Company
PFEIFER DRAKO develops and produces high performance ropes in top quality – and has done so for over 200 years. Our wire ropes are used in numerous applications such as elevators, ropeways, mining machines, drilling rigs, heavy industry plants, wind turbines, port cranes and revolving tower cranes as well as deep sea research. Beside our company headquarter in Mülheim an der Ruhr in Germany we manufacture wire ropes for the Chinese market at our plant in Changshu since more than ten years. In doing so, with help of our German engineering experts, we maintain the quality guidelines and standards of Germany. With Pfeifer DRAKO you are always in good hands.
Data & facts
PFEIFER DRAKO produces more than 25 Million meters wire rope per year
Sales network in more than 70 countries worldwide
More than 200 employees at our headquarter in Mülheim alone
Active in deep see research for more than 100 years
Seven of the ten tallest buildings in the world are equipped with ropes made by PFEIFER DRAKO
Quality
Certified Quality Management
The quality of our products and services is the base of our success. Quality is a key issue of the PFEIFER group.
Within the matrix certification of the whole PFEIFER group acc. to EN ISO 9001 the effectiveness of our Quality Management System and conformance with the rules of ISO 9001 are checked regularly by an independent, external authority.
The relevant environmental and energy conformities according to ISO 14001 and 50001 are checked regularly by an independent, external authority.
DIN EN ISO 9001:2015
PFEIFER company group policy
Our test service
The quality of our ropes is ensured in seven internal test laboratories. During examination, our experts use state-of-the-art equipment as well as most current QM and analysis-tools. Apart from standard examination we can offer individual examinations by customer demand. Empirical measurements
Rope lifetime
Rope elongation
Rope corrosion
Production-accompanying quality-control
Lubrication
Torsion
Ovality
Twisting
100%-examination at the end of production
Environment & Energy
DIN EN ISO 14001:2015
DIN EN ISO 50001:2018
PFEIFER company group policy
Service
We see ourselves not only as wire rope manufacturer, but as provider of solutions. We are thinking in system and we have a fitting solution for every challenge. A variety of logistical and technical experts are as advisor by your side.
Technical consulting
We gladly advise you on questions about application for elevators, industry and mining.
Consultation on the selection of the right wire ropes, rope terminations and chains
Consultation on the maintenance and handling of wire ropes
Consultation on service life of wire ropes
Consultation on wire rope elongation
Simplified order handling / automated Supply Chain (EDI)
Beside the common ways of order processing (Fax/Telephone/Mail) with your individual contact partner in our Customer Care department you can connect your ERP-System via EDI to ours and thus realize automated order processing.
Storage
In order to quickly deliver your needed goods, we store on 10.000 square meters stock continuously:
Elevator ropes
Wire rope accessories
Compensation chains
Care products for wire ropes
Maintenance equipment
Individual Logistic solutions (customer specific packaging, marking and labeling)
Demand-actuated rope end connections (serial and/or individual solutions)
Individual concepts to reduce freight costs
HISTORY
1810
Foundation of the hemp-ropery Kocks, manual production of natural fibre ropes for the Ruhr-shipping (the greatest coalfleet of Prussia can be found in Muelheim during that time in which the Ruhr is the river with the densest traffic all over Europe).
1834
Inventation of the steel wire rope by Oberbergrat Albert at Clausthal in Germany 1834 Kocks now also produces steel wire ropes besides and the hemp ropes, especially for coal mining in the later Ruhr area (at appr. 1840 the first deep mining shaft was sunk at Essen).
1860 – 1888
Introduction of ropes with Seale, Warington and Filler strand constructions
1860 – 1914
Steady enlargement of the Kocks factory and development to an efficient mechanical ropery. Production of shaft mining hoist ropes for the coal mines and of the steel wire ropes for the industry, fishing and shipping.
Production of traction elevator ropes; today worldwide application in highrise buildings as well as in fun- and television towers - a. o. in Dortmund, Hamburg, Frankfurt; Rotterdam, Seattle, Vancouver, Montreal, Monaco, Johannesburg, Beirut, Hongkong, Buenos Aires
1936
The API-licence for the use of the API brand was given to Kocks by the American Petroleum Institute as the first German ropery.
1976 – 1980
Foundation of independent rope service- and trading centres in the Saarland, in Luxemburg, in England and in the Netherlands
1994
The PFEIFER group with its headquarters in Memmingen/Germany takes over Kocks.
1997 – 1999
The Gustav Kocks steel wire ropery equips some of the world’s tallest buildings with elevator ropes: the Television Tower in Moscow (537 metres), the Petronas Tower in Kuala Lumpur (450 metres), the Sears Tower in Chicago (443 metres) and the towers of the World Trade Center in New York with its tragic history (up to 417 metres)
2002 – 2007
Continuing expansion of the international sales organization, e.g. in Spain, Poland, Russia, Dubai and China
2007
Strategic reorientation with establishment of the both business units of “elevator products” and “mining and industry” Relocation of the administration and the business unit of elevator products from Mühlenberg to Rheinstraße. The business unit of mining and industry is concentrated in Tunnelstraße.
2008
Change of the company name into PFEIFER DRAKO Drahtseilwerk GmbH & Co. KG Establishment of a production site in Changshu, China as the first production facility outside Germany
2013
Largest investment in the history of PFEIFER DRAKO. The new cage-type stranding machine, equipped with state-of-the-art mechanical, control and sensory components, goes into production at the Tunnelstraße location in Mülheim
2014
PFEIFER DRAKO produces the longest wire rope in the company’s history with a single length of 12,400 m, with which the new research ship “Sonne” is equipped