WORKBOAT ANNUALGeared up for a Commerical Maritime PushZFA walk through the ZF Friedrich-shafen AG marine propulsion system manufacturing plant in southern Germany does nothing but con? rm the commonly held perceptions of German engineer-ing prowess: the facility is clean to a fault; the equipment is mod-ern and well-maintained; the em-ployees are orderly and ef? cient. While the ZF marine propulsion systems business – which gener-ated a turnover of $336 million in 2013 – is but a sliver of the company’s overall 2013 sales of Photo: Greg Trauthwein$22.4 billion, make no mistake that this unit is of keen interest for the company as it continues to in-Andre Körner gets the big picture. crease its penetration in the glob-As the head of ZF marine propulsion commercial and fast of the draw was the fact that it is a large, private company, craft business, he overseas both the “bread-and-butter” which he said delivers a certain degree of freedom in mid- al commercial marine sector. On business – ZF’s dominance of the global yacht market, and long-term product line planning that a similarly sized the eve of the company’s 100th an approximate three-quarters market share which com- public company, driven by shareholder demands, may not mands about one-third of the company’s transmission pro- be able to stomach.anniversary celebration in 2015, duction; as well as the high growth ends of the business in “We are living in an environment where we have more Andre Körner, Head of Produc-the commercial workboat sector, including the production mid- and long-term vision on the business than on share-tion Commercial & Fast Craft, of heavy duty workboat transmissions in Padua, Italy, and holder value driven companies because they have to show the production of Z-Drives in Krimpen, The Netherlands, performance year after year,” Körner said. “Don’t get me ZF Friedrichshafen AG, shared the latter a feature focus in the August 2014 edition of wrong: we are not living in some kind of a paradise where Maritime Reporter & Engineering News which chronicled nobody is questioning us on performance and operating insights on the path ahead.the company’s strong push in the North American tow- result. But I believe we (as a privately held company) boat sector. have more medium and long-term vision which, especially Körner joined ZF just more than a year ago, and a part in the marine environment, is key to long-term success.”By Greg Trauthwein52 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • NOVEMBER 2014MR #11 (50-57).indd 52 10/30/2014 9:42:42 AM