Supplier Page - Sumitomo

http://www.sumitomodriveeurope.com/

The Sumitomo group companies are one of the largest in Japan and their diverse range of products includes the manufacture of iron and steel, machinery, metal, mining, ceramics, real estate and commerce. Today Sumitomo employs 267,000 people worldwide and has an annual turnover of almost $400 billion.

Founded in the first half of the 16th century by Masatomo Sumitomo, a medicine and bookshop owner, Sumitomo still adheres to a business philosophy set out 400 years ago.

Integrity, sound management and a warning against the pursuit of easy gains have stood each company in good stead and made them collectively one of the five largest business conglomerates in the world.

Sumitomo still utilise the distinctive ‘igeta’ symbol as their emblem in a mark of respect to Masatomo Sumitomo, who used it on the family shop in the late 16th century. It symbolises a frame placed around a well in old Japan. Sumitomo Drive Technologies' clients appreciate a worldwide back-up for their unique products.

Lorenz Braren invented the Cyclo gearbox and founded Cyclo Getriebebau GmbH in Munich, Germany, in 1931. He rewrote engineering history when he was granted a patent for his invention, which introduced a totally new concept in speed reduction.

The Cyclo is a speed reducer without a high speed pinion or gear teeth; it does not operate in shear but in compression. This means that users of Cyclo speed reducers enjoy a valuable benefit - no catastrophic failure. Following World War II Lorenz Braren continued to perfect the Cyclo gearbox until he died in 1953, at the age of 67.

In 1974 Sumitomo Heavy Industries, one of the largest manufacturers of machinery in Japan, acquired an interest in Cyclo Getriebebau GmbH. In 1994 Sumitomo bought the German company outright and in 1996 the company began to gradually develop the market place in Europe.

Sumitomo Drive Technologies - Europe now employs more than 300 people who manufacture and market a complete line of speed reducers and mechanical and electrical variable speed drives.