The Ravensburg-based Schulz Group has many years of engineering, production and product experience in the automotive industry and through its individual subsidiaries provides a broad range of industry-specific know-how. By acquiring an experienced automation and assembly technology specialist, the company is complementing the scope of its operations by further expanding in the dynamic market for production automation in various industries. Over the past 15 years, h-kon GmbH has become a recognized specialist in the development of highly complex systems for the automated and manual assembly of electric motors, gearboxes, electromechanical drive systems, battery modules and systems, and the associated test bench technology.

The long-standing expertise of h-kon thus represents an excellent addition to the existing service portfolio of the Schulz Group, whose subsidiary Schulz Engineering GmbH with its approximately 160 employees is one of the leading German engineering service providers in the field of planning, development and commissioning of sophisticated machines and complex production lines for the manufacture of vehicle bodies and chassis in the automotive industry.

“The close cooperation we have now achieved between h-kon and Schulz Engineering under the umbrella of the Schulz Group creates significant synergies for both companies for novel and promising technology and large-scale projects with leading customers from various industries,” explains Sven Schulz, managing partner of the Schulz Group. The strategic partnership is also a further consistent step towards accelerating entry into new markets and at the same time should counteract the current high competitive and market pressure in Schulz Engineering's existing business.

“As we have developed extensive cross-industry expertise over many years and have a growing portfolio of products and services, as well as outstanding planning and design competence with forward-looking technologies, we are a competent partner for our customers when it comes to developing holistic solutions for complex issues such as the virtualization of production facilities in the context of a digital factory,” Roland Arnold summarizes. The 59-year-old spokesman for the Schulz Engineering management board is taking a 20% stake in the acquisition of h-kon GmbH and will become managing partner of the new Schulz Group subsidiary. Roland Arnold had already successfully implemented several international projects in the field of large machinery and plant engineering with the h-kon team before joining Schulz Engineering as CEO in mid-2019. “I am delighted that h-kon is now part of our group of companies. We want to develop the company systematically and grow dynamically in business areas previously focused on by h-kon. We expect to benefit from synergies with Schulz Engineering, which will contribute employees as well as its know-how and the corresponding infrastructure to this project,” explains Roland Arnold with reference to the future integration of h-kon GmbH into the Schulz Group's Engineering division.

The previous owner of h-kon GmbH, Siegfried Haller, is also delighted with the deal: “It is now almost 15 years since the company was founded, and I am pleased that it is now being placed in such good hands. h-kon's expertise and its employees will both be able to develop very well in this new environment.” Siegfried Haller will remain with the company for the next three years. During the one-year transition phase, he will continue as CEO together with Roland Arnold, and later and until his retirement from active working life, he will be technical director.