15.12.2011 - Ausgabe: 6/2011

60 years of Eibach – from Sauerland to the rest of the world

Happy Birthday, Eibach! The family company is celebrating its 60th birthday.

Playground@Landscape: The company Eibach is celebrating its 60th birthday – a big event in our fast-paced times. What swayed your father, Heinrich Eibach, to found a company and how did he come to produce springs, of all things?
Wilfried Eibach: Aside from the forge, there was a tradition of wire and wire products manufacturing in the lower Lenne Valley, from Plettenberg to Hagen approximately. This was greatly helped by an ore deposit in the vicinity as well as the hydro power, available in all of the side valleys, required for the wire drawings, forge hammers and also for the first simple machines. Incidentally, the Freilichts museum in Hagen gives an outstanding overview of these first industries to appear in the Sauerland. It was no wonder, therefore, that my father, Heinrich, who was born in Werdohl in the Lenne Valley in 1903, embraced spring manufacturing and also worked in a Dortmund spring factory during the war. Heinrich Eibach’s family lived in Hagen during the war where our rented apartment was destroyed during an air raid in 1944. Thanks to a friend of my mother, we moved to Rönkhausen where we were regarded as “Buiterlinge”, that is, immigrants, for many years, and were treated with a certain amount of reservation. Despite these difficulties, my father started a tiny spring manufacturing business towards the end of 1949 in a small shed at the Rönkhausen train station.

P@L: What type of businessman was Heinrich Eibach? What were his visions?
W. E.: It wasn’t a time for entrepreneurship and visions; life was defined by a fight to survive. However, I do believe that my father wanted to be self-employed as the local jobs had not satisfied him. To start with we didn’t even have a factory; it was more of a manual operation.

P@L: What products were made right at the start then? Which customers did you approach?
W. E.: They were simple springs made to customer specifications. Our own spring calculation systems as well as spring testing facilities were first introduced several years later. The first customers were industrial companies that knew my father from his time in the Dortmund spring factories. I remember names like Stromag, Vahle, Söffge…

P@L: What are the differences between current springs and springs from those days?
W. E.: What we “manipulated” during those times were more along the lines of “moulded wire parts” when compared with our current high-quality springs with clearly defined characteristic lines, strengths, tolerances, load cycle figures, corrosion protection and comprehensive documentation. Compared to then, most of our current products are designed in house to meet the customer’s specific needs, or optimised with the customer during simultaneous engineering.

P@L: Eibach products are made to the highest, most modern standards, yet there is still a machine here in Finnentrop from the company’s “early days”...
W. E.: Yes, there actually is still such a treasure and it has a name – Franzfried. It was christened after Franz Krosl, the artist responsible for this machine, and me, as I developed our first spring in the USA on it.

P@L: In the 60s everything kicked off with industrial springs – even today, the area is still a core part of your company’s business. Where can we find Eibach springs in use then?
W. E.: From the children’s playground to the specialist suspension in special vehicles. We manufacture valve springs for the biggest marine diesel engines in the world alongside springs for the engine peripherals. We really do hang on Eibach when it comes to the modern, high-speed, detachable ski lifts and gondola lifts. We manufacture our products for vibration systems, vibration insulation under railway tracks, bridges and other foundations in exactly the same manner as we would for agricultural machines and construction machines. Our products can be found in practically all processes where the “muscle” feature of the spring is required, in order to absorb energy, store it, then release it again. We develop and produce for the following sectors: Vibrating screen technology, plant construction/capital goods, safety valves, cable technology, sealing technology, high voltage technology, railway technology and, of course, for the automobile industry.

P@L: Which is the largest spring in your range and which is the smallest?
W. E.: The longest is 50 metres and it is a rotary valve. The heaviest compression spring boasts a diameter of 56 millimetres and weighs a staggering 140kg. The smallest of our springs start at a wire diameter of 0.2 millimetres and enable air pressure and other pressures to be built thanks to its function in compressor valves.

P@L: Under your leadership, Eibach turned its attention to the subject of automobiles. How did that happen?
W. E.: Around the start of the 70s we had grown so that we had a turnover of approximately six million Deutschmarks and employed roughly 70 staff. We had obtained a reputation in the industry for quality in the manufacturing of larger industry springs. Around the same time AMG was looking for a manufacturer who could produce quality chassis in small quantities with a degree of flexibility – and they found us. The rest is history.

P@L: How did this lead to you becoming such a well-known brand?
W. E.: At the beginning I was amazed when I realised that all of the shock absorber brands were famous. However, nobody spoke about the springs, despite them being the heart of the chassis. I recognised this opportunity and immediately began to “chime the bells” for (Eibach) springs. Today in the USA you will hear people talk about how “Eibach gave springs a name”.

P@L: Your company is internationally active, producing in the USA with China soon to follow and with a host of branches in England, Japan, Australia and South Africa. Was it difficult to take a medium-sized business and position it globally?
W. E.: No, not when you relish challenges and enjoy meeting new people and having butterflies in your stomach. Work can be more fun than fun!
With regard to China – our move there is consistent and logical. We want to be established as early as possible in the largest automobile and industry market in the world. I’m particularly happy that, in our anniversary year, our strategic partner Thyssen-Krupp Bilstein Tuning is moving into our building with its China Tech-Centre. The skills in terms of springs, shock absorbers and stabilisers brought together under one roof – that could be another success story.

P@L: In which direction will the Eibach brand develop in the future? What are you giving your children on their entrepreneurial journey?
W. E.: Looking after tradition doesn’t mean preserving the ashes but keeping the embers burning. As a medium-sized family company group with a very solid equity ratio, we needn’t be subject to the constraints placed by constantly increasing dividends. After 60 years of almost continuous reinvestments of almost all profits, Eibach was first able to do this in 2011. Legally, the company is in family ownership, but in reality the company owns the family. Even now during the anniversary year, the last pieces are being put in place for a beneficial development in secured structures. That’s because our company isn’t a cash cow to be milked. We have social responsibilities too, particularly for our region, the beautiful Sauerland.

P@L: What does Wilfried Eibach do in what little free time he has?
W. E.: Of course there were times when we had to put in a 12-14-hour working day. Today I’m able to divide my time. For me the word work leaves no negative aftertaste. I feel like a mountaineer who experiences every mountain as a tingling challenge. I feel a definite lust for business! Is there anything better than setting sail for new horizons with a trusted friend or dear colleague? That translates as tapping into new markets for me, winning new customers, developing interesting products or investing in new, interesting manufacturing facilities. I currently derive a great deal of satisfaction from having the right people around me, people I can delegate to, pass my experience onto – my knowledge and my ethical values. Good, isn’t it?

P@L: Another reason to celebrate! But what does the “private” Wilfried Eibach do though?
W. E.: Well apart from all of that, I still have plenty of time for friends, golf, a little chess and tennis. I enjoy cycling at the weekend around Bigge or the Back Bay in Newport Beach. Don’t forget – I love classical music and have more time these days to visit concerts. I enjoy travelling to new horizons and meeting interesting, new people – and if they happen to need springs...all the better!

P@L: Can you wind and wrap springs yourself?
W. E.: I’ve done it ten thousand times – understood it in a flash! Come and visit us and I’ll show you how it’s done!