Waiblingen, 14.10.2024 | Corporate Press Release
Cinq décennies d'expertise en matière de fabrication à l'échelle mondiale
STIHL products can be purchased in over 160 countries around the world. Over the decades, the Swabian family business has not only built up a close-knit sales network around the globe, but has also set up international production sites. Today, STIHL equipment and components are manufactured in seven countries on four continents. Two of its international production companies will celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2024: STIHL Inc. in the USA and STIHL Kettenwerk in Switzerland.
Regardless of whether a STIHL tool is manufactured in America, Asia, or Europe, the same high standards of quality apply everywhere. STIHL produces all of the key components itself, including die-cast parts, cylinders, slides, and saw chains, as part of a global manufacturing network. From 2025, the company will also manufacture EC motors for cordless power tools at its headquarters in Waiblingen. This will make STIHL the only manufacturer in the world to develop and produce its own engines, slides, and a wide range of saw chains.
By 1971, STIHL had become the best-selling chainsaw brand in the world. Hans Peter Stihl, son of the company founder, kept pushing forward with the internationalization of the company’s production and sales structure. The company first began manufacturing outside Germany in 1973, with the launch of a production site in Brazil. Shortly afterwards, STIHL founded production companies in Switzerland and the USA. Today, STIHL also has plants in Austria, China, and the Philippines. As demand increased and the product portfolio grew, the production plants were also gradually expanded. The latest addition to the production network is a new plant in Romania, which will be home to a new battery production facility and is set to commence operations in 2025.
50 years of precision work in Switzerland
Kettenwerk’s success story began in 1974 with the assembly of chainsaws in Wil, St. Gallen canton, Switzerland. Having started out with two assembly lines and six employees working on the rented premises of a tire dealer, the company has expanded into a plant with around 1,000 employees spread across Wil and Bronschhofen today. It now manufactures roughly 30 different hedge trimmer blades and over 70 different types of saw chains and exports them worldwide. If all the chains produced over the past 50 years were strung together and pointed upwards, they would reach all the way to the Moon and beyond.
STIHL Advisory Board and Supervisory Board Chairman Dr. Nikolas Stihl spoke on behalf of the Stihl family and the STIHL Executive Board on the Group’s 50th anniversary, saying: “STIHL Kettenwerk in Switzerland is an essential part of our international manufacturing network. Its extensive expertise gives the entire STIHL Group a competitive edge that should not be underestimated. All Kettenwerk employees have contributed towards its lasting success. Their commitment, expertise, experience, and willingness to undergo training and further education, coupled with efficient production techniques, entrepreneurial thinking, and innovative products, still form the strong foundation of the plant to this day.”
50 years of “Made in America”
Also founded in 1974, American subsidiary STIHL Inc. is now the STIHL Group’s largest production facility. In the early days, the 50 employees on the Virginia Beach site assembled around 12,000 saws a year. Today, STIHL Inc. manufactures 100 models of the Group’s gasoline-powered and battery-powered chainsaws and appliances. By the end of the year, more than 100 million appliances will have been manufactured in the factory over the last few decades. STIHL is one of the largest private employers in coastal Virginia, with more than 2,700 employees. The US remains STIHL’s biggest single market, accounting for around one-third of sales.
Dr. Nikolas Stihl: “STIHL’s remarkable success story in the US reflects the hard work and dedication of all our employees and our dealers and importers. On behalf of my family and the STIHL Executive Board, I would like to express my gratitude. It’s no wonder that STIHL has been the best-selling brand for gasoline-powered and battery-powered hand-held garden tools among professional users in the US for many years.”
