Edmund Stoiber Attends Anniversary Celebrations - 100 Years FAG Brand - A Success Story

SCHWEINFURT, 29 July 2005. On its 100th anniversary, the FAG brand is stronger than ever. This was the unanimous feeling at the celebration of FAG Kugelfischer in Schweinfurt. Exactly 100 years after the registration of the brand name at the German Patent Office, Bavarian Prime Minister Dr. Edmund Stoiber offered his congratulations in person on this splendid anniversary. According to Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler, owner of the Schaeffler Group, the anniversary proves that the FAG brand has kept its performance promise throughout the century, representing a high degree of reliability and authenticity. ¡°FAG is an original that has provided ample evidence of its qualities,¡± Mrs. Schaeffler pointed out. She extended special thanks to the workforce,¡± since the success story of the FAG brand is also the story of all those generations who have worked for FAG.¡± Dr. J¨¹rgen M. Geißinger, President and CEO of the Schaeffler Group, emphasized that expectations arising from FAG¡¯s integration into the Schaeffler Group had been exceeded. ¡°INA and FAG complement each other perfectly, not only as far as products are concerned but also in terms of engineering expertise, manufacturing competence and global presence¡±. Geißinger considers these to be the best conditions for an excellent common future for the two brands FAG and INA. Robert Schullan, Chairman of Schaeffler Group Industrial headquartered in Schweinfurt, substantiated this evaluation with some of the latest product developments, among them X-life, the shared seal of quality of FAG and INA. ¡°The FAG brand stands for top German performance,¡± said Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber, praising innovative power and global presence. He underlined that the long-established company was one of the most important pillars of the regional labor market. In spite of increasing service orientation, industrial companies still played an important role Bavaria. In the political part of his address, the Premier advocated corporate alliances as well as the reduction of non-wage labor costs for companies. Stoiber thanked the company owners, management and employees for having kept FAG successfully on track for the last 100 years. Mayor Gudrun Grieser called FAG a ¡°fair-sized part of Schweinfurt¡±. With its excellent products FAG had co-established Schweinfurt¡¯s reputation as the world capital of the rolling bearing industry. Above all, however, she acknowledged FAG¡¯s importance as an employer for many generations. Works Council Chairman Norbert Lenhard also stressed this aspect in his address. Employees had always been proud to work for FAG and this single factor had made the excellent reputation of the FAG brand possible. Franz-Rudolph Esch, University Professor in Gießen and Director of the Institute for Brand and Communication Research, considers the success story of FAG a classic example of the great power of brands even in the field of so-called ¡°hidden world champions¡± such as rolling bearings. In particular traditional brands such as FAG represented trustworthiness and reliability among customers also in the industrial goods sector. Another traditional ¡°brand¡± of FAG ¨C the so-called Kugelfischer Choir directed by Adrian Micsa ¨C had taken care of the musical part at the celebration. The all-male choir will soon be able to look back on eighty years of history.