ZF Electronics
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- Uwe Coßmann, Managing Director
- Harald Deiß, Managing Director
- Willi Günther Seitz, Managing Director
ZF Electronics GmbH (formerly "Cherry GmbH" ), headquartered in Auerbach in der Oberpfalz was a manufacturer of PC peripherals, switches and sensors. The company was from July 2008 to ZF Friedrichshafen AG. After the legal merger of ZF Electronics GmbH, ZF Friedrichshafen AG as of 1 August 2011, the former Cherry units have been integrated into the Industrial Technology Division of the ZF Group. Meanwhile, a merger with the parent company ZF Friedrichshafen AG is displayed in the commercial register.
- 3.1 Common Cherry MX switch
History
The company was founded in 1953 by Walter Cherry in the United States. In 1963, the German branch was established in 1979, eventually moving also the headquarters to Germany. With production facilities in Europe, America, Asia, and worldwide sales offices and distribution partners, operates the "Cherry Corporation " companies in the automotive, appliance and computer industries. Cherry manufactures computer keyboards since 1967 and claims to be the oldest active keyboard manufacturers worldwide.
In 2007, Cherry had approximately 3,100 employees and generated sales of 250 million euros. From its headquarters in Auerbach from the branch factory in Bayreuth district Wolfbach was supervised with about 200 employees. This work was newly built in 1995 and combines the two previous Bayreuth works in a building complex. Primarily assemblies for the automotive industry are injection molded in Wolf creek. Production in Germany includes components from the automotive, information technology, home appliances, electrical and mechanical engineering.
End of July 2008 the company was acquired by automotive supplier ZF Friedrichshafen. The company was then renamed "ZF Electronics GmbH " and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the ZF Group.
In July 2011, the merger took place with ZF Friedrichshafen AG.
Divisions
Computer Input Devices
Cherry is known primarily as a manufacturer of input keyboards. The integration of magnetic and smart card readers and biometric fingerprint sensors Special keyboards arose for applications in the fields of health, security, Point of Sale ( PoS). 2006 recorded the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) with the Smart Terminal ST-2000 after the SmartBoard G83 -6700 ( 2 keyboard with serial reader ) and the SmartBoard G83- 6744 ( USB keyboard with USB smart card reader) the third product from Cherry with the Common Criteria certification. Cherry develops its products in collaboration with AuthenTec, Gemalto or Bromba.
Cherry enjoys with its higher quality mechanical keyboards an excellent reputation among computer - heavy users, because the keyboards are considered to be very durable and reliable and offer a good typing feel. Several other keyboard manufacturers ( inter alia, Razer, Topre and " The Keyboard" ) block in their own keyboards by Cherry Switch.
Automotive
In the field of automotive applications in the areas of body, comfort, safety and powertrain are produced. This includes switch and sensor solutions for the automobile. Of the approximately 15 million cars that are built annually in Western Europe, about 80 percent contain products from Cherry. Since 1997, the revenue of the Automotive has tripled and contributes about 50 percent of total revenue from Cherry.
Switches and Controls
Touch Controls based on infrared technology, electronic rotary switch or mechanical precision microswitches found in washing machines, dryers, dishwashers and electric ovens and ceramic hobs use.
Cherry- MX- switch
Cherry MX is next to ALPS and IBM buckling spring switches, the most common variant of micro switches in mechanical keyboards. Cherry MX switches were invented in the early 1980s and patented ( patent US4467160. ). They are available in various designs, which are usually named after their color and to distinguish themselves by their actuation and the necessary actuation force. The most common versions are black and red (linear ) and Brown and Blue ( tactile). Upon actuation of a tactile switch, a resistor must be overcome halfway, the reports back tactile feedback. Some species still possess, in addition to a movable carriage which is responsible for triggering the typical click- sound. The MX -Green switches offer the strongest tactile and audible feedback, and were compared with the buckling spring switches from the IBM Model M. The lifetime is specified by manufacturer 50 million keystrokes, which would mean at a prolific writer with 100 stops the minute, eight- hour day, 250 working days, for the most used button "E" more than 20 years service life.
Common Cherry MX switch
Awards
In 2008, the plant in Bayreuth was awarded the Bavarian Quality Award 2008 for corporate quality in production companies in the industry. In late 2006 the company was awarded the Automotive Lean Production Award of the industry business magazine automobile production. 2005, the jury of industry competition Industrial Excellence Award the prize for the best factory in Europe, Cherry GmbH in Auerbach.