From a cigar manufacturer to an innovative sought-after automotive supplier worldwide - the Dr. Schneider Unternehmensgruppe has written an impressive success story over the past 95 years. A history that is characterized by foresight, courage and a sense of community and unites the entrepreneurial family as well as employees.
With the foundation of a cigar factory in Wilhelmsthal (Bavaria) in 1927, Franz Schneider Senior laid the starting point for the family business, which today operates internationally. About a decade later, in 1936, he decided to give his flourishing business a second mainstay. He entered the field of plastics production by processing the novel material bakelite, thereby demonstrating extraordinary foresight. A short time later, this decision proved to be absolutely right.
When Dr. Franz Schneider, son of the company founder, joined the company in 1955, the production of cigars was stopped. From then on, the company concentrated exclusively on the processing of plastic, where the first contacts to the automotive industry were established. For the customers Daimler and Ford, Dr. Schneider produced ashtrays that were integrated into instrument panels.
In the decades that followed, the automotive supplier experienced an unexpected upswing under the pioneering spirit of Dr. Franz Schneider. In 1959, the family business with its 40 employees moved from Rosenau in Kronach to Neuses, a district of Kronach, where the company's main plant was built and from which all worldwide activities are still managed today.
With the increasing importance of plastic components in the automotive industry, Dr. Schneider experienced a dynamic upswing in the 1970s and 1980s: In the district of Kronach, a branch was established in Nordhalben (Bavaria), which was later relocated to the neighboring town of Tschirn (Bavaria). In 1973 the founding of the first international subsidiary in Valencia/Picassent (Spain) marked the beginning of globalization.
With the fall of the inner-German border, a third production plant in Germany was established in Judenbach (Thuringia). At the end of the 1990s, the Dr. Schneider Unternehmensgruppe established two sites in Poland, which are now joined together in the Radomierz (Poland) plant. Shortly afterwards, branches followed in Michigan (USA) and Bratislava (Slovakia).
For the global company, the bond with the region continues to play an important role. Social responsibility for the region, people and environment is firmly anchored in the company's philosophy.
The family business, which now has around 1,800 employees, is now in its third generation.
The automotive supplier headquartered in Kronach-Neuses is continuing its internationalization strategy: With a production plant in Liaoyang (China), it has succeeded in gaining access to the Asian market after the turn of the millennium.
In the automotive industry, Dr. Schneider has developed into a world market leader in ventilation systems and window frame trims for vehicle interiors. The company produces at seven locations worldwide: Always where the customer needs it.
The mobility of the future provides completely new challenges to the interior and thus also to the Dr. Schneider Unternehmensgruppe. The automotive world is becoming smarter and more autonomous - the interior specialists of Dr. Schneider have already developed solutions for this:
They combine innovative product techniques with intelligent surface technologies, smart functions and individual lighting scenarios - always with the focus on excellence. The functional vehicle interior is transforming into a work and living space that adapts optimally to the wishes and needs of the occupants.
Recently, the full-service supplier has gone one step further: it combines plastics with electronics - all from a single source. By means of the newly founded Dr. Schneider EMS GmbH in Kronach (Bavaria), innovative electronic interior components for the automotive world of tomorrow are created. And thus make the car the best place in the world.
