Georg Fischer AG Schaffhausen - Introduction

Introduction

Amsler-Laffon-Strasse 9
Schaffhausen
CH-8201
Switzerland
Telephone: 41 52 631 11 11
Fax: 41 52 631 28 3741 52 631 2856
Web site: http://www.georgfischer.com

Public Company
Founded: 1802
Employees: 2,903
Sales: SFr 3.48 billion ($2.56 billion) (2002)
Stock Exchanges: Swiss
Ticker Symbol: GF
NAIC: 333512 Machine Tool (Metal Cutting Types) Manufacturing; 326122 Plastics Pipe and Pipe Fitting Manufacturing; 331210 Iron and Steel Pipes and Tubes Manufacturing from Purchased Steel; 331511 Iron Foundries; 331512 Steel Investment Foundries; 331513 Steel Foundries (Except Investment); 333513 Machine Tool (Metal Forming Types) Manufacturing; 333514 Special Die and Tool, Die Set, Jig, and Fixture Manufacturing; 333515 Cutting Tool and Machine Tool Accessory Manufacturing; 333518 Other Metalworking Machinery Manufacturing; 336399 All Other Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing; 551112 Offices of Other Holding Companies

Switzerland's Georg Fischer AG Schaffhausen is a worldleading industrial engineering group engaged in four primary areas of operation. Piping Systems is one of the company's oldest activities, stemming from the early period of its more than 200-year history. Georg Fischer manufactures a wide range of pipes, fittings, and piping systems for the industrial, construction, and residential markets. The Automotive Products Group, the company's largest division at some 40 percent of sales, represents the continuation of another historic core business, that of cast iron forged products, now concentrated on producing cast iron and aluminum components and systems for the automotive industry. Manufacturing Technology is conducted through the company's Agie Charmilles subsidiary, and is a world leader in electric discharge machining (EDM) manufacturing systems. Last, Georg Fischer's Plant Engineering Group, created from the merger of Buss and Waeschle and Werner & Pfleiderer in 2000, is a provider of turnkey production plants and processes, and related services. Georg Fischer is a globally operating company, with subsidiaries in some 30 countries. Switzerland itself represents just 5 percent of the group's sales of nearly SFr 3.5 billion ($2.5 billion). Germany is the group's largest single market, accounting for 40 percent of sales, while the rest of Europe adds a further 32 percent to annual revenues.