ZF has opened its new headquarters in Friedrichshafen in a ceremony attended by Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister, Winfried Kretschmann and chairman of the supervisory board, Professor Giorgio Behr.
The building, dubbed ‘ZF Forum,’ offers a combination of offices for up to 700 employees, a training centre and an exhibition on the past, present and future of ZF. The exhibition is open to the public at certain times.
“The automotive industry is facing the most radical transformation in its 130-year history,” said ZF CEO, Stefan Sommer. “Not only is the technology changing fast, but also is the way in which we work.
“The ZF Forum helps make the world of work at ZF more digital, more efficient and more flexible. With this building, we can now offer our employees state-of-the-art offices. On top of that, we provide the general public and our customers with insights into our company and our vision of mobility of the future.”
The ZF Forum took three-and-a-half years to build, with the groundbreaking ceremony held in February, 2013. ZF has invested more than EUR90m (US$96m) in the building designed by Stuttgart-based architect, Professor Wolfgang Kergassner.
It comprises offices, an exhibition space on the ground floor, a conference level, an auditorium seating 350 and a staff restaurant.
In addition, the ZF Forum provides rooms for the Knowledge Workshop (Wissenswerkstatt) Friedrichshafen, a teaching and learning facility for children and youngsters, as well as the Students’ Research Centre South Württemberg (SFZ).
