ABUS August Bremicker Söhne KG, commonly known as ABUS, is a German

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

of preventative security technology based in Wetter,

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

. Its name is an acronym of its original name, August Bremicker und Söhne ("August Bremicker and Sons").

History

The company was founded in 1924. Initially, it was limited to the manufacture of padlocks. It is family-owned and managed according to Christian corporate principles. Over the years, its product range has expanded to include smoke alarms, video surveillance systems, bike and boat security products, alarm systems and locking systems. ABUS operates the final two product segments via its subsidiary companies: * Security-Center (alarm and video surveillance systems), founded in June 1999 and bought by ABUS in June 2001 * Schließanlagen GmbH Pfaffenhain (locking systems), bought in January 2003 * SECCOR high security GmbH (electronic locking systems and switching devices), bought in September 2010 In October 2003, ABUS took over the manufacture of escutcheon plate products from door-hinge manufacturer Dr. Hahn in Mönchengladbach. Due to its close relationships with ABUS, the subsidiaries' names were changed to ABUS Security-Center GmbH & Co. KG (based in Affing), ABUS Pfaffenhain GmbH (based in Pfaffenhain), and ABUS Seccor GmbH (based in Ottobrunn). In addition to several production facilities in Germany, the ABUS Group operates around 20 foreign branches in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and China. It is the world market leader in bike locks and padlocks.Florian Langenscheidt, Bernd Venohr (Hrsg.): ''Lexikon der deutschen Weltmarktführer. Die Königsklasse deutscher Unternehmen in Wort und Bild''. Deutsche Standards Editionen, Köln 2010, . In November 2012, it received th
"Brand of the Century" Award
for security technology.

Structure

ABUS is headquartered in Wetter in

, and has manufacturing facilities across Germany and in China. It has around 3,500 employees worldwide.

Family ownership; exclusion of women from management

The company continues to be owned by the Bremicker family. In the 2013 list of the 500 richest Germans, published annually by ''

Manager Magazin ''Manager Magazin'' (stylized as ''manager magazin'') is a German monthly business magazine focusing on business, finance and management based in Hamburg, Germany. History and profile ''Manager Magazin'' was first published on 1 November 1971. ...

'', the family is ranked 422nd; its assets are estimated at €300 million. The family belongs to the evangelical exclusive wing of the Plymouth Brethren (Brüderbewegung), a church movement that originated in the 19th century. The family's religious orientation also affects the company, whose mission statement is shaped by the church's principles. Equal participation of female family members in the company is not allowed; there are therefore no women among KG shareholders. To exclude the succession of daughters, so-called inheritance waiver agreements have been concluded in the past.

References

External links

* 1924 establishments in Germany Lock manufacturers Companies based in North Rhine-Westphalia Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis German brands {{manufacturing-company-stub