Industry Electrical engineering Founder Theodor Kiepe Number of employees 450 | Headquarters Düsseldorf, Germany Founded 1906 | |
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Type Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (German private limited Company) Predecessor Kiepe Elektrik GmbH & Co. KG Products Electrical traction equipment for passenger and freight rail vehicles
HVAC equipment for light rail vehicles. Revenue Approx. €140 million p.a. Parent organization Knorr-Bremse Systeme fur Schienenfahrzeuge GmbH | ||
Vossloh kiepe motored 455 870 and 455 711 depart clapham junction
Vossloh Kiepe (formerly Kiepe Elektrik) was a German manufacturer of electrical traction equipment for trams, trolleybuses other road and rail transport vehicles, as well as air-conditioning and heating systems, and conveyor device components.
Contents
- Vossloh kiepe motored 455 870 and 455 711 depart clapham junction
- Vossloh kiepe re traction
- History
- Company structure
- Products and services
- References
The business was sold to Knorr-Bremse in 2016.
Vossloh kiepe re traction
History
In 1906 Theodor Kiepe created an electric arc lamp repair workshop in Düsseldorf, over the next 40 years the company's product range grew to include electrical switches, then electrical drum controllers and resistors for electric vehicles. By 1951 the product range included electro-pneumatic contactors, and traction motors; in 1952 the company supplied equipment for an order of 700 trolleybuses for Argentina.
Between the 1950s and 1970s Kiepe Elektrik expanded, with formation of subsidiaries both in Austria (Kiepe Bahn und Kran Electric Ges.m.b.H., 1959.), and elsewhere. In 1973 the company was acquired by ACEC of Belgium. In 1983 the company was acquired from ACEC by Alstom, then by AEG in 1993. During this time Kiepe had become a provider of electrical traction equipment for light rail vehicles.
In 1995 AEG formed Adtranz with ABB by merging their transportation divisions. As this created a duopoly of electric traction equipment manufacturers in Germany, the European Commission ruled that the Kiepe subsidiary had to be sold; in 1996 Schaltbau AG acquired the company. In the early 2000s the company expanded into the North American and Italian markets.
On 14 September 2002 Vossloh AG acquired Kiepe Elektrik, and in 2003 the company was renamed Vossloh Kiepe GmbH..
In mid-2012 UK based engineering consultancy Transys Projects Ltd. was acquired, the acquisition was renamed Vossloh Kiepe UK in late 2012.
In late 2013 the company, Serbian company Zelvoz and the city of Novi Sad reached an agreement for the establishment of a rail vehicle air conditioning unit factory.
In 2014 as part of a parent company restructuring Vosshloh Kiepe stopped its mainline traction equipment activities (Vossloh Kiepe Main Line Technology GmbH). The company, as part of Vossloh Electrical Systems was sold to Knorr-Bremse in 2016.
Company structure
Since 2002 the company has been part of the Vossloh group, as of 2009 part of the transportation division (Motive Power & Components) along with Vossloh Locomotives (Kiel, formerly MaK) and Vossloh España (formerly Meinfesa).
The company has five subsidiaries:
Products and services
The company's primary business is the supply and manufacture of electric equipment for rail vehicles, typically trams or LRVs (light rail vehicles); the company provides electrical traction converters, auxiliary power supplies, air conditioning and heating equipment. Entire trams and LRVs are typically supplied in association with other manufacturers. Also supplied are specialised electric rail vehicles, and equipment for the modernisation of older electrically powered mass transit vehicles. and traction equipment for trolley buses and hybrid electric buses.
The company often acts as a component supplier to larger integrated rail vehicle manufactures including Siemens, Alstom and Bombardier.
Components for conveyor belts are also made.