SEW – Powerful since the very first day

On June 13, 1931, banker Christian Pähr founded Süddeutsche Elektromotorenwerke, SEW, in Bruchsal, North Baden. The start-up's product line consisted of a variety of electric motors and gearmotors, the Millicut electric band saws, the Simplitt planers, the Circuit electric circular saws, and the Poliglitt grinding motors.

Unfortunately, Mr. Pähr was not able to witness his company's major successes. Only four years after founding SEW, he died at the age of 70. His widow, Kunigunde Pähr, ran the company after his death, supported by their daughter, Edeltraut.

The great opportunity for the great strategist

Although the bombs rain down on Bruchsal on March 1, 1945, most of the SEW building remains miraculously intact.

The end of the war ushers in the era of the still-young company's most formative personality: Ernst Blickle. In August 1945, the farmer's son who was born in the Swabian Alps takes over the company's reins from his mother-in-law, Mrs. Pähr.

Until the takeover, the former officer had little to do with his mother-in-law's company. But Ernst Blickle rapidly acquires engineering expertise and begins directing the rise of SEW with visionary, entrepreneurial spirit.

First footprints abroad

In 1960, around 600 employees worked in the SEW offices and production halls in Graben and Bruchsal. In one decade, from 1950 to 1960, SEW's revenues jumped from 1.4 million DM to around 20 million DM.

Bienvenue SEW USOCOME

Alongside the sales system in Germany, which was divided into North, South, and Central regions, SEW's first foreign subsidiary also made a contribution to this meteoric rise. In 1960, SEW USOCOME, the first foreign subsidiary, opened in Haguenau, Alsace.

The modular system that goes into SEW gearmotors

In the 1960s, a new entrepreneurial attitude made inroads in continental Europe: marketing. This management theory's doctrine: The entire company must be consistently aligned with the needs of the market. An approach that Ernst Blickle was already practicing at SEW. The market needed drives that satisfied the special requirements of a variety of industrial sectors and production processes. Before this time, these types of customer-specific gear unit-motor combinations could only be realized at an extremely high cost.

The solution was modularity: a modular system of gear units and motors that could be combined flexibly and affordably.

The modular system can be implemented perfectly in industrial series production with low unit costs. This means that production should be organized centrally in a small number of plants with high output quantities.

Opening of an assembly and service plant in Verneuil-l´Etang near Paris

Verneuil

Opening of an assembly and service plant in Pessac, near Bordeaux

Opening of an assembly and service plant in Pessac, near Bordeaux

Construction of a new production plant in FORBACH / Lorraine

Construction of a new production plant in FORBACH / Lorraine

Opening of a Customer Service Center near LYON

Opening of a Customer Service Center near LYON

Opening of a Drive Technology Center near Nantes

Opening of a Drive Technology Center near Nantes

Construction of a new logistics plant in Brumath next to Haguenau

Construction of a new logistics plant in Brumath next to Haguenau

Construction of a new Drive Technology Center near Lyon

Construction of a new Drive Technology Center near Lyon

Forbach site in France expands

The French plant in Forbach is expanding by around 11 500 square meters, which confirms its position as the SEW Group's aluminum foundry. This expansion represents an investment of some 30 million euros in the period to 2020.