Stihl

Progress based on tradition. The basic values of STIHL's company culture have grown historically and evolved over a long period. STIHL has reached its leading position on world markets with a company philosophy formulated for the long term. The continuity in company management and the personal commitment of the owner family are guarantees for the future, too. STIHL is well equipped for future challenges with its strict customer focus, competitive quality products, innovative strength and international positioning. German engineer Andreas Stihl designs a prototype of an electric "cross-cutting chain saw," marking the founding of the company that would bear his name. Stihl begins selling the first gasoline chain saw, called the "Stihl tree-felling machine." Andreas Stihl's son, Hans Peter, takes over as head of the company. Stihl gains 100 percent ownership of Viking GmbH, an Austrian maker of lawn and garden power equipment. Hans Peter Stihl steps down as chairman of the management board, although he continues to head the advisory board; Harald J. Joos becomes the first nonfamily member to head the company. Based in Waiblingen, Germany, Andreas Stihl AG & Co. KG is one of the world's leading manufacturers of chain saws. The Stihl product line also features a variety of other outdoor power tools, including brushcutters, edgers, trimmers, leaf blowers, earth augers, power washers and sprayers, and wet-and-dry vacuum cleaners. The firm's Viking line of garden equipment encompasses shredders, lawn mowers and tractors, grass and hedge trimmers, blowers, and rototillers. In addition, Stihl offers lines of accessories that include protective workwear, such as hard hats, safety glasses, and safety boots, and the Stihl Timbersports Collection, which includes apparel for such outdoor activities as hiking and other items such as backpacks, knives, and binoculars. Stihl (pronounced precisely like the metal "steel") operates seven manufacturing plants in Germany and five abroad in Switzerland, Brazil, the United States (in Virginia Beach, Virginia), China, and Austria (where the Viking line is produced). The company maintains marketing subsidiaries in 29 countries worldwide, and its products are sold in more than 160 countries through a network of 35,000 dealer-servicers. Foreign sales accounted for more than 87 percent of Stihl's 2002 revenues. The company's largest single market is the United States, where the Stihl Incorporated subsidiary generates about 30 percent of sales. Stihl's history of innovation, which includes numerous advances in the development of the chain saw, is shown by the company having received or applied for more than 1,000 patents worldwide by the early 2000s. An engineer, Andreas Stihl nonetheless began his career as a salesman for a German mill and industrial supply house during the 1920s. Stihl's work brought him in contact with loggers in the Black Forest, where the felling and bucking of trees was done with stationary saws or by hand, and the larger pieces of timber needed to be transported to saw mills for cutting. Stihl sought to introduce more modern methods to the logging trade. In 1925, Stihl opened a small workshop in his home in Stuttgart and began designing a portable "tree-felling machine." The Stihl workshop manufactured a number of other products, including forehearths for steam boilers, in order to support these efforts. But by 1926, Stihl was ready with his first prototype, a 140-pound electric "cross-cutting chain saw." The saw's bulk required it to be operated by two people, and its reliance on an electric motor limited its portability to areas where a power source was available. Stihl set to work creating a lighter, gasoline-driven saw. Nonetheless, the electric saw found its market, with 50 units sold in 1927. In that year, Stihl opened his first factory in Stuttgart. The following year, as sales of the electric saw reached 100, the company opened a sales office for northern Germany. St