History
Kraus & Naimer History
The success story of our company is deeply rooted in the heyday of industry when Franz Kraus and Lorenz Naimer founded Kraus & Naimer in Vienna in 1907. To date, our core business is offering our customers tailor-made solutions. We are market leaders in the switchgear sector, we operate worldwide and we offer high-quality products, customer support and uncompromising quality.
We are an electrical switchgear manufacturer and a strong partner for many industrial customers from different sectors such as transport (railways, vehicles, ships, etc.), conveying systems, lift systems, mechanical engineering, power generation and power distribution.
Our roots
Our company's history began in the era of electricity. Lorenz Naimer and Franz Kraus carried out research in the field of electrical special machines when they decided to start their company in a small cellar in Vienna. By the early thirties, Kraus & Naimer had grown to 50 employees. In 1947, Hubert Laurenz Naimer took over the management of the company from his father Lorenz Naimer. Hubert Lorenz Naimer continued to contribute to the company’s success until his death in 2004. Thanks to his innovations and business initiatives Kraus & Naimer turned into a global corporation.
Expansion
Our world production network has been constantly expanding since 1962. In addition to the first production plant in Vienna, a second facility was built in Karlsruhe (Germany). Four more production sites outside of Austria have been built over the years (Brazil, USA, New Zealand, Hungary).
From 1968 to 1970, the largest production facility was built in Weikersdorf (Lower Austria). In 1989/1990 a state-of-the-art assembly facility was added; in 2013 the facility was roughly doubled in size.
Technical innovation – a driver for success
Over the decades, Kraus & Naimer has produced countless product innovations and built a global reputation in the field of switchgear. Already in 1948 the company introduced the world’s first cam switch in modular design (model C15). This made it possible to manufacture tailor-made products. Moreover, the smallest cam switch in the world (Model CA4N) is a Kraus & Naimer product. Today, the high production capacity, technical know-how and comprehensive quality assurance are key features of Kraus & Naimer.
The success story continues
The broad product range offers the optimum technical and economical solution for almost every application and every customer worldwide, since all products comply with all essential international regulations. The modular system composed of more than 15.000 individual parts enables us to configure and industrially produce customized switches that precisely fit the respective requirement – even the smallest batch sizes are possible. This specialization enables us to position ourselves as the first point of contact for special switches.
The current Group President Joachim (Ted) Laurenz Naimer joined the management in 1981 and has run the company since 2004 as the third generation of the Naimer family. We currently operate six factories as well as 19 wholly-owned sales and servicing companies with around 900 people worldwide.
"Our many years of success are based on two principles: fulfilling the requirements of our customers and, at the same time, motivating our employees. This is the essence of the Kraus & Naimer philosophy." Mr. Joachim (Ted) Laurenz Naimer