KG is the management company for the subsidiaries since 2008:

  • VULKAN Couplings: highly flexible couplings, damper, mounts, shafts for maritime applications and stationary energy generation
  • VULKAN Drive Tech: couplings, dampers, mounts, brakes for industrial applications
  • VULKAN Lokring: tube connections in the field of cooling/air conditioning technology
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.