The largest employer in the city
The Bruchsal-based company is the largest employer in the city and invests strongly in Bruchsal and the surrounding area. In times when other companies are moving their production abroad, SEW-EURODRIVE is further expanding its domestic development and production so as to maintain its success on the global market.
This is safeguarding jobs in Bruchsal and the region and creating new ones. Since it was founded, SEW-EURODRIVE has been a leading innovator in its sector. Examples of this include the electronics plant that is currently under construction and the research campus in the former dragoon barracks. With its new company kindergarten, SEW-EURODRIVE is also taking on a pioneering role when it comes to combining family and career.
In the name of Bruchsal council, I would like to thank Rainer and Jürgen Blickle in particular for their commitment to Bruchsal. We are proud that SEW-EURODRIVE feels a corporate, social and philanthropic responsibility toward the city.
Since its foundation by entrepreneurial pioneer Christian Pähr in 1931, Süddeutsche Elektromotorenwerke has been a family-run business. Ernst Blickle took over the company in 1945 after it had been left largely unscathed by an allied bombing raid on March 1, 1945. With his visionary entrepreneurial spirit, he led the company on a path of growth that also benefited the workforce. When the largest production facility at the time opened in 1948, it did not take long to add social areas for the employees to use. Finally, in 1965, came the advent of the modular drive technology for which SEW-EURODRIVE is still famous. New production plants were opened in Brazil and the United States in 1983, turning the pioneering Bruchsal-based company into a global player.
In the years that followed, SEW-EURODRIVE further expanded its innovative leadership in the field of drive technology. This peaked in 1999 with the construction and startup of the new production plant for electronic components in Bruchsal, which was voted “Best Plant of the Year 2000” one year later. The Ernst Blickle Innovation Center and the DriveAcademy® were started up soon after. Finally, in 2010, the plant for large gear units was opened and, as I already mentioned, more innovations are already in the planning and implementation stages.