Numerous car manufacturers, in this case Audi, were early adopters of Franke's linear systems.
For a long time, Erich Franke's idea of using steel wires as tracks for rolling elements only played a role in bearings for rotary motion. The application of this ingenious principle to linear movements established an additional lucrative business segment that still plays an important role in the product portfolio today.
Franke has been producing linear race wires since the 1960s, albeit on a small scale rather "on the side" and only on specific customer request. In 1969, the topic was given a boost when the customer Daimler-Benz explicitly ordered a guide rail for linear guides. As an innovation, Franke designed an internal play adjustment followed by a ball return element in 1970. Both together open up completely new application possibilities for the guide rails.
1972 marked an important milestone: For the first time, the principle of inserted wire raceways established in wire race bearings was transferred to a linear system. At the same time, the company was endeavouring to reduce its heavy dependence on its licensing partner Hoesch Rothe Erde Schmiedag AG (HRS) and to expand its product and customer portfolio. A very conscious decision was therefore made to establish a second mainstay with linear systems. Following further improvements, the first series of standards for carriage slides was launched in 1975. The first customer was Steelweld. Franke carriage slides are also ideal for the welding machines used in the automotive industry. An initial major order from Audi was followed by numerous others from the automotive industry. Between 1977 and 1981 alone, sales of carriage slides doubled to over two million Deutschmarks.
Further innovations such as electronic controls for the linear guides (1977) or aluminium guide rails (1992) successfully established the linear systems as a second mainstay. Today, they generate 25 per cent of total sales. //