From small rubber manufacturer to global company
In 2000, the Woco corporate group acquires the diaphragm specialist EFFBE. It quickly becomes clear: Woco boss Franz Josef Wolf demonstrates a good sense for business with this acquisition.
The high level of expertise of the EFFBE engineers in the field of industrial vibration engineering and the many years of experience of the Woco specialists in drive technology quickly bear fruit: Together, they develop the innovative ADS system, a level control and damping system for measurement plant. This development confirms that, with the acquisition of EFFBE, Woco founder Franz Josef Wolf once again demonstrated the right entrepreneurial flair.
With the takeover by the Woco corporate group in 2000, a new era begins for the diaphragm specialist EFFBE. Both companies have creative specialists in the field of research and design, who complement each other perfectly.
Today, EFFBE and Woco through cooperation obtain high synergy effects, especially in the area of modular technology, thus sustainably consolidating Woco's strong competitive position in the automotive supply sector. EFFBE's customers benefit from the production and distribution synergies that the Group offers through its global presence.
1956: Franz Josef Wolf lays the foundation for Woco at the age of 21
Franz Josef Wolf was born on May 2, 1935 in Bad Soden-Salmünster in Hesse. There, in 1956, at the age of 21, he laid the foundation for the Woco success story: In his father's former sawmill, he established the "Woco Rubber and Plastics Plant". Franz Josef Wolf had already completed an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk at the Ullrich rubber works in neighboring Gelnhausen, which then employed him as a commercial and technical assistant to the management, alongside part-time mechanical engineering studies in Frankfurt.
The founding of the company marked the beginning of a success story in which Franz Josef Wolf developed Woco from a small rubber manufacturer to an international group with more nearly 6.000 employees and locations in Europe, USA, China and Mexico. In doing so, the entrepreneur relied on the early involvement of his family: first his siblings, then his wife Hildegard and, in later decades, daughter Christina and sons Bernhard, Jürgen and Martin became mainstays of the group. As a family business, Woco developed into a global player - remaining in family ownership throughout. That has not changed until today.
"The smell of rubber, which is unpleasant for many, has always attracted me," said Franz Josef Wolf in 2015, on the occasion of his 80th birthday A smell that still captivates him to this day: As CEO of the industrial division, the now 82-year-old continues to play a key role in guiding the fortunes of the Woco corporate group - and thus also those of EFFBE. Franz Josef Wolf does not even think about quitting: "An entrepreneur never stops," one sometimes hears him say with a wink.
Understand the times,
sense the future,
design it with partners.
Franz Josef Wolf
