Voith Group

Company history

Years of foundation

In 1825, Johann Matthäus Voith took over his father's locksmith's workshop in Heidenheim with five employees, mainly carrying out repairs to water wheels and paper mills.

By around 1830 in Heidenheim, there were about 600 people working in 15 factories, mostly textile factories that had been established by wealthy merchants and publishers. The necessary maintenance and repair of the expensive machinery offered a source of income to several workshops, particularly the locksmiths and metalworkers in what was still a small town at the time. In 1830, Johann Matthäus Voith and his workshop were involved in the construction of a paper machine developed by Johann Jakob Widmann from Heilbronn.

Voith developed the first wood grinders based on the patented design of Friedrich Gottlob Keller. In doing so, he laid the cornerstone for the industrial enterprise Voith. As the company got bigger, so too did the private wealth of its owners. According to town council records dated September 28, 1849, the assets of Johann Matthäus Voith in 1849 amounted to more than 7,000 fl., and eight years later grew to an estimated 15,000 fl. In 1850, Johann Matthäus Voith was summoned to serve on the town council and, in 1855, along with nine other Heidenheim entrepreneurs, he received a grant to attend the international exhibition in Paris.

After 1850, the company which, like other Heidenheim-based metal workshops, had specialized in repairs, began to replicate various machines imported from England. The workshop produced whatever the customers ordered. The transition from a small metalworking shop to a machine factory was completed when contracts were signed for the fabrication of machines for paper manufacturer Heinrich Voelter. Since 1856, these machines had consisted of mechanical wood grinders (based on a patent originally sold in 1846 by Friedrich Gottlob Keller to Voelter's father that Friedrich Voith improved upon and re-registered himself in 1868). From 1861, the machines were wood pulp refiners for crushing coarse wood chips. The result of this development was that the company started to specialize in machines for paper and pulp production. In 1863, a new metalworking shop was added and fitted with one of the few steam engines in Heidenheim. Until the development of cast steel, the machines were built from cast iron. It was difficult to transport cast iron, so the company built its own foundry. No figures have been preserved on the company's sales and profits at the time, but the physical expansion of the company is taken as proof of its good economic performance. In 1863, Friedrich Voith bought a share in a bark mill, where he set up the first research center for the production of wood pulp.

Rise to the industrial enterprise

The official founding date of the company J. M. Voith is January 1, 1867. At this point, the company employed around 35 people. On January 1, 1867, the only son of 63-year-old Johann Matthäus Voith, the 26-year-old Friedrich Voith, took over the business as the sole owner. Under his leadership, his father's workshop became a larger company and specialized in paper machines and the construction of water wheels and turbines. In 1869, Voith was granted the first patent for a wood grinder with a toothed loading rack. On November 18, 1869, the company applied for official registration in the Commercial Register and changed its name to Maschinenfabrik und Eisengießerei von J. M. Voith in Heidenheim.

In 1871, the eight-year-old foundry was expanded. At that time, it had an annual production of 240 tons and employed an average of 19 workers, putting it roughly in the middle of all the foundries in Württemberg. By 1880, it was producing 380 tons with 34 workers on average; in 1890, 1,401 tons with 106 workers; and in 1900, 3,098 tons with 220 workers. At the turn of the century, the foundry had climbed from the mid-field to become the second largest foundry in Württemberg.

Voith added another business segment to its existing product lines of paper machines and stock preparation technology – with the construction of a 100-HP Henschel-Jonval turbine. The sources available provide differing information on the relevant figures. The reason for this new turbine production segment was likely because the Heidenheim businesses were suffering from a lack of motive power due to the low supplies of iron ore and coal in the Württemberg region, and that well into the 19th century their largest energy source was hydropower from the River Brenz. During his studies, Friedrich Voith had examined producing hydropower energy. From 1873, the company was selling improved Francis turbines to industrial companies in Heidenheim in collaboration with Wilhelm von Kankelwitz (1831–1892), Professor of Mechanical Engineering at what was then the Stuttgart Polytechnikum (Institute of Technology).

At the 1873 World Exhibition in Vienna, Friedrich Voith and Heinrich Voelter exhibited the Voith wood grinder and received the "Progress Medal" for their development. In 1879 the first automatic speed regulator for turbines was built based on the designs of Voith engineer Adolf Pfarr. The first turbines were originally intended for the mechanical drive systems of machines. As electrification increased, water turbines served to produce electricity.

Interwar years

After World War I the brothers decided on a strategic expansion of the company and got the drive technology segment operating. In 1922 , Voith started building gear transmissions where its long-standing expertise in fluid dynamics acquired in previous turbine projects provided an advantage. The breakthrough came with the help of Hermann Föttinger and his research into hydrodynamic energy transfers. In the same year, the first Kaplan turbine, named after its inventor Viktor Kaplan, left the Voith factory.

In 1927, the Viennese engineer Ernst Schneider and the Voith company in Sankt Pölten applied jointly for a patent for the Voith Schneider propeller, which had been developed the year before based on the former's plans. This marine propulsion system, which also acts as a steering device, allows maneuverability previously impossible. Schneider's design was further developed and improved at Voith.

In 1929, Voith developed the first hydrodynamic couplings based on the Föttinger principle. These were used Koepchenwerk, a pumped storage hydropower plant in Herdecke. This was followed by new drive systems for rolling stock and road vehicles. The company also made a name for itself with hydrodynamic transmissions and couplings for industrial applications.

By 1934, Voith had delivered 11,525 turbines for hydropower and pumped storage plants with a total capacity of 7.9 million HP.

Following the successful sea trials of the experimental vessel "Torqueo," which was equipped with a Voith Schneider Propeller for the first time, Voith Schneider Propellers were first used in Italy in 1937 for passenger transport in the narrow canals of Venice. At the World Fair in Paris in 1937, Voith won the "Grand Prix" three times for its exhibits of Voith Schneider Propellers and Voith turbo gear units. A year later in Paris, two fireboats fitted with VSPs went into operation on the Seine.

World War II began in 1939 and deprived Voith of the basis for its business. The export business halted. Total output was drastically reduced. The construction of paper machines in particular was decimated. 600 of the company's 4,000 employee died or went missing during the war.

Reconstruction and internationalization

After World War II, Hanns Voith and Hugo Rupf made the company thrive again. The delivery of a Voith turbine to Norway in 1947 was the first overseas order from the post-war period in Baden-Württemberg. Other major orders included the supply of eight Voith Schneider Propellers for the United Africa Co. in 1949, 46 Voith turbo gear units for Brazil and a paper machine for the Netherlands in 1951. The first Voith water tractor, known as "Biene" (bee), was also launched in 1951.

Its triple-converter transmissions for long-distance railcars and DIWA bus transmissions put Voith at the forefront of technical development in 1952. In 1953, the development and construction of paper machines reached new heights, when Voith built the fastest paper machine in Europe for the production of newsprint for Feldmühle AG. With a speed of 600 m/min, it achieved a production capacity of 200 tons per day.

In 1956, Voith opened a branch factory in Crailsheim, where it produced fluid couplings. In the same year, it exported the first turbo gear units to the United States. In 1957, Hugo Rupf became a managing director alongside Hanns Voith. He was the first manager of the company not a member of the Voith family. At the 1958 World Fair in Brussels, Voith was awarded a gold medal for the first turbo gear units for diesel-hydraulic locomotive drive systems built for Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Railways).

In the 1960s, Voith became an internationally operating group and became a pioneer in paper recycling. The company worked with the Palm and Haindl paper mills to develop a new flotation deinking process to produce paper stock from recovered paper. In 1961, Voith supplied what was at that time Europe's largest newsprint paper machine with a wire width of 8.3 m to the Ahlström publishing house in Warkaus, Finland. Meanwhile, the first Voith variable speed fluid coupling was produced in Crailsheim.

In 1962, the company supplied two spiral turbines, four storage pumps and two pump turbines for what was then the largest European pumped storage power plant in Vianden. To expand the drive technology segment, an increase in production capacities was necessary. In 1963, the company's plant in Garching near Munich began producing automatic transmissions for buses. in 1964 , Voith established a subsidiary in São Paulo in Brazil.

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. 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, 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.

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.

Corporate structure

Voith is represented in around 60 countries and maintains a worldwide network of sales, service, production, R&D and administrative locations. Even in its early years, the company was focused on developing global business relationships. As early as 1903, Voith had supplied turbines for a hydropower plant on the American side of Niagara Falls and for the first Chinese hydropower plant Shi Long Ba. In 1923, the company delivered its first paper machine to India. In 1903, it established its first subsidiary outside Germany, at St. Pölten in Austria, and 10 years later its first subsidiary in the USA. Voith has had a presence in Brazil and India since the 1960s and in China since the early 1990s. Its key regions are Brazil, China, Germany, Europe, India and the USA.

Even today, the Group is still entirely family owned, although since the 1960s, the heirs have been replaced in key management roles. The Voith family is currently one of the wealthiest families in Germany. According to Manager Magazin, the assets of the around 40 owners of the multinational corporation grew to €3.2 billion in 2012, but dropped to €2.2 billion in 2013.

Voith is engaged in projects in the education, social welfare, sporting and cultural spheres. Its corporate responsibility commitments range from financial support for relief projects and sponsorships to corporate-volunteering activities. These are realized through Voith GmbH & Co. KGaA – in some cases in collaboration with charitable organizations and also through the foundation Hanns Voith Stiftung established in 1953, and the Fundação Voith set up in Brazil in 2004.

With its portfolio of production plants, products and industrial services, Voith serves five key markets: energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials, and transport & automotive.

Dirk Hoke has been the company's chairman of the Corporate Board of Management. since April 1, 2025. The chairman of the Supervisory Board is Siegfried Russwurm His deputy is Alexander Schlotz, Chairman of the Joint Works Council of J.M. Voith SE & Co. KG.

Voith GmbH & Co. KGaA, which is headquartered in Heidenheim an der Brenz, is the operational management holding company for the Group. The Board of Management of Voith GmbH & Co. KGaA is responsible for the strategic management and operations of the Group. The Shareholders' Committee and Supervisory Board act as advisory and supervisory bodies, respectively. The latter is also the monitoring authority with respect to the Management Board.

Voith Hydro

Voith Hydro, previously Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation, is a joint venture of Voith and Siemens Energy (35% share of capital). In October 2021, Siemens Energy announced that it would withdraw from the joint venture and sell its minority stake to the partner.

Voith Hydro is a full-line supplier of equipment for hydropower plants of all sizes. Its range of products and services includes generators, turbines and pumps; measuring and control equipment and instrumentation; automation; hydropower plant upgrades; and services like maintenance and spare parts.

Around a quarter of the energy generated by hydropower comes from plants operating with Voith technology. Voith products are used in many large hydropower plants like Niagara (1903), Macagua (1959 - 1963) in Venezuela, Itaipú (1976) and the Three Gorges Dam (2003). The construction of the Belo Monte Dam in the Brazilian part of the Amazon Basin, in which Voith Hydro is also involved, began in January 2012. Experts expect that by its completion, it could flood up to 516 km2 of (mostly forested) land and displace 20,000 people.

Voith Paper

Voith Paper is a system supplier for the international paper industry that covers the entire paper manufacturing process. Most paper production worldwide is done on Voith Paper machines.

Voith Paper offers

Machinery for the treatment of primary and secondary fibers (e.g., from recovered paper)

The supply of complete paper machines for all paper grades as well as rebuilds of individual paper machines

Automation for the entire paper manufacturing process, e.g., process and quality control systems, sensors and scanners

Paper machine clothing (e.g., forming fabrics), press sleeves, rolls and roll covers

Services from product service to optimization of entire systems

Technologies for the efficient use of all resources like water, energy and fiber, e.g., by using residues and wastewater for energy recovery

Air conditioning and process air systems as well as drying and cooling technology

Voith Turbo

Voith Turbo is a supplier of mechanical, hydrodynamic, electrical, hydraulic and electronic drive and braking systems. Voith Turbo is the market leader worldwide for hydrodynamic transmissions.

Within the Group, its core activities are as follows:

For energy and oil & gas industries: hydrodynamic couplings (fluid couplings), variable speed planetary gear units, turbo gear units, hydrodynamic torque converters and actuating and control technology

For industries including steel, mining and metalworking: Fluid couplings, hydraulic systems and components, Hirth serrations, high-performance cardan shafts, safety couplings and highly flexible couplings

For rail vehicles: drive systems like turbo gear units, wheelset gear units, traction inverters, cardan shafts, cooling systems, Scharfenberg couplers and front ends

For watercraft: Voith Schneider Propellers, water tractors, Voith Turbo Fin, Voith Linear Jets, Voith Inline Thrusters, Voith Radial Propellers

Research and development

Voith holds several thousand active patents worldwide.

In fiscal 2022/2023, Voith invested a total €232 million in boosting productivity and the strategic alignment of the Voith Group. In the reporting period (2022/2023), the investment ratio as a proportion of revenue was 4,2% of the consolidated revenue (4,4% in previous year). Of the total R&D expenditure, €3 million was capitalized. At the same time, amortization of €12 million was recognized on capitalized development costs.

Voith's research and development activities have an international focus. The main R&D center is in Germany, but centers in America, Asia and the rest of Europe conduct specialized R&D projects in the respective Group Divisions. For example, the Tissue Innovation Center, which was established in São Paulo in 1994, was reopened in November 2011 following a major rebuild. In fiscal 2016/2017, Voith opened its own Voith Innovation Lab in Berlin to boost the process of innovation in the company.

Literature

Matthias Georgi, Tobias Birken, Anna Pezold: Voith: 150 Jahre deutsche Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Siedler Verlag 2017, ISBN 978-3-827501-11-0.

Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. (= Schriftenreihe zur Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte 9), Beck, München 2003, ISBN 3-406-49630-X.

Hermann Schweickert: Der Wasserturbinenbau bei Voith zwischen 1913 und 1939 und die Geschichte der Eingliederung neuer Strömungsmaschinen. Dissertation der Universität Stuttgart, Siedentop, Heidenheim 2002, ISBN 978-3-925887-19-2.

Voith GmbH: Mit guten Ideen voran – seit 1867: Die Voith Geschichte. Unternehmensbroschüre, Heidenheim, Januar 2013 / 2016 als PDF-Datei; 76 S., 1,7 MB oder auf docplayer.org.