1883-1939
In 1883, Friedrich Fischer of Schweinfurt designed a machine to allow steel balls to be ground to an absolutely round state for the first time – and in large volumes.[7][8] On 29 July 1905, the FAG brand was registered with the patent office in Berlin. The registered trademark FAG is an acronym for "Fischer's Automatische Gussstahlkugelfabrik," or "Fischer's Automatic Steel Ball Factory."[9]
Third Reich
In 1939, Certified Public Accountant Wilhelm Schaeffler, an employee of the Dresdner Bank, "acquired" Davistan AG, a Jewish founded textiles company 30 percent below value; the owner, Ernst Frank, had bankrupted in April 1933, because of the boycott and fled Germany.[10][11] The company was located in Katscher in Oberschlesien. In 1941, Wilhelm Schaeffler joined the NSDAP. In 1942, Wilhelm Schaeffler changed the Jewish-sounding name of the company to Wilhelm Schaeffler AG and his brother, Georg Schaeffler bought 25 percent of the company by the end of 1942.[10] During World War II, weapons inspectors were urgently looking for further production sites in Upper Silesia, which was barely accessible to Allied bomber units and by June 1943 the Willi Scheffler AG was on a planning list and threatened to close. Some civilian production companies managed to avoid their shutdown by turning to weapons production or ensuring high productivity and lowest possible consumption of raw materials and finished parts.[12] In the summer of 1943, Wilhelm Schaeffler founded a limited partnership for the production of armaments and textiles (dropping devices for the air force, fire bombs, needle bearings for tanks, Wehrmacht vests, mattresses and coats).[10]
The company exploited thousands of slave labourers from France, Russia and Poland in its plants in German-occupied Poland, which the company admitted only in 2008. Around this time Dr. Jacek Lachendro, a historian at the Auschwitz museum stated that after the war 1.95 LT rolls of fabric made from inmates' hair had been found at Schaeffler factories in Kiertz ( formerly Katscher), and had been used in upholstery in its automotive products. Lachendro stated that analysis of the fabric produced traces of Zyklon B gas.[13] The historian Gregor Schöllgen who investigated the history of the company on behalf of the Schaeffler family claimed in 2009 that there was no evidence for a connection to Auschwitz".[14] for which he was strongly criticized in 2011 by his colleagues Tim Schanetzky,[15] Cornelia Rauh[16] and Toni Pierenkemper.[17]
1946-1989
In 1945, with the Soviet army advancing, the company was moved to the Upper Franconian Schwarzenhammer. 300 "Schaeffler people"[18] as well as machines, raw materials and semi-finished goods arrived in 40 railway wagons. After the end of the war Schwarzenhammer was part of the American occupation zone. In August 1945, the "factory of agricultural machinery" was founded there. After Wilhelm Schaeffler returned from Polish imprisonment in mid-September 1952, this company together with Schaeffler KG was liquidated.[10]
In the spring of 1946, brothers Wilhelm and Georg Schaeffler and two partners founded Industrie-GmbH in Herzogenaurach. The company was initially only allowed to repair agricultural equipment and produce goods from wood, but soon also became a supplier for tool making.[19]
In 1949, the needle roller cage, developed by Georg Schaeffler, made the needle roller bearing a reliable component for industrial applications which propelled INA (Industrie Nadellager) to success.[20]
1990-1999
In 1991 and 1992 the company expanded Eastward: plants were opened in Skalica, Slovakia, and Ansan, Korea and in 1995 the INA Bearings China Co. Ltd. was founded in Taicang, China.[23] Under the direction of Jürgen Geißinger (November 1998 to October 2013) the company followed an "aggressive acquisition strategy".[25] In 1999, INA took over LuK GmbH.[23] In 2001 the group bought the Schweinfurt competitor FAG Kugelfischer in a hostile takeover.[26]
21st century
In 2024, Schaeffler announced that 4,700 jobs will be eliminated, 2,800 alone in Germany, one plant in Austria and one in the UK will be closed, while bearing production in Berndorf, Austria, would cease. The production of couplings in Sheffield, England would be discontinued.[33]
- 2002: Acquisition of FAG Kugelfischer AG, Schweinfurt.
- 2003: INA, FAG and LuK form the Schaeffler Group.
- 2008: In August 2008, the Schaeffler family agreed to a staggered €12 billion acquisition of larger rival Continental AG Germany, whereby the family would defer taking a majority stake until at least 2012.[27]
- 2009: President and CEO of the Schaeffler Group, Dr. Jürgen M. Geissinger, was elected president of the World Bearing Association.[28]
