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52 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • NOVEMBER 2014 ZF WORKBOAT ANNUAL As the head of ZF marine propulsion commercial and fast craft business, he overseas both the “bread-and-butter” business – ZF’s dominance of the global yacht market, an approximate three-quarters market share which com- mands about one-third of the company’s transmission pro- duction; as well as the high growth ends of the business in the commercial workboat sector, including the production of heavy duty workboat transmissions in Padua, Italy, and the production of Z-Drives in Krimpen, The Netherlands, the latter a feature focus in the August 2014 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News which chronicled the company’s strong push in the North American tow- boat sector. Körner joined ZF just more than a year ago, and a part of the draw was the fact that it is a large, private company, which he said delivers a certain degree of freedom in mid- and long-term product line planning that a similarly sized public company, driven by shareholder demands, may not be able to stomach. “We are living in an environment where we have more mid- and long-term vision on the business than on share- holder value driven companies because they have to show performance year after year,” Körner said. “Don’t get me wrong: we are not living in some kind of a paradise where nobody is questioning us on performance and operating result. But I believe we (as a privately held company) have more medium and long-term vision which, especially in the marine environment, is key to long-term success.” Geared up for a Commerical Maritime Push A 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 $22.4 billion, make no mistake that this unit is of keen interest for the company as it continues to in- crease its penetration in the glob- al commercial marine sector. On the eve of the company’s 100th anniversary celebration in 2015, Andre Körner, Head of Produc- tion Commercial & Fast Craft, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, shared insights on the path ahead. By Greg Trauthwein Andre Körner gets the big picture. Photo: Gr eg T rauthwein MR #11 (50-57).indd 52 10/30/2014 9:42:42 AM
