The expansion of international sales activities has been part of Franke’s company strategy since the mid-1970s. This was part of endeavours to reduce dependence on the longstanding cooperation partner Hoesch Rothe Erde Schmiedag AG (HRS) and developed into a key pillar of the company’s success.
The world visits Aalen: Franke representatives from all over the world regularly come together to exchange information, here at the tourist programme in 2013.
The first three Franke foreign agencies were established in Spain (1976), Sweden (1978) and Switzerland (2007) as offshoots of the HRS agencies there. The company used existing networks in other countries too: In France, Italy, the Netherlands, Israel and the USA, the company concluded agency agreements with sales partners that were already working for Franke customers in those countries. The need to explain Franke bearings turned out to be a challenge. That’s why the first representatives’ conference was held in Aalen in 1976. In addition to the three German representatives at the time, the new Spanish representatives also took part.
Due to the success of the Franke CT bearings and the close cooperation with Siemens and the US-based General Electric, the East Asian and North American regions became increasingly important at the turn of the millennium. Production sites were therefore established in China and the USA, where the enclosing structures for CT bearings were manufactured under licence for the local markets. However, the crucial roller bearing elements still came from Aalen.
Initially, Stephan Kuhn was primarily responsible for opening up the Asian markets for additional customers. The lone fighter, who covered an estimated 600,000 kilometres by air in 20 years of working for Franke, benefited from the fact that more and more Chinese and Japanese manufacturers were entering the booming market for CT scanners. Because Franke’s CT bearings are so technically impressive, he was “fortunately the right man in the right place at the right time”. Even if he had to overcome one or two challenges with regard to the local cuisine to achieve sales success in Asia.
Today, Franke is very well positioned internationally with 28 foreign agencies in 21 countries and generates around half of its sales abroad. //
