KraussMaffei is a German manufacturing company. It is a manufacturer of injection molding machines, machines for plastics extrusion technology, and reaction process machinery. It was acquired by

ChemChina China National Chemical Corporation, commonly known as ChemChina, is a Chinese state-owned chemical company in the product segments of agrochemicals, rubber products, chemical materials and specialty chemicals, industrial equipment, and petroc ...

in 2016.

History

KraussMaffei was formed in 1931 from a merger of the two Munich firms of Maffei (founded 1838) and Krauss & Co. (founded 1860). Both belonged to the leading German makers of

locomotives A locomotive is a rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for longer and heavier freight train ...

of various types. Maffei also built other steam-operated vehicles and, later, manufactured vehicles with combustion engines, including locomotives, trolleybuses and

buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

until the 1950s. The headquarters of the firm remained in Munich. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

KrausMaffei used thousands of prisoners of war and concentration camp internees as forced labor at its Munich-Allach plant to produce military equipment. Major products included the Sd.Kfz. 7,

Panzer I Ausf. C The Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf. C, also known by its prototype name VK 6.01, was a German light tank from the Second World War. Although the Panzer I Ausf. C was formally designated as a modification of the Panzer I, it was actually a completely ne ...

and

Panzer I Ausf. F The Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf. F, also known as VK 18.01, was a German light tank from World War II. Despite the fact that it was designated as a modification of the Panzer I light tank, the VK 18.01 was a completely new vehicle that had almost no ...

. KrausMaffei had produced injection moulding equipment since 1957. In 1964 the company Eckert & Ziegler GmbH was taken over. In the 1960s, KraussMaffei built several examples of the ML 4000 C′C′

diesel-hydraulic A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...

locomotive for demonstration and testing on

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

railroads.

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

and

Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south fro ...

participated in the tests, but both found the locomotives unsuitable for service in the rugged

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

through which the two railroads ran. KrausMaffei was a major tank manufacturer. In 1963 the company started production of the Leopard tank. Development and production of

Leopard 2 The Leopard 2 is a third generation German main battle tank (MBT). Developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s, the tank entered service in 1979 and replaced the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West German army. Various iterat ...

tank started in 1972 in cooperation with

Wegmann & Co The form coach factory of Wegmann & Co. was founded in 1882 in Kassel (then ''Cassel'') by ''Kommerzienrat'', Peter Wegmann, and Richard Harkort as the Casseler Waggonfabriken von Wegmann, Harkort & Co. In 1886 it changed its name to Wegmann & C ...

. The "tank family" comprised not only main battle tanks, but also combat engineering vehicles, air defense tank

Flakpanzer Gepard The ''Flugabwehrkanonenpanzer Gepard'' ("anti-aircraft-gun tank 'Cheetah, better known as the Flakpanzer Gepard) is an all-weather-capable West German Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon, self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) based on the hu ...

, self-propelled howitzer

Panzerhaubitze 2000 The Panzerhaubitze 2000 (), meaning "armoured howitzer 2000" and abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155 mm self-propelled howitzer developed by KNDS Deutschland (formerly Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW)) and Rheinmetall in the 1980s and 1990s for t ...

(PzH 2000), and reconnaissance and transportation vehicles. More than 10,000 armoured vehicles based on Leopard tanks were produced since 1960s. In the 1970s, KraussMaffei were involved in the development of the

Transrapid Transrapid () is a German-developed high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. Planning for the system started in the late 1960s, with a test facility in Emsland, Germany, inaugurated in 1983. In 1991, technical readiness for ...

magnetic levitation Magnetic levitation (maglev) or magnetic suspension is a method by which an object is levitation (physics), suspended with no support other than magnetic fields. Lorentz force, Magnetic force is used to counteract the effects of the gravitation ...

train. In 1986 the plastics equipment division was separated and became Krauss-Maffei Kunststofftechnik GmbH.

Mannesmann Mannesmann was a German industrial conglomerate. It was originally established as a manufacturer of steel pipes in 1890 under the name "Deutsch-Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG" (lit. "German-Austrian Mannesmann pipe-works joint-s ...

acquired majority share of KraussMaffei in 1989, and bought out the remaining shares in 1996. In 1999 KraussMaffei merged with

Demag Demag (In German ''Deutsche Maschinenbau-Aktiengesellschaft'') was a German heavy equipment industrial group whose individual companies are now scattered. The Demag name can be today found for example as the Demag Cranes and Components and Sum ...

to form the ''Mannesmann Demag Kraus-Maffei''. In 1999 the defence component was spun off and merged with Wegmann & Co to become

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann KNDS Deutschland GmbH & Co, formerly Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG (KMW), is an arms industry company based in Munich, Germany. The company produces military weapons and vehicles, including tanks, self-propelled artillery, and other armoure ...

(KMW). Co-operation between companies was already well established, with Wegmann supplying tank turrets, among other things. After acquisition of Mannesmann's telecommunication business by

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

in February 2000, Mannesmann group was dissolved. KraussMaffei's locomotive production and defense division Krauss-Maffei Wegmann were bought by

Siemens AG Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the posit ...

. In 2000 Krauss-Maffei Kunststofftechnik GmbH took over the KrausMaffei

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

s following dissolution of Mannesmann Group. In 2016, KraussMaffei (by then only a plastics manufacturer) was purchased by

.ChemChina-led group buys Germany's KraussMaffei for $1 billion in record deal
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

'' 11 January 2016 In November 2018 KraussMaffei was the victim of a

ransomware Ransomware is a type of malware that Encryption, encrypts the victim's personal data until a ransom is paid. Difficult-to-trace Digital currency, digital currencies such as paysafecard or Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency, cryptocurrencies are com ...

attack, leading to severe drawdown in the production. After the transaction, ChemChina held a good 60 percent of the shares, another Chinese sovereign wealth fund around 15 percent, and the rest was free float. At the same time, production in China was stepped up: In addition, the ChemChina majority holding Qingdao Tianhua Institute of Chemistry Engineering (THY) took over a ChemChina plant in

Sanming Sanming ( zh, s=, p=Sānmíng, Foochow Romanized: Săng-mìng), also known as Minzhong ( zh, s=闽中 , t=閩中 , 中=Mǐnzhōng , links=no), is a prefecture-level city in western Fujian province, China. It borders Nanping City to the north, Fuz ...

, which builds injection molding machines for the Chinese market. Starting in 2022, the company will relocate its headquarters and location in Allach in phases to an industrial estate currently under construction in the community of

Vaterstetten Vaterstetten is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Upper Bavarian district of Ebersberg (district), Ebersberg. It lies east of Munich and is the district's biggest community. Vaterstetten is on the outskirts of Munich, roughly twent ...

, which is located north of the village of

Parsdorf Vaterstetten is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Upper Bavarian district of Ebersberg (district), Ebersberg. It lies east of Munich and is the district's biggest community. Vaterstetten is on the outskirts of Munich, roughly twent ...

. KraussMaffei will cut 510 jobs worldwide by 2023, most of them in Germany, as the company reported in early 2020.

References

External links

* {{Authority control ChemChina 1999 mergers and acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions Chemical companies of Germany German companies established in 1930 German subsidiaries of foreign companies Industrial machine manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Munich Manufacturing companies established in 1930