ZF Friedrichshafen - History and Milestones

History and Milestones

The company was founded in 1915 in Friedrichshafen, Germany by Ferdinand von Zeppelin, to produce gears for Zeppelins and other airships. Zeppelin was unable to otherwise obtain gears for his airships. The German Zahnradfabrik (ZF) translates to 'gear factory' in English.

By 1919, ZF had moved into the automobile market, a move consolidated by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Some of the most important milestones that followed:

• 1920: Patent application submitted for the Soden pre-selector transmission.
• 1921: Under a rampant inflation and investor fears, the company goes public as the Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen AG, with the Zeppelin Luftschiffbau GmbH holding 80% of the stock options, valued at 4 million Marks.
• 1929: A thriving auto industry warrants the series production of the innovative helical ZF Aphon transmission for cars and commercial vehicles.
• 1932: Launch of steering systems production under license. Today: ZF Lenksysteme GmbH.
• 1944: On 3 August, the Zahnradfabrik was bombed by the Fifteenth Air Force as a secondary target. As early as 20 September 1942, Albert Speer had warned Hitler of how important the Friedrichshafen tank engine production and the Schweinfurt ball-bearing facilities were.
• 1953: Market launch of the first fully synchronised transmission for commercial vehicles worldwide.
• 1961: Development of a fully automatic transmission for passenger cars. With series production beginning in 1969, and later proving highly popular, the 3HP20 is built to be swappable with the company's manual transmissions. The 1960s sees ZF supplying transmissions to major German automakers (including DKW Mercedes-Benz and BMW ) as well as Peugeot and Alfa Romeo.
• 1977: Start of volume production for automatic transmissions for commercial vehicles. Worldwide subsidiaries and factories were opened in the 1970s, and the company moved into India, South Korea.
• 1980s: ZF started operating in Asia in the mid 80s
• 1984: Majority shareholding gained in Lemförder Metallwaren AG, today ZF Lemförder GmbH.
• 1986: Start of USA transmission production in Gainesville, Georgia, for pickup trucks. ZF became a major supplier to Ford in the 1980s.
• 1991: The 5HP18 was the first 5-speed automatic transmission for passenger cars. Introduced in 1991 on the BMW E36 320i/325i and E34 5 Series
• 1994: Development of an automatic transmission system for heavy commercial vehicles. The company expanded into China in the 1990s.
• 1999: World premiere for the first automatic 6-speed transmission. Series production begins in 2001, with the BMW 7 Series as the first client. Today, ZF produces around one million six-speed automatic transmissions annually.
• 2001: Acquisition of Mannesmann Sachs AG. Today: ZF Sachs AG.
• 2002: Presentation of the world's first 4-point link – a newly developed chassis module for trucks and buses.
• 2003: First deliveries of the Active Steering systems for passenger cars.
• 2004: Ford starts volume production of the continuously variable transmissions (CVT) for passenger cars developed by ZF.
• 2005: The 10-millionth airbag casing, the 5-millionth passenger car axle system and the 2-millionth 'Servolectric' electric power steering system are delivered.
• 2006: ZF produces the 10-millionth passenger car automatic transmission.
• 2007: One of the world's first 8-speed automatic transmissions, the 8HP boasted to achieve a 11% improvement in fuel economy in comparison with standard 6-speed automatic transmissions. Production began in 2009.
• 2008: Acquisition of the Cherry Corporation. Incorporated into the ZF Electronics GmbH Corporate Division.
• 2011: World premiere for the first automatic 9-speed transmission.
• 2011: Production of 8-speed automatic transmission begins in Chrysler-owned plant in Kokomo, Indiana, USA, to supply Chrysler with RWD transmissions.

The company has six worldwide research and development (R&D) sites to provide product development related to the local markets. ZF invests approximately 5 percent of its sales revenue on R&D annually.