Fraba Group credits 100 years of success to strong market growth

May 14, 2018 – The international Fraba Group has achieved the 100th anniversary of its founding, saying it has enjoyed a year of significant growth in sales and profitability.

In fiscal 2017 (ending December 31) turnover increased by 21.5 per cent over the previous year with total sales revenues of €31.5 million. The company says growth has been driven by strong performance of its two product-oriented business units: Posital (industrial position/motion sensors) and Vitector (safety/security systems for large motorized doors).

While the Vitector business experienced significant growth, especially in North America, the largest area of advance was in the production of compact Wiegand devices for energy harvesting. In 2017, production of these mini-power plants – which convert rotary motion into electrical energy through a magnetic process – more than doubled. Fraba, the exclusive producer of Wiegand wire, makes use of this technology in its self-powered rotation counters for multi-turn encoders. It also supplies Wiegand modules, packaged as surface-mountable devices, to manufacturers of gas and water metres.

“Our success has been the result of hard work and careful planning,” said Christian Leeser, majority shareholder and CEO of the Fraba Group. “Innovative products, such as our high-resolution IXARC magnetic rotary encoders and the motor feedback Kit Encoders have been well received by the market. Our future success will be supported by our Aachen-based R&D centre, which is making significant progress in the development of innovative signal processing algorithms for of our magnetic encoder products and improved performance from our Wiegand wire energy harvesting technologies.”

The Fraba group’s history dates back to 1918, when its predecessor, Franz Baumgartner Elektrische Apparate GmbH, was established in Cologne, Germany, to manufacture relays. An important milestone in the company’s development occurred in 1993 when the organization was taken over by the brothers Achim and Christian Leeser. From a local manufacturer with a production model based on craftsmanship, Fraba has developed into an international business with an expanding range of products. The company now operates subsidiaries in Europe, North America and Asia, and sales and distribution partners around the world.

The company intends to celebrate its 100th anniversary this June in Cologne, Germany.