by Bob Sobolewski, President and CEO, ebm-papst Inc.
What does it take to meet our customers’ exacting ventilation and drive systems specifications while shortening the concept-to-delivery cycle? A commitment to engineering innovation and customer service is one requirement. A global network of inter-connected production, sales and research offices is another. A willingness to forge new partnerships in previously inaccessible markets is a third.
In 1963, when Gerhard Sturm and Heinz Ziehl founded the beginning of what is now ebm-papst, the company had no offices outside Germany.
Today, the company’s 10,564 employees work from 17 production sites and 57 sales offices worldwide.
At our U.S. headquarters in Farmington, Conn. — which celebrated its 32nd anniversary last year — the air movers and drive systems we produce blend European technology with U.S. engineering and production know-how. We’re not just the only ebm-papst distribution center in the U.S., we’re a manufacturing partner. Our knowledge of the U.S. market’s opportunities and challenges influence the company’s overall product development, manufacturing and marketing activities.
Last year, ebm-papst Group, located in Mulfingen, Germany, expanded the company’s partnerships and capabilities even further.
- To support China’s growing energy efficiency and conservation efforts, the company invested more than 5 million Euros (approximately $6.5 million U.S.) in ultra-modern application laboratories at a development center at Wai Gao Qiao near Shanghai.
- To strengthen our industrial drive technology and offer a total drive technology system solution, we acquired gearbox manufacturer Zeitlauf in Lauf, Germany (near Nuremberg).
- To support ebm-papst facilities and our customers around the globe, a new logistics center was built at the Landshut, Germany office.
- Expanding its contributions to cross-border energy trade, ebm-papst is selling EC fans and motors for use in the pipelines of Russia’s Gazprom, the world’s largest extractor of natural gas.
Expansion brings new capacity, technologies and knowledge that’s shared with application engineers, market specialists and managers at ebm-papst offices worldwide. The collective experiences and perspectives of each country’s employees help us continually improve how we create and produce new products and serve our customers.