Corporate development

With the experience of the past, we are prepared for the future

Traditional location for 80 years

The production of roller bearing components at the Fraureuth location began 80 years ago. The traditional manufacturing continues up to now, and in 1993 the founding of the Spindel- und Lagerungstechnik Fraureuth GmbH began a new successful chapter. Almost 30 years later, the future-oriented enterprise took the next step in its development.

1942

The FAG Kugelfischer company, headquartered in Schweinfurt, established Fraureuth the production plant on the premises of the former porcelain factory Fraureuther Porzellanfabrik. During World War II, they moved the production of roller bearing cages made of brass, light metal, and compreg to the Thuringia compreg-producing company, the Thüringer Pressholz-Gesellschaft mbH, which was founded for this purpose in 1943.

1945

After the end of World War II, the company was at first shut down. A short time later, the German ball bearing company Deutsche Kugellagerfabrik (DKF) from Leipzig, which was founded in 1904 and had become a Soviet shareholding company in the meantime, underwent recommissioning, and the Fraureuth location developed into a respected cage supplier.

1949

After nationalization and renaming the roller bearing production company VEB Fraureuther Wälzlagerfabrik, the starting shot was fired for the production of roller bearings and grinding spindles. Some years later, the range of products expanded to include super-precision bearings for the Carl-Zeiss Jena company.

1954

With more than 1,800 employees, the roller bearing producer achieved a new high point. For the roller bearing industry of the GDR, the Fraureuth plant reached such a high industrial and technical level that it became a model for all roller bearing plants of the country (the GDR).

1965

Fraureuth quality products, known under the trademark “VWF“ and later “Femina“, were in demand internationally and exported to 17 countries. Large batch production, with up to 75,000 pieces per item, began and the first maintenance-free roller bearing of the GDR was produced.

1970

The VEB Wälzlagerwerk Fraureuth and seven other companies joined the VEB Kombinat Wälzlager und Normteile Karl-Marx-Stadt, a nationally-owned group producing roller bearings and standard parts, and under the trademark “DKFDDR“ served as a supplier primarily to the machine tool, automotive, optical, and the agricultural machine industry up to 1990.

1990

At first, the foreseeable fall of the GDR also meant the end of existing structures. Even before the German reunification, the Treuhandanstalt privatization agency had sold all the roller bearing plants belonging to the former nationally-owned company group to the Schweinfurt international group FAG Kugelfischer Georg Schäfer AG, and the German ball bearing producer DKFL Deutsche Kugellagerfabriken GmbH Leipzig was founded.

1993

The FAG group finds itself in an existential crisis, resulting in its inability to pay and the liquidation of the DKFL.

Four executives from the roller bearing production plant Wälzlagerwerk in Fraureuth took action, founding the Spindel- und Lagerungstechnik Fraureuth GmbH company out of the bankruptcy assets, starting with 29 employees.

2000 – 2010

Consecutive modernizations and extensions were implemented on the circa 60.000 m² company premises. In 2007, a new production hall for turning and a second office building were constructed.

2012

The Spindel- und Lagerungstechnik Fraureuth GmbH was the first company in Germany to be awarded for a second time the premier badge of honor known as the “Großer Preis des Mittelstandes“ (the top price for medium-sized companies) by the Oskar-Patzelt Foundation. SLF first won a prize in 1999, and in 2004, the company received premier status. The company won the premier badge of honor for the first time in 2006 and for the second time in 2019.

2018

In the 25 years of its existence, the SLF developed into a robust medium-sized company and recognized specialist in the industry with approximately 350 employees. The former founders and stakeholders began to introduce a succession strategy and sought a new majority shareholder, ideally a strategic investor with business knowledge capable of taking the location to a new level.

2019

As part of the succession solution, Avedon Capital Partners became the majority shareholder alongside the founders of SLF. Together they drive the internationalization of SLF and further enhance specialization of the Company’s offering.

2020

Branches in the USA and China were founded, while an additional sales office was created near Schweinfurt. With the acquisition of the STI Bearings GmbH in Wackersdorf as a competence center for roller bearing components and drive technologies – Kompetenzzentrum für Wälzlagerkomponenten und Antriebstechnik – the SLF company groups grows continued to grow.

2022

80 years of roller bearing production at the Fraureuth site.

2023

30 years of Spindel- und Lagerungstechnik Fraureuth GmbH