With the acquisition of Willy Vogel AG, SKF has broadened and strengthened its product portfolio of lubrication systems. The Germany-based Vogel is a market-leading supplier of lubrication systems to industries such as machine tools, printing, automotive manufacturing, steel and wind mills, among others.

Vogel currently holds a unique position in the lubrication systems market in terms of strong engineering capability and knowledge of customizing lubrication systems.

“A deeper knowledge in lubrication is crucial in meeting the needs for increased service life, performance and r eliability of our products and solutions,” says Tom Johnstone, CEO of SKF, explaining part of the rationale behind the purchase. SKF currently supplies special greases, lubricators and lubrication-analysis services.

Vogel, which has manufacturing units in Germany, France, the United States and Japan, has annual sales of some 100 million euros. SKF’s sales in the lubrication systems area amount to 20 million euros annually.