founded as a razor blade factory in 1910 in glatten in the black forest . over the years the company s products changed from razor blades to transport equipment and finally to vacuum technology . the company is one of the leading suppliers of vacuum technology in the fields of automation and manual handling and clamping . schmalz employs more than 950 people 2015 . the company s sales network includes 16 subsidiaries in china finland france india italy japan canada korea mexico the netherlands poland russia switzerland spain turkey and the united states . contents 1 history 2 products 3 sustainability 4 external links history edit in 1910 johannes schmalz founded the johannes schmalz rasierklingenfabrik in glatten . the glattis brand was both well known and successful in germany selling up to 600 000 razor blades every month . the proliferation of the electric shaver required the company to change its focus . from 1948 onwards artur schmalz made innovative developments in the field of light motor vehicles . schmalz supplied luggage trailers and mobile steps to airports and transport equipment to furniture factories . when kurt schmalz took over the management of the company in 1984 the company moved in a new direction and began to specialise in vacuum technology . in 1990 wolfgang schmalz joined the company s management . together the two brothers have transformed a company with a long tradition into an international company . 1998 saw the opening of the company s first branch office in switzerland . today schmalz has a sales network of 17 branch offices across the globe . in 2008 the company s production area in germany was increased by 10 170 m . citation needed products edit schmalz s vacuum technology is utilized in production processes that require workpieces to be moved ergonomically transported or secured . vacuum components vacuum components help a wide variety of users and industries to perform automation and handling tasks . the range of products includes vacuum suction pads vacuum generators mounting elements and system monitors . vacuum gripping systems schmalz designs ready to connect vacuum gripping systems that are adapted to customersecific requirements . the systems range from universal grippers to layer gripping systems and vacuum spiders . the grippers are used in all areas of automation . vacuum handling systems ergonomic vacuum lifters facilitate manual workpiece handling . also the vacuum lifters can be adjusted to meet a firm s specific requirements . combined with crane systems schmalz offers ergonomic ready to connect handling devices . vacuum clamping systems vacuum clamping technology is used with cnc machine tools in order to increase productivity and economic efficiency . workpieces can be fixed in the machine . sustainability edit renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy wood chips and hydro electric power are utilized . today schmalz is able to generate more energy than the company actually needs . citation needed external links edit official web site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title j. schmalz gmbh & oldid 735022189 categories industrial machine manufacturersmachine tool builderspneumatic tool manufacturerscompanies of germanygerman brandscompanies established in 1910hidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from march 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschespa olfran aisitalianonederlands edit links this page was last modified on 18 august 2016 at 05 15 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view