ZF acquires large gear and gearbox segment from Bosch Rexroth

ZF has officially taken over the industrial gears and turbine gearbox business from Bosch Rexroth, extending its gearbox reach to turbines up to 8 MW.

As of December of this year, technology company ZF will officially take over the industrial gears and wind-turbine gearbox business from Bosch Rexroth AG. Various product lines will be brought together in the new ZF Industrial Gears business unit based in Witten, Germany. A total of 1,200 employees at Bosch’s U.S. and Beijing locations will officially join ZF.

“With the newly created Industrial Gears business unit we intend to get things moving on a large scale,” says the ZF Chief Executive Officer Dr. Stefan Sommer. “We are extending our portfolio with large transmissions for industrial applications and mobile machinery…the product range will also be extended in the Wind Power Technology business unit with gearboxes for turbines generating up to eight megawatts.”

Two newly founded companies will be added to the Industrial Gears business unit: ZF Industrieantriebe Witten GmbH and the ZF Powertrain Systems (Beijing) Co., Ltd. The German location is headquarters for the business unit, which is home to Administration and Production, as well as the Department for large gearbox technologies (industrial gears and wind turbine gearboxes). It’s also the production location of ZF’s existing Wind Power Technology business unit, which is headquartered in Lommel, Belgium.

ZF has appointed Christoph Kainzbauer, an experienced manager in the field of large gearbox technology, to head up the Industrial Gears business unit. He was previously responsible for global Sales of Bosch Rexroth’s large gearbox segment.

Gearboxes for ZF’s wind-power segment will also be produced at the Beijing location, extending the company’s presence in the wind gearbox market in China.

“We see ideal future opportunities for the Industrial Technology division, especially in wind-power technology,” shared Wilhelm Rehm, responsible for Corporate Materials Management and Industrial Technology on the ZF Board of Management.