Acquisitions and joint ventures
Voith entered the paper machine clothing market with its acquisition of Appleton Mills in 1983. In addition, in 1986 Voith took over the hydro operations of U.S. market leader Allis-Chalmers in York, Pennsylvania.[34] Within just a few years, the number of employees in the USA rose from just under 200 to over 1,300. In 1985, Voith opened a production facility in Hyderabad, India.
In the early 1990s, different views among the family led to the splitting of the company's assets. The Hermann Voith side of the family withdrew, receiving a large proportion of the financial investments and the machine tool part of the business,[35] The heirs of Hanns Voith retained the core business in paper machines, clothing, drive technology, turbines and maritime technology. This splitting of assets eliminated the debilitating stalemate in the Shareholders' Committee.[36][37]
At Voith, the focus shifted to expansion in the Far East, especially in China. In 1994, Voith supplied turbines for the world's largest pumped storage hydropower plant Guangzhou II. Two years later, Voith supplied the largest fine paper machine in the world to Gold East Paper in Dagang District. New production facilities were opened in Kunshan and Liaoyang in 1996. Under the leadership of Michael Rogowski, who became spokesman for the management board in 1986, the principle of control from corporate headquarters was replaced by a management holding structure with independent corporate divisions.
Other milestones were the introduction of the R 115 integration retarder in 1988 and the commissioning of Europe's largest Deinking facility in Schongau, Germany in 1989. In 1994, Voith and Swiss company Sulzer merged their technical papermaking operations to create Voith-Sulzer Papertec. This also included the paper activities of the Krefeld-based company Kleinewefers Group, which Sulzer had only acquired in 1992. In 1998, Voith acquired a majority stake in this enterprise. In 1999, Voith acquired the technical papermaking operations of British company Scapa, making it one of the leading companies for paper machine clothing technology. The year 2000 saw the creation of Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation, a joint venture of the two leading manufacturers of turbine and generator technology. At the helm of the company, Michael Rogowski transferred operational responsibility to Hermut Kormann in 2000. Under his leadership, the group grew to become a global player with sales of more than 4 billion euros and a workforce of 34,000 people.
At the end of 2001, via the Voith Paper Holding, Voith took over Jagenberg Jagenberg Papiertechnik in Neuss with its product lines including winders, cross-cutters and paper coating machines, as well as its manufacturing subsidiary Jagenberg Maschinenbau and overseas subsidiaries Jagenberg Inc. in Enfield, CT, USA, and Basagoitia in Tolosa, Spain.[38] In 2002, Voith's Austrian subsidiary was fully incorporated into the Voith Group again as Voith Austria Holding AG. As German Property it had been integrated into the USIA (Administration for Soviet Property in Austria) by Soviet troops in 1945. Following the Austrian State Treaty in 1955 the company was an Austrian state-owned enterprise before Voith was able to recover its shares again over the years.[39]
Voith went from strength to strength in the field of technical industrial services. With a controlling stake in the Stuttgart-based DIW Deutsche Industriewartung, the foundations were laid for the Voith Industrial Services division. This division grew over the following years and further acquisitions were made, e.g., the Imo-Hüther Group and Hörmann Industrietechnik. At the end of May 2005, Voith Industrial Services strengthened its leading position in the market for technical services and acquired the U.S. Premier Group.[40] In November 2008, Voith Hydro took over the small Austrian hydro company Kössler, which was based in St. Georgen.[40]
In May 2006, the Voith Paper Technology Technology Center opened in Heidenheim. In Scotland the Voith subsidiary Wavegen operated the world's first wave power plant, to feed electricity to a grid. The research activities in Inverness, Scotland, were discontinued in 2013.
In 2008, Voith gathered with 200 customers and partners from all over the world to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the "Brunnenmühle" in Heidenheim, which had previously been upgraded at an investment cost of €20 million.[41] The "Brunnenmühle" is the global R&D center for hydropower technology at Voith Hydro and one of the most modern test centers for hydropower plant components worldwide. Around 300 engineers work at Voith headquarters in Heidenheim and four other locations around the world, in São Paulo, Brazil; York, Pennsylvania, USA; Noida, India, and Västerås, Sweden. The "Brunnenmühle" is where Voith develops generators, turbines, control technology, shut-off valves and other hydro components.
At the Shipbuilding, Machinery & Marine Technology trade fair in 2010, Voith Turbo and one of its rivals each presented for the first time a rim-driven thruster for ships. Over an 18-month construction period, the world's most powerful single-engine diesel-hydraulic locomotive – the Voith Maxima – was developed. Since 2010, a large number of Voith Gravita shunting locomotives have been in operation at Deutsche Bahn (German Railways). In the same year, Voith celebrated the official opening of its new production and service center for the paper industry in Asia at Voith Paper City[42] in Kunshan, China.
Also in 2010, the world's first wave power plant went into commercial operation in Mutriku on the Basque coast. For this plant, Voith supplied Spanish energy utility Ente Vasco de la Energia (EVE) with the equipment for the 16 Wells turbine units, which have a total output of 300 kilowatts and produce enough power for 250 households. The "oscillating water column" technology used in Mutriku means that the turbines do not come into contact with water. Instead, a column of air is set in motion that drives the machines.[43] The kinetic energy of marine currents is converted to electrical energy with the help of unshrouded three-bladed horizontal axis turbines. This kind of marine current turbine is physically similar to wind power turbines.[44]
Following the successful completion and in-depth analysis of the one-year test run in a model power plant near the South Korean island of Jindo Voith systematically continued its tidal current program with the construction of a one-megawatt machine on a 1:1 scale and developed the innovative low-maintenance tidal current turbine technology at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Scotland to a commercial scale. Voith built a test turbine at its Heidenheim facility that was installed off the Scottish Orkney island of Eday from 2013 to 2015.[45]
On October 1, 2010, Voith AG changed its name and legal status to Voith GmbH.
In 2013, the most powerful generator-turbine unit in Voith's history went into operation at the Chinese hydropower plant Xiluodu on the River Jinsha. After a 72-hour test run, Voith handed over the first of three of these machines to the China Three Gorges Corporation. At 784 megawatts, the generator-turbine unit generates more power than the largest hydropower plants in the world. Upon completion, the total output of the three Voith units for Xiluodu will be roughly equivalent to the most powerful nuclear power plant in Germany Gundremmingen.[46]
At the start of 2014, Voith Turbo announced that it was stopping the production of new locomotives.[47] A total of 20 Maxima and 165 Gravita locomotives had been built at the company's Kiel plant.[48]
April 2014 saw the official opening of the Voith China Training Center. The vocational training and further education center in Kunshan (around 80 km northwest of Shanghai) is the company's largest training center outside of Germany. In the same year, Voith also celebrated the official opening of a new training center in Heidenheim, which every year provides training in 10 skilled commercial and technical occupations.[49] Worldwide the company trains a total of 1,294 apprentices and students.
In February 2015, it was announced that Voith in Germany and Austria would cut 800 jobs in the paper machine segment and close the Voith Paper plants in Krefeld, Neuwied and St. Pölten.[50] In 2016, the sale of the Industrial Services division was completed.[51] Under the new owners, Triton Partners the business was split into two separate and independent brands. Since 2017, the service business for the automotive sector has been operating as Leadec, while the process and power plant industry segment became known as Veltec.[52]
On August 1, 2017, Voith GmbH changed its name and legal status to Voith GmbH & Co. KGaA.[53] In fiscal 2017, all the company's shares in KUKA were sold.[54] In the same year, Voith acquired a majority stake in the German digital services provider Ray Sono.[55] In 2018, Voith partnered with Franka Emika to establish the new joint venture Voith Robotics, which is now managed solely by Voith. As part of this process, Voith acquired a stake in Franka Emika GmbH.[56] As part of a realignment in 2022, Voith Robotics has discontinued its market activities.
On July 31, 2020, Voith acquired a majority stake in the Croatian small hydropower company Sintaksa, which specializes in products and services for electromechanical and automation systems.[57]
On December 1, 2019, the acquisition of BTG was successfully completed. The company, headquartered in Switzerland, makes machinery for a wide range of applications, primarily for paper manufacturers.[58] On April 30, 2020, the acquisition of Toscotec S.p.A. was also successfully completed.[59] Toscotec was founded in 1948 and specializes in the development and production of paper machines, systems and components for the production of sanitary papers, paper and board. Voith has also acquired shares in the sustainability start-up Yangi®, which is headquartered in Varberg, Sweden.[60] Both parties signed the purchase agreement in December 2022. The company focuses in particular on the megatrends of sustainability and circular economy.
Voith has held 70 percent of the shares in ELIN Motoren GmbH since May 1, 2020. The acquisition of the remaining shares was completed in 2022.[61] The company produces electric motors and generators in small series as well as for industrial applications. The Voith Turbo Group Division was also strengthened by the acquisition of the ARGO-HYTOS Group.[62] This was successfully completed on August 2, 2022. ARGO-HYTOS, headquartered in Switzerland, develops and produces hydraulic components and systems with a focus on the off-highway sector (agricultural machinery, construction equipment and material handling vehicles).[63] Voith's acquisition of IGW Rail was further announced in 2022. Based in Brno (Czech Republic), the company specializes in transmissions for rail vehicles. The acquisition will create one of the world's largest independent manufacturers of rail vehicle transmissions.
