industry railway systems engineering founded 1888 founder eduard vossloh headquarters werdohl germany key people hans m. schabert ceo and chairman of the management board heinz hermann thiele chairman of the supervisory board products rail switches points fasteners ; manufacture of diesel locomotives and suburban trains ; electrical systems for light rail vehicles revenue 1.351 billion 2010 1 operating income 152.1 million 2010 1 profit 97.5 million 2010 1 total assets 1.406 billion end 2010 1 total equity 580.0 million end 2010 1 number of employees 4 980 average 2010 1 website www.vossloh.com vossloh ag is a german transport technology manufacturer based in werdohl in the state of north rhine westphalia . the group has 4 700 employees as of 2009 and generated sales of 1.2 billion of which approximately 60 % came from the rail infrastructure division and the remainder from the motive power and components division . the company is included in the sdax index . the rail infrastructure division s key products are the devices clamping terminals for fastening the rail to the railway sleepers railroad ties railroad switches and switch controllers . the motive power division and components provides diesel electric and diesel hydraulic locomotives metros trams and electrical components for road and rail . the main market for the group is europe with over three quarters of sales . in 2007 fifteen percent of sales were to the americas mainly north and central america one percent of sales to oceania and the remainder of sales were about equally divided between africa and the near and far east . 2 contents 1 history 2 company structure 2.1 vossloh fastening systems 2.2 vossloh cogifer 2.3 vossloh locomotives 2.4 vossloh kiepe 2.5 vossloh rail services 3 spin offs divestments and subsidiaries 3.1 vossloh rail vehicles 4 see also 5 notes 6 references 7 external links history edit vossloh tension clamp 3 in 1883 eduard vossloh submitted a bid to the royal prussian railway for the manufacture of spring washers for rail fasteners and was granted the commission . on 11 july 1888 the eduard vossloh company was registered . spring washers and other hardware items were manufactured at the family s blacksmiths shop . through the early 1900s the company continued to grow producing general hardware including decorative items and lampholders for electric lights . 4 in 1945 the facilities in werdohl were destroyed by a bomb . subsidiaries marketing lampholders which are located in kaliningrad wroclaw and east germany ceased to be part of the company due to the changes in political borders at that time . 4 in 1946 production of holders for fluorescent tubes was allowed to take place at a plant in l denscheid by 1962 an additional plant for lighting products had opened in selm and the vossloh works employed 1300 people with 500 more employed in subsidiaries . in 1966 the company obtained a license to produce a new tension clamp rail fastening developed by prof. hermann meier director of the deutsche bundesbahn . 4 5 recession in germany in the 1980s resulted in the closure of two plants and employee lay offs reducing the staff by almost half . management was brought in from outside the vossloh family and schwabe gmbh acquired ; its lighting ballast products complementing vossloh s lighting fittings product range and on 1 december 1989 vossloh werke gmbh became a public stock company or aktiengesellschaft ag . at this time there were three company divisions vossloh werke gmbh werdohl railway components e.g. tension clamps vossloh schwabe gmbh urbach electrical lighting products and components and hansa metallwarengesellschaft mbh thiessen & hager decorative products sunblinds . 4 5 in the 1990s the reuninfication of germany resulted and new markets in eastern europe resulted in additional demand for its rail fastening products on the former deutsche reichsbahn and elsewhere . hoesch maschinenfabrik deutschland gmbh and w. hegenscheidt gmbh manufacturers of railway wheelset machining equipment were acquired in the mid 1990s . in 1997 the company was first listed on the mdax . in 1998 railway switch manufacturing company vae group was acquired by voestalpine ag and vossloh . 4 5 however recession in the 1990s resulted in the sale of the non recession resilient decorative products division to arquati s.p.a of italy in 1997 . under company ceo burkhard schuchmann vossloh was re orientated as a rail industry based company during and after the 1990s ; in 2002 the lighting division was sold to matsushita electric works ltd. of osaka japan 4 5 6 and the company expanded into the rail industry market with a number of acquisitions 4 1996 rail related parts of the deutsche system technik gmbh company traffic management and electronic information systems are acquired after insolvency forming vossloh system technik gmbh 1998 the former krupp maschinenbau kiel then under siemens ownership as siemens schienenfahrzeugtechnik 1998 man systemelektronik acquired and added to vossloh system technik gmbh 2001 a 55 % stake in novosignal ab sweden designers of electronic interlocking and process control systems 2001 vae systems acquires transwerk perway pty. ltd south africa railroad switch manufacturer 2002 passenger information and entertainment systems unit of bombardier transportation germany 2002 cogifer group france is acquired and vossloh s share in vae group is sold to voestalpine 2002 kiepe elektrik d sseldorf germany 2002 skamo nowe skalmierzyce poland ; railroad switch manufacturer . 2003 min skretnice serbia ; railroad switch manufacturer . 2004 the diesel locomotive manufacturer formerly known as meinfesa in valencia spain was acquired from alstom during that company s time of financial difficulties . 2004 swedish rail systems ab sweden ; railroad switch manufacturer 2004 delkor pty. australia ; railroad switch manufacturer 2004 js industries private ltd. hyderabad india ; 51 % of shares of railroad switch manufacturer 2005 daksin transtek ltd. bangalore india ; railroad switch manufacturer joint venture with patil group patil rail infrastructure pvt. ltd india 2005 beekay engineering & castings ltd. india 60 % acquired by vossloh cogifer at the end of 2005 burkard schuchmann is succeeded by dr. gerhard eschenr der as ceo until 2007 when werner andree replaces him . the subsidiarie vossloh information technologies gmbh was sold february 2007 to funkwerk ag . the company continued to expand ; its first acquisition in north america was pohl corp switch manufacturer followed by cleveland track material inc. both acquired in 2007 . a 100 % stake in french rail infrastructure company etf was also obtained in 2007 . the same year the company opened a rail fastening subsidiary in china . 4 in 2008 vossloh infrastructure services is sold to the vinci group of companies this included the infrastructure parts of cogifer sa acquired in 2002 as well as europ enne de travaux ferroviaires sa . 4 7 further railroad switch manufacturers were acquired tlk rail australia in 2007 sportek denmark and kloos oving b.v. netherlands in 2008 and the switch and rail manufacturing parts of the nouva sima sud company italy in 2009 . 4 in 2009 the company enters the rail services market in germany forming vossloh rail services gmbh from the rail maintenance parts of stahlberg roensch group in addition to log logistikgesellschaft gleisbau mbh and isb instandhaltungssysteme bahn gmbh . 4 a rail milling and grinding joint venture vossloh mfl rail milling gmbh was formed in association with maschinenfabrik liezen und giesserei in 2012 . 8 in mid 2013 knorr bremse owner heinz hermann thiele became chairman of the vossloh board after having raised his shareholding in the company from below 5 % to over 10 % in mar. 2011 and to over 25 % in 2013 . thiele s election to chair was opposed by the vossloh family who own over 30 % of the shares . 9 in november 2013 the vossloh family unexpectedly sold 22 % of its shareholding reducing their holding to under 10 % and leaving heinz hermann thiele as the main shareholder in the company . 10 in 2014 the company began a restructuring . new executive board members were introduced and high level management numbers were reduced by a third and talks started on general workforce redundancies . 11 12 the transfer of locomotive production in kiel to a more modern site was also under investigation with three sites identified . in june 2014 kieler nachrichten reported that an offer had been made for voith s locomotive plant 13 note 1 however in july the company announced it was to build a new plant at a cost of 30 million in the suchsdorf area of kiel . 17 a groundbreaking ceremony for the new plant took place 17 july 2015 . 18 in december 2014 the company announced it intended to divest its transportation division . 19 20 the rail vehicles division was announced as sold to stadler in late 2015 . 21 company structure edit as of 2010 the company is divided into two main divisions . 22 the rail infrastructure division comprises the rail fastening and switch companies vossloh fastening systems gmbh and vossloh cogifer sa and from 2009 a rail services maintenance company vossloh rail services gmbh . the transportation division formerly motive power and components 23 comprising vossloh locomotives gmbh vossloh espa a s.a. and vossloh kiepe gmbh . vossloh rail vehicles formerly vossloh espa a was sold in late 2015 . 21 vossloh fastening systems edit the fastening systems division produces devices for attaching rails to sleepers for high speed heavy and light railways . the division includes vossloh fastening systems gmbh werdohl germany delkor rail pty. ltd. australia 24 patil vossloh rail systems pvt. ltd. joint venture with patil group of india vossloh sistemi s.r.l. italy too vossloh kaz russia vossloh utenzilija d.d. croatia vossloh skamo sp . z o.o. poland vossloh tehnika feroviara s.r.l. romania vossloh dr n technika s.r.o. czech republic vossloh rail technology limitet sirketi turkey feder 7 gmbh hungary and vossloh fastening systems america corporation chicago usa . 25 vossloh cogifer edit vossloh cogifer sa produces railway switches as well as railway signalling systems . 26 the rail switch group also includes the subsidiaries vossloh nordic switch systems ab sweden kihn luxembourg vossloh track material inc. wilmington usa and cleveland track material inc. cleveland usa and vossloh cogifer australia pty. as well as two joint ventures corus cogifer switches and crossings 27 scunthorpe uk and amurrio ferrocarril y equipos sa spain . 28 from 2012 corus cogifer switches and crossings was rebranded as vts track technology ltd. due to the acquisition of corus by tata steel and of cogifer by vossloh . 29 vossloh is a majority shareholder in a joint venture with the argentine state owned infrastructure company adifse called vossloh cogifer argentina sa created in 2013 with a production plant located near the city of la plata . 30 vossloh locomotives edit see also maschinenbau kiel vossloh g2000 bb diesel hydraulic locomotive vossloh locomotives gmbh the former mak locomotive plant in kiel produces diesel hydraulic locomotives for freight and shunting purposes . 31 the factory s main production up to 2009 was diesel hydraulic locomotives of type vossloh g1000 bb vossloh g1206 vossloh g1700 bb and vossloh g2000 bb . the company s major orders included g1206 1700 variants for the french sncf class bb 61000 32 and swiss railways sbb am 843 33 . a three axle shunting locomotive type vossloh g6 was introduced in 2008 in 2009 the company announced to the intention to offer diesel electric or diesel hydraulic variant of four axle centre cab locomotives in two power ranges g 12 or de 12 and g 18 or de 18 34 approximately corresponding to the power ranges of the g1206 and g1700 versions . vossloh kiepe edit main article vossloh kiepe vossloh kiepe gmbh produces electrical systems for light rail trolleybuses and hybrid buses including electric propulsion and control air conditioning and heating as well as passenger rail vehicle refurbishment and modernisation . 35 vossloh rail services edit vossloh rail services provides railway track infrastructure