[DeTomaso] FW: ZF

[Mike Thomas]

Forwarded from one of our Panteras Northwest members, Jeff Kimball, who has
recently traveled to Germany. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Kimball, Jeffrey G [mailto:jeffrey.g.kimball at boeing.com] 
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2008 8:41 AM
To: Mike Thomas; Thomas, Michael; Doug BraunHm; Doug BraunWK;
roydon.d.hughes at boeing.com
Subject: ZF

Guys:

The way I read the article below, our ZF gearboxes, which I think were built
in Friedrichshafen Germany, were built by a descendant company of Zeppelin.
This explains why the ZF factory in Friedrichshafen is located next to the
"modern" Zeppelin factory. 

Jeff

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In Germany, a City's Famed Industry Now Helps Keep It Afloat New York Times
08/04/2008
Author: Nicholas Kulish
c. 2008 New York Times Company
FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany - Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin launched his first
flying machine from Lake Constance here in 1900. 
Thus began a chapter of aviation history that would propel Friedrichshafen
onto the world stage, make it a prominent target for Allied bombs during
World War II and ultimately bequeath to the city a sizable foundation
financed by the successor companies to Count von Zeppelin's original
enterprise. 
According to the city, the foundation generates between $60 million and $80
million a year for a population of just 57,000. That largess supports
projects as varied as school lunches for underprivileged children, sports
teams and a new library. It was the threat of losing the foundation that
nudged the town fathers to get back into the zeppelin business two decades
ago. 
That prudent choice kept the foundation in the city's hands. It may yet
prove a good business decision in its own right. 
Thanks to their low fuel consumption, airships are enjoying renewed
attention as an alternative in an era of high fuel prices. But while
zeppelins inspire enormous loyalty among those who work on them and a sense
of wonder among all who watch them soar, the financial returns have barely
gotten off the ground. 
Since the new line of zeppelins first took flight here 11 years ago, the
company, ZLT Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik, has built only four, including the
prototype - and sold only two. 
"From an economic standpoint, it was completely backward," Josef
Büchelmeier, the mayor of Friedrichshafen, said. "We had the product first
and then went looking for a market." 
One hundred years ago, Count von Zeppelin tried to fly one of his airships
for 24 hours straight. Unfortunately, the attempt ended with a crash and the
airship's destruction. A spontaneous outpouring of donations, from civic
organizations down to pennies from schoolchildren, flooded in and made it
possible for the famous count to keep his work alive. 
With that money, Count von Zeppelin started a foundation dedicated to the
development of airships. If for any reason that goal proved impossible, the
foundation was to pass to the city of Friedrichshafen. As zeppelins enjoyed
their heyday - passenger service from Germany reached as far as Brazil - the
count's successors built a variety of businesses to provide technology and
machinery for ever more advanced zeppelins. 
But right after World War II, it appeared highly unlikely that the
victorious Allies would ever permit Germans to resume building zeppelins -
which had been used for bombing and other military missions. As a result, in
1947, the French occupation authority turned the foundation over to the city
of Friedrichshafen. 
But once West Germany regained its armed forces and arms industry, the
occupiers' decision to give the foundation to Friedrichshafen did not sit
well with those interested in following in the count's footsteps and
building zeppelins. 
"There were always new attacks on the city's ownership of the foundation,"
said Bernd Wiedmann, the town's mayor from 1985 to 2001. 
To this day, the foundation owns full or majority stakes in a number of
large and successful businesses, all descended from the original zeppelin
builders. Those enterprises pay dividends to the foundation (and,
indirectly, to the city). Mr. Büchelmeier said it was important that the
dividends remained modest in proportion to the companies' revenues. That
means the rest of the profits can be reinvested in research and development
for the long-term strength of the companies, which are also significant
employers in the region. 
"Our philosophy is to preserve the businesses in the long run, to keep them
at the top," insulated from the common pressure from shareholders, Mr.
Büchelmeier said. The latter-day Zeppelin empire includes ZF
Friedrichshafen, an automobile supplier that employs some 60,000 people
worldwide and reported total revenues of roughly $20 billion for 2007. The
holding company Zeppelin GmbH includes the exclusive dealer for the heavy
equipment maker Caterpillar in Germany and much of Central and Eastern
Europe. There is even a private Zeppelin University. 
Criticisms on foundation's ownership led the Audit Office of the state of
Baden-Wuerttemberg, where Friedrichshafen is located, to investigate whether
the foundation should be taken from the city. 
Mr. Wiedmann recalls that the state premier at the time told him, "If you
could just do something to revive the zeppelins." With those words to the
wise, Mr. Wiedmann pursued the possibility of reviving production and
eventually settled on a plan with the leaders of the foundation businesses.
The new zeppelin program wholly insulated Friedrichshafen against
suggestions that it had abandoned the foundation's original purpose. "Since
then, it's been quiet," he said. 
There was still the little matter of what to do with the 250-foot-long
airships once they built them. 
The reintroduced zeppelins have been used for a variety of purposes,
including air-quality testing and crowd surveillance at public events. They
have carried roughly 80,000 tourists for gentle rides in the sky in many
locales, including in Germany and Japan. 
The fourth and latest model is now in London, captivating tourists with a
bird's eye view of the city before the airship begins a slow journey on a
cargo ship to its future home in the San Francisco Bay Area. There, its new
owners, Airship Ventures, intend for it to ferry tourists and carry
scientific equipment aloft for testing and research. 
Perhaps the unlikeliest mission for the new generation of zeppelins was
treasure hunter. The prototype ended up in Botswana, where the company
DeBeers used it in diamond exploration. That was also where the prototype
met its demise last year, wrecked by a dust devil that hit the ship while it
was on the ground. 
In America, the zeppelin is still best known for the stunning 1937
Hindenburg disaster in Lakehurst, N.J., which claimed the lives of 36 crew
members and passengers. But here in Friedrichshafen, the airships stand for
the technological advancement on which the city prides itself. Their oblong
silhouette is found on everything from beer bottles and business cards to
the jungle gym near the waterfront where children play. 
The airships are proof that flying can still be a joy and a prod to the
imagination. The experience is singular enough that tickets start selling at
$300 for half an hour's flight. 
"I had always seen them and it was always a wish of mine to fly in one,"
said Edgar Wenz, a retired engineer at a nuclear plant, after climbing
aboard on a recent morning with his wife. 
"As a technician, one is interested of course," Mr. Wenz said, "but there is
also the Zeppelin myth." 
Friedrichshafen remains an economic success, thanks to the many zeppelin
businesses. Its region enjoys a remarkably low unemployment of just 2.5
percent. But for the people here it was also important that the zeppelins
not remain the brontosaurus of the skies but return to their rightful place
over Lake Constance, even if their construction is still not profitable for
ZLT Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik. 
"I think that it gives the city its image, and also jobs," said Margit
Gutte, a retiree out for a stroll downtown on a recent sunny afternoon. "In
any case the city is doing very well thanks to the foundation."