OC Oerlikon Purchases Fairfield Parent Company Saurer AG

0
3223

Fairfield Manufacturing Company, Inc.—headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana—announces that its parent company, Saurer AG of Switzerland, has been acquired by the OC Oerlikon Corporation AG of Pfäffikon, Switzerland. OC Oerlikon finalized the stock purchase and acquisition of Saurer AG on January 1, 2007, and is currently implementing the steps for integration of the Saurer Group into the Oerlikon corporate structure.

“The acquisition of Saurer forms a platform which allows us to fully exploit potential synergies within the Oerlikon Group and makes perfect sense for a technology driven company like Oerlikon,” says CEO Thomas Limberger.

OC Oerlikon Corporation AG is a cutting-edge, high-technology, and innovation leader focused on customer needs in a wide variety of industries and markets throughout the world. Oerlikon core business technology segments are coatings, vacuum, precision, textile, and drive systems. Key industries served by these segments include automotive, space, energy, consumer electronics, IT, life sciences, and machinery and tool manufacturing. Oerlikon has established a corresponding global infrastructure, with a network of 80 subsidiary companies in 25 countries. The company had a very successful 2006, experiencing double digit growth, and it was named as the most successful European stock by the Swiss stock exchange. Fairfield Manufacturing will become part of the Drive Technology segment of the Oerlikon Group and will be branded as Oerlikon Fairfield Drive Systems in the United States.

According to Gary Lehman, president and CEO of Fairfield, “This integration of Saurer AG into OC Oerlikon adds a new and greater dimension to Fairfield’s global expansion plan through utilization of Oerlikon’s high-technology focus and vast global footprint. We are very excited about this latest development within our ownership structure.”

With over 1,600 employees worldwide, Fairfield Manufacturing Company is a global provider of engineered gear and drive solutions for mobile and industrial machinery, including the popular Torque-Hub® brand of planetary final drives. The company’s facilities include a 600,000 square-foot facility in Lafayette, Indiana, as well as the Fairfield Atlas, Ltd., facility in Belgaum, India, with an additional 175,000 square feet. Fairfield also has locations in China and Europe devoted to providing gear and drive solutions to a broad range of markets.

For more information go online to [www.fairfieldmfg.com] or [www.oerlikon.com].