Product category:
Manufacturing dealerships, agencies and acquisitions
News Release from: Iwis-Flexon
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 31 October 2006
Chain firm acquires German chainmaker
German chain manufacturer Iwis has acquired the chain specialist Flexon, which has holding companies in the UK and the USA as well as sites in France and the Netherlands.
German chain manufacturer Iwis has acquired the German chain specialist Flexon Internationally operating, Flexon has holding companies in the UK and the USA as well as sites in France and the Netherlands
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 22 Jul 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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Flexon UK is based in Tipton, West Midlands.
Flexon is a highly specialised service company which supplies roller chains, chains for agricultural machinery, special chains and leaf chains as well as chain wheels and accessories for all areas of application.
With 100 employees worldwide, Flexon has an annual turnover of approximately EUR 30 million.
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Iwis is a leading European manufacturer of precision chains, especially for the worldwide automotive industry as well as machine and plant construction, packaging, printing and food industries, material handling systems and other industrial applications.
With approximately 850 employees in Munich, Landsberg (Germany) and Strakonice (Czech Republic), Iwis will generate a turnover of approximately EUR 190 million in 2006.
The company has celebrated its 90th anniversary in October.
In line with its expansion strategy and resulting from this acquisition, Iwis has fast-tracked its growth.
With a consolidated total turnover of nearly EUR 55 million in the industrial chains division, the company has strengthened its market position in Europe.
The basis for a further annual growth of 8 to 10% in the next five years include synergies in purchasing and cross-selling within the company as well as optimising the production and logistics locations.
Since August 2006, Johannes Winklhofer has taken on the role of Flexon's board of directors and is responsible for leading the company together with Wolfgang Dreykluft, who has been a managing director with Flexon for several years.
At the end of 2006, Wolfgang Janzen will step down from the board of directors and join the company's advisory board.
The buying price was quietly negotiated.
* About Iwis - Iwis Antriebssysteme supplies high-performance roller chains and precision chain systems for machine and plant construction, packaging, printing and food industries, material handling systems and other industrial applications.
Since 2006, Iwis Antriebssysteme is an independent subsidiary of Joh Winklhofer and Soehne, which produces timing chains and systems for the automotive industry.
The company's history goes back to the end of the 19th century, when Johann Baptist Winklhofer started to import bicycles from England.
Having set up his own bicycle factory in Chemnitz, he later moved to Munich where he founded Iwis in 1916.
Still run as a family business - now in its fourth generation - Iwis today employs more than 850 people at its production sites in Munich, Strakonice in the Czech Republic, and the Bavarian town of Landsberg am Lech.
Last year, Iwis' Landsberg factory was awarded first place in the national German Factory of the Year 2005 competition.
Iwis chains are distributed worldwide.
In the UK, Iwis products are available through Iwis Chain in Bewdley, Worcestershire.
Flexon products are available through Flexon UK in Tipton, West Midlands.
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