Type GmbH & Co. KG Area served Worldwide Website www.vulkan.com | Headquarters Herne, Germany Number of employees 1,200 (2012) Founded 1889 | |
Divisions Industry Sector, Energy Sector | ||
The VULKAN Group is a German engineering company. The owner-managed company has its headquarters in Herne. The company now operates in more than 50 countries and has 20 subsidiary companies, 51 representative offices and six manufacturing facilities worldwide.
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History
1889 VULKAN’s history began following the foundation of Maschinenfabrik Louis Schwarz in Dortmund. The company initially functioned as a supplier of brewing equipment, tanks and low pressure compressors for the already well-established Dortmund breweries.
1898 The world’s first clutch, which was capable of being activated under load, was produced for use in lifting machinery, hoists and reversing gearboxes. It was manufactured by Luis Schwarz and it marked the beginning of VULKAN couplings.
1918 The merger of Maschinenfabrik Luis Schwarz and the company Heinrich Behrend resulted in the establishment of Dortmunder VULKAN AG.
1930 The flourishing construction of couplings and transmission units for ships was separated from “Dortmunder VULKAN AG” and made autonomous under the name “VULKAN Kupplungs- und Getriebebau GmbH”.
1941 Maschinenfabrik HACKFORTH & Co. took over the production from VULKAN Kupplungs- und Getriebebau GmbH. This resulted in the foundation stone for the co-operation between ”VULKAN” and “HACKFORTH” being laid.
1945 All commercial and technical installations of VULKAN (in Dortmund) and HACKFORTH (in Herne) were destroyed during a World War II air-raid. The reconstruction of Maschinenfabrik HACKFORTH & Co. in Wanne-Eickel commenced immediately after the war.
1967 VULKAN was entrusted with the construction of the largest highly flexible couplings that had ever been built - the EZ 560 - with a nominal torque of 981 kNm.
1978 Foundation of VULKAN LOKRING Rohrverbindungen GmbH & Co. KG, the headquarters of which were and remain located in Herne. The company is engaged in the development, production and marketing of solder free tube connections for air conditioning and refrigeration.
1982 VULKAN Kupplungs- und Getriebebau developed a coupling with an extremely high torsional flexibility, which bore the name RATO. Following this, the manufacturing of the patent-registered RATO S coupling began.
2005 VULKAN Kupplungs- und Getriebebau established an in-house vulcanisation ensuring the control, knowhow and reproducible quality of a core process. From natural rubber elastomer the vulcanization produces components with volumes from 0.4 to 140 litres for all highly flexible couplings.
2008 To harmonise the global range of products and to optimise the marketing strategy, the business of the VULKAN group was divided into the following four business divisions: VULKAN Couplings, VULKAN Drive Tech, VULKAN Lokring.
2010 VULKAN Couplings established the ACOTEC (Advanced Couplings Technology) strategy. ACOTEC is an integrated approach bringing together all competences in-house, ensuring that the best possible products and services can be provided.
The divisions
The Hackforth Holding GmbH & Co. KG is the management company of the VULKAN Group, it consists of the VULKAN subsidiaries, VULKAN Kupplungs- und Getriebebau B. Hackforth GmbH & Ko. kg and VULKAN Lokring Rohrverbindungen GmbH & Ko. kg. The head office of the group is located in Herne, Germany. Production and sales activities within the VULKAN Group are organized by division because of the diversified business portfolio. The three divisions - VULKAN Couplings, VULKAN Drive Tech, VULKAN Lokring - each have their own product range and independent control of their market activities. Nevertheless, the individual divisions work together in one market sector to produce synergies which make it possible to provide integrated solutions.