The SchmersalGroup
Safety for man and machine – worldwide
Milestones
in the history of the enterprise
The Schmersal Group was founded over 75 years ago as a family business in Wuppertal, Germany, and is now one of the world's leading suppliers of machine safety products and systems, with around 1,800 employees worldwide. An overview of the milestones in the company's history can be found here.
April
Realignment of the service business of the Schmersal Group
Schmersal founds tec.nicum - Solutions & Services GmbH as a new subsidiary, which also incorporates omnicon engineering GmbH, which Schmersal had already acquired in 2019.
The new subsidiary is located in Kirkel-Limbach, Germany. Bruno Ricardo Diniz leads tec.nicum's worldwide activities.
November
Schmersal opens a new production facility in Indianapolis, USA
Key areas are a logistics centre for the US market and the development and manufacture of customer-specific assemblies for safety, automation, and elevators.
November
Schmersal group opens new branch in Saudi Arabia
Foundation of Schmersal Middle East Industrial Equipment Trading LLC in Riyadh.
September
Honorary doctorate for Heinz Schmersal
The Faculty of Economics – Schumpeter School of Business and Economics at the University of Wuppertal has awarded Heinz Schmersal an honorary doctorate.
This honours the constant commitment of Dr. h.c. Dipl.-Ing. Heinz Schmersal for the exchange between science and practice as well as his commitment to the faculty and the University of Wuppertal.
February
Schmersal appoints new managing director for subsidiary in Bangkok.
Passara Hongwisat took over the management of Schmersal Thailand Co. Ltd.
September
Around 1,500 employees and their families celebrated the big Schmersal summer party on 16 September 2022. The belated celebration of the company's 75th anniversary – which had to be cancelled due to the Corona pandemic in 2020 – took place on the entire outdoor area of the headquarters in Wuppertal.
August
Schmersal's Finnish subsidiary, Advancetec Oy, has been operating under the new name Schmersal Finland Oy since summer 2022.
The managing director of Schmersal Finland Oy is Jukka Harmoinen.
January
Due to the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic, Schmersal is developing new media for communication with customers and business partners, including the first "Schmersal Smart Fair", a digital trade fair for machine safety.
March
Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, Schmersal not only implements a consistent health management for its workforce, but also expands its product range with products and services for infection prevention: among others, Schmersal has developed and launched a reusable respiratory protection mask according to FFP2 standard.
March
The Schmersal Group falls victim to a cyber attack. Since Schmersal received an official warning, the IT managers were able to act early and the company was able to act again relatively quickly.
MAY
New branch offices
Schmersal establishes new branches in Bangkok (Thailand) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates).
MARCH
Honoured by Wirtschaftsjunioren
Heinz and Philip Schmersal receive the highest honour of the North Rhine-Westphalia branch of the “Business Juniors” (JCI) for their outstanding contributions to the network of the young economy.
AUGUST
New location of Schmersal Japan
Schmersal Japan KK relocates its office from Tokyo to Yokohama in August 2018. The goal is to expand both office space and staff of the Schmersal site in Japan in order to expand the supply of safety components and systems for the Japanese market.
APRIL
Company kindergarten anniversary
The Schmersal company kindergarten in Wuppertal is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
DECEMBER
New managing director
The Schmersal Group expands its management team and appoints Michael Ambros as managing director of K.A. Schmersal GmbH & Co. KG. In his new role, Michael Ambros is responsible for the Administration and Sales & Marketing divisions on a global basis.
JANUARY
Subsidiary in Japan
In December, Schmersal founds an independent subsidiary in Japan. Tetsuya Horimoto is appointed Managing Director of the new Schmersal Japan KK based in Tokyo.
NOVEMBER
Expanding of Schmersal Safety Control
Schmersal Safety Control GmbH, which produces opto-electronic safety products, is expanding due to good business development. In November 2016 Safety Control moves into a new home in Mühldorf am Inn. Since then, production and logistics have been under one roof, which has improved the delivery service to the customers.
January
Service division “tec.nicum”
On 1 January 2016, the Schmersal Group founds an independent service division under the name of tec.nicum. The experts at tec.nicum advise machine manufacturers and operators on all questions of machine safety and occupational safety. They also plan and implement complex safety solutions all over the world.
The Böhnke + Partner GmbH, a subsidiary of the Schmersal Group, is laying the foundations for a new administration and production building in Obereschbach, a district of Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. The new building covers the future demand for production space and provides room for long-term growth in employee numbers.
In China, too, the continued growth requires a completely new building in Qingpu/Shanghai, which the Schmersal Industrial Switchgear of the Shanghai Co. Ltd. (SISS) opens in August.
The Schmersal Group takes over the Böhnke + Partner GmbH Steuerungssysteme in Bergisch Gladbach, and thus expands the business field of elevator technology with the important area of control technology. The headquarters of Boehnke + Partner is being expanded to become a competence centre for elevator technology.
The new Schmersal Group production site in Ranjangaon near Pune in India starts operation in October.
Schmersal India Private Limited employs some 60 employees producing safety switches and lift switchgear for the Indian market in the new factory covering nearly 4,000 m².
After two years of planning and construction, the Schmersal Group takes into operation the new European central warehouse in Wuppertal.
The logistics centre has an area of 3,600 m² of space for a narrow aisle pallet warehouse with 1,800 pallet spaces, an automatic small parts warehouse (ASPW) with 26,000 spaces also for generous picking and packing areas.
Schmersal India
Laying of the foundation stone for the sixth production plant of the Schmersal Group: Schmersal India Pvd. Ltd., incorporated in 2007, will start producing safety switchgear and elevator components for the Indian market at Ranjangaon near Pune.
Construction of the central warehouse begins
In Wuppertal, the construction work for the new European central warehouse begins.
Laying of the foundation stone for a new plant in Qingpu (Shanghai district), China: the Schmersal Industrial Switchgear Co. Ltd. now employs around 100 people. A building complex with 9,500 m² production surface, a 4,000 m² large warehouse and a five-storey administrative building with a floor surface of 1,700 m² is under construction.
Philip Schmersal
With Dipl. Wirt.-Ing. Philip Schmersal, the third generation of owners enters the operational management of the Schmersal Group since the company was incorporated 65 years ago. Previously, Philip Schmersal already held multiple positions in the group, amongst other things as manager of the elevator technology business segment.
Strategic realignment
The Schmersal Group realigns its business with the “2015 technology and market strategic plan”. The core elements of the new strategy include a stronger industry focus, the development of the solution and system business and a more in-depth customer counselling, e.g. by Functional Safety Engineers.
January
In January 2008, a special new building opens its doors on the business premises at Wuppertal. The company kindergarten starts off with 18 kids and a challenging pedagogical concept: the natural curiosity and inquisitiveness of the children will be used to learn and acquire knowledge in a playful manner. The children are initiated for instance in languages (English being the second language in the kindergarten) but in (natural) science and technology as well.
October
In October 2008, the Schmersal Group takes over Safety Control GmbH and its subsidiary Safety Protec GmbH located in Mühldorf/Inn, thus extending its safety-related optoelectronics product spectrum with high-quality and practical series. Both companies, which are the Centre of Competence for Optoelectronics from the Schmersal Group, are now operational under the name of Schmersal Safety Control GmbH.
The training centre tec.nicum opens in Wuppertal.
In China, production is being expanded, which already employs over 100 people.
In 2004, Heinz Schmersal became the sole shareholder of K.A. Schmersal GmbH.
steute resigns from the Schmersal Group and will be continued within the entrepreneurial family.
The Schmersal Group is being realigned and focuses on three business areas: Elevator Technology, Automation Technology and Safety Technology.
A manufacturing location in Shanghai/China goes into production, primarily supplying electrical control devices for lifts to East Asian markets.
Schmersal takes over the Elan Schaltelemente GmbH & Co. KG in Wettenberg from the Schunk Group.
Schmersal takes over steute Schaltgeräte GmbH in Löhne.
Generation change: The cousins Stefan and Heinz Schmersal takes over responsibility for the management of the enterprise.
The ACE Schmersal Ltda. is founded in Sao Paulo/Brazil as a sales and manufacturing unit. ACE Schmersal has about 200 employees producing safety control devices for the South American market.
As one of the first companies in this field, Schmersal begins the development and manufacture of electronic proximity switches.
Schmersal develops the first contactless magnetic switch.
As the automation of industry begins to take pace, the focus of development and production in the 1960s lays on switchgear for machine and plant engineering.
The product portfolio is continuously expanded. Many of the control devices are used in safety-relevant applications, e.g. in zones subject to explosion hazards.
Immediately after the Second World War, the brothers Kurt Andreas and Ernst Schmersal found a company that initially manufactures used in the production of lifts. In 1947 they begin the production of mechanical switching devices.
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