Vossloh

Vossloh AG is a rail technology company based in Werdohl in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The SDAX-listed group achieved sales of around €930 million in 2016 and, , had more than 4,000 employees.

Vossloh can trace its origins back to the late 19th century and Edward Vossloh, a blacksmith who secured component manufacturing work for the Royal Prussian Railway in the 1880s. In the following decades, the company expanded into the production of general hardware, including decorative items and lampholders for electric lighting. The company has long been based at Werdohl, though this has not always been straightforward; the company’s facilities there were bombed during the latter half of the Second World War. Several subsidiary companies were lost following the conclusion of the conflict. However, Vossloh survived, launching production of fluorescent tube holders at a plant in Lüdenscheid in 1946. In 1967, it obtained a license to make a new tension clamp rail fastening. During the late 1980s, considerable reorganisation was undertaken, management outside of the Vossloh family was brought in, rival company Schwabe GmbH was acquired and, on 1 December 1989, Vossloh-Werke GmbH became a public stock company or Aktiengesellschaft (AG).