Rheinmetall

Rheinmetall AG
Joint stock company
Traded as FWB: RHM
Industry Automotive, Defence
Founded 13 April 1889
Founder Horder Bergwerks- und Huettenverein
Headquarters Düsseldorf, Germany
Key people
 Armin Papperger (CEO and chairman of the executive board)
Klaus Greinert (Chairman of the supervisory board)
Products Automotive parts, military vehicles and systems
Revenue €5,183 million (2015)[1]
Profit €160 million (2015)[1]
Total assets €5,730 million (end 2015)[1]
Total equity €1,562 million (end 2015)[1]
Number of employees
 20,676 (end 2015)[1]
Website www.rheinmetall.com

Rheinmetall AG is an automotive parts supplier and military technology group headquartered in Düsseldorf. In fiscal 2015 (2014), the company's 20,676 (20,166) employees generated sales of €5.18 billion (€4.68 billion). Rheinmetall was the tenth-largest European defence contractor in 2011.[1]

The Group's Automotive unit had sales in fiscal 2015 of €2.59 billion, while sales of its Defence arm for the same period came to €2.59 billion.[1]

Rheinmetall AG is listed on the German MDAX; its shares are traded on all German stock exchanges.[1]

Company structure

Automotive

KSPG (previously known as Kolbenschmidt Pierburg) is the management company of Rheinmetall AG's automotive technology branch. A globally operating maker of automotive components, KSPG plays a leading role in air supply, pollution reduction and pump technology, as well as the development, manufacture and sale of pistons, engine blocks and smooth bearings, including the supply of spare parts. Development of new products takes place in close cooperation with major automakers. The company has been organized into three autonomously operating divisions since May 2012: Hardparts, Mechatronics, and Motor Service.[2]

The company's activities fall into seven business units, including Kolbenschmidt (which manufactures pistons); Large Pistons; Pierburg (components for air supply and pollution reduction); Pierburg Pump Technology (coolant, oil, recirculation and vacuum pumps); Plain Bearings (metal bearings and bearing elements as well as continuous casting elements); Aluminium Technology (engine blocks); and Motor Service (repair and maintenance sales for KSPG).[3]

Defence

Rheinmetall AG's Defence arm is one of the world's leading producers of systems and equipment for ground, air and naval forces.[2] Rheinmetall Defence has three divisions: Weapon and Munition, Electronic Solutions and Vehicle Systems. Its subsidiaries and affiliates are embedded in these three divisions.[4]

Though based in Germany, Rheinmetall Defence now has production plants and representative offices in eighteen countries.[4] , serving the armed forces, security services and law enforcement agencies of numerous nations:

History

The steam locomotive parked in Trebnje, Sevnica
The builder's plate on the steam locomotive parked in Trebnje, Slovenia
The steam locomotive parked in Trebnje, Slovenia, was produced in 1922 by Rheinische Metallwaaren- und Maschinenfabrik from Düsseldorf.

Rheinische Metallwaaren- und Maschinenfabrik AG was founded in 1889 in Düsseldorf by Heinrich Ehrhardt and his associates to take on a contract that Hörder Bergwerks- und Hüttenvereins (a munitions company) could not fulfil. At the start of the twentieth century Dreysesche Gewehrfabrik, Munitions- und Waffenfabrik was added to Rheinmetall.

After World War I, as a result of the treaty limitations imposed upon Germany, Rheinmetall produced non-military items.

In 1935, the Reich took majority shareholding. The railway locomotive manufacturer August Borsig GmbH was taken over in 1933. This led to the merger in 1936 giving Rheinmetall-Borsig AG.

The Reichswehr placed a contract with Rheinmetall for a tank design leading to the Neubaufahrzeug (a cover name meaning "new construction vehicle"—as tank production was still banned).

The company went on to produce guns for tanks used by the Wehrmacht (such as those used on the Tiger I and Panther tanks) and anti-tank guns.

Production facilities were damaged by Allied bombing during World War II leading to relocation in eastern Germany and Poland. In the immediate post-war military production was banned and it was not until 1956 that arms production started again. The company name changed to Rheinmetall Berlin AG.

Controversies

Rheinmetall was implicated in a corruption case in India alongwith arms dealer Abhishek Verma and his wife Anca Verma lodged by the anti-corruption agency of India the CBI in 2012 for bribing defence officials to secure multi-billion weapons contracts of the Indian military. At present the case is on trial in Indian courts.[5][6][7][8]


Acquisitions

Military products

Modern

WWII and pre-WWII products

References

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