Ferchau

Engineering and IT Servicesferchau.com

FERCHAU is a German engineering and IT services provider operating across 130+ European branches with around 10,000 employees, delivering project-based engineering, staff augmentation, freelancer contracting, and executive search to automotive, aerospace, plant engineering, and IT clients.

Company typePrivate
Founded1966
HeadquartersGummersbach, Germany
Headcount5,001–10,000
GTM typeB2B
OfferingServices

What Ferchau does

FERCHAU GmbH is a German engineering and IT services provider founded in 1966 and headquartered in Gummersbach. The company delivers technology services across more than 130 European branches under four service lines: COMPETENCE (project teams delivering engineering and IT projects under work or service contracts), SUPPORT (staff augmentation providing qualified engineering and IT professionals to client teams on demand), CONTRACT (curated freelancer network for mission-critical technology projects), and DIRECT (executive and professional search using competency-based interviews and the INSIGHTS MDI psychometric assessment). It also operates FERCHAU SERVICES for third-party management of external personnel.

The company serves eight primary verticals — Automotive, Aerospace & Defence, Plant Engineering, IT, Marine, Pharma & Life Science, Public Sector, and Mechanical Engineering — plus Telecommunications & Media. Specialized units include FERCHAU Automotive (electrics/electronics, product development, production engineering, software) and FERCHAU Aerospace & Defence (end-to-end development for air, space, and defense programs), backed by wholly-owned subsidiaries RST (Rostock) and planting for plant engineering. A digital customer portal, FERCHAU relaX, centralizes personnel procurement, project tracking, and invoicing across service lines.

FERCHAU reports approximately €945 million in annual revenue, with a workforce of around 10,000 employees, a freelancer network of over 54,000, and a candidate pool exceeding 200,000. The company is owner-managed by founder Frank Ferchau (no external institutional investment disclosed), holds ISO 9001 certification, and has been recognized as a top employer in multiple European markets. Operating geographies include Germany, Austria, France, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Ferchau firmographics

Firmographics

Name: Ferchau
Legal name: FERCHAU GmbH
Website: https://ferchau.com
Company type: Private
Founded year: 1966
Operating status: Operating
Headcount range: 5,001–10,000 employees
Short description: FERCHAU is a German engineering and IT services provider operating across 130+ European branches with around 10,000 employees, delivering project-based engineering, staff augmentation, freelancer contracting, and executive search to automotive, aerospace, plant engineering, and IT clients.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Where Ferchau is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Gummersbach
HQ country: Germany
HQ region: Europe

Offices16 records

Markets served

Ferchau business model

Business model

GTM type: B2B
Offering type: Services
Cost components: Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

Project-Based Engineering Services (COMPETENCE): Complete project delivery through expert teams for engineering and IT projects, including work contracts (Werkverträge) and service contracts (Dienstverträge).
Staffing and Personnel Services (SUPPORT): Provision of qualified engineering and IT experts to supplement customer teams during peak periods, capacity bottlenecks, or specialized projects.
Freelancer Contracting (CONTRACT): Network of carefully selected freelancers providing technology contracting services for mission-critical projects.
Professional and Executive Search (DIRECT): Headhunting services for specialized professionals and executives, including competency-based interviews and psychometric assessments.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Ferchau product offering

Product offering

Core offering

FERCHAU provides engineering and IT services to corporate clients across Europe through four delivery models: project-based engineering teams (COMPETENCE), staff augmentation with on-demand experts (SUPPORT), curated freelancer contracting (CONTRACT), and executive/professional search (DIRECT). The company supplements these services with third-party personnel management (SERVICES) and a digital portal (FERCHAU relaX) for managing personnel requests and tracking project execution.

Product overview

FERCHAU is a technology services company offering a unified portfolio of Engineering and IT services across four core delivery models: COMPETENCE (project solutions with expert teams), SUPPORT (experts on demand for client teams), CONTRACT (freelancer contracting), and DIRECT (executive/professional search with aptitude diagnostics). Additional offerings include SERVICES (third-party management) and the relaX digital portal for centralized service access. The company operates specialized units for Automotive and Aerospace & Defence, serving industries including Plant Engineering, Marine, IT, Pharma & Life Science, Public Sector, Retail & E-Commerce, Telecommunications & Media, Energy, Finance, Construction, and Logistics across over 130 branches in Europe.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

FERCHAU relaX: Digital portal for customers to manage all personnel requirements from procurement through commissioning and tracking of project-relevant information.
FERCHAU Easy Pay

Products and services

FERCHAU COMPETENCE

Quantifiable outcome

60 years of experience since 1966
+2 more outcomes

Companies that use Ferchau

Customer profile

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Ferchau technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature1 record

Ferchau partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

INSIGHTS MDIcoreTechnology or IntegrationFERCHAU DIRECT uses INSIGHTS MDI psychometric assessment tool as part of their competency-based interview process. This personality analysis provides insights into candidates' behavioral preferences, motives, and motivators in professional contexts. The tool has Cronbach's alpha between 0.7 and 0.87 across six scales, meeting scientific reliability standards.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Ferchau competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Direct peers

AKKA Technologies: European engineering and technology consulting firm (now part of Capgemini) offering staff augmentation, project engineering, and digital services across automotive, aerospace, and industrial clients. Strongly comparable business model and customer base.
Bertrandt: German engineering services provider with deep automotive OEM relationships and a comparable mix of project development, staff augmentation, and IT services across Europe. Most direct comparable given overlap with FERCHAU's primary verticals.
Hays: UK-listed specialist recruitment and workforce solutions provider with large German and European operations in engineering and IT, closely overlapping FERCHAU's SUPPORT/CONTRACT/DIRECT service lines.
Brunel International: Global specialist in engineering, technical, and IT staffing with strong presence in the Netherlands, Germany, and broader Europe. Closely comparable in CONTRACT/SUPPORT-style freelancer and staff augmentation services.
EDAG Engineering: German engineering services provider focused on automotive, aerospace, and industrial customers, offering project-based engineering solutions and staff augmentation analogous to FERCHAU's COMPETENCE and SUPPORT lines.
Alten: French-headquartered engineering and IT services group operating across Europe with similar staff augmentation and project delivery models. Competes head-to-head in automotive and aerospace verticals.

Broad incumbents

Capgemini Engineering: Global engineering and R&D services arm of Capgemini (incorporating the former Altran) — much larger incumbent competing in similar verticals with broader digital and IT services capabilities.
SEGULA Technologies: French engineering services group with pan-European footprint in automotive, aerospace, energy, and rail. Broader geographic and end-market reach than FERCHAU but highly comparable service mix.

Others

Avanade (Accenture/Microsoft JV): Large IT services and digital transformation provider; relevant adjacency given FERCHAU's IT services horizontal and growing digital transformation practice, though not a direct engineering staffing competitor.

Regional players

GFT Technologies: German IT services and digital transformation provider serving financial services, insurance, and industry — overlapping with FERCHAU's IT services horizontal but with a different vertical mix.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Ferchau compliance and trust

Trust signal

Compliance1 record

Ferchau financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Ferchau leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Ferchau subsidiaries and ownership

Company hierarchy

Subsidiaries1 record

Ferchau funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Ferchau M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ferchau

What does Ferchau do?

Is Ferchau a public or private company?

Ferchau is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.

When was Ferchau founded?

Ferchau was founded in 1966. It employs 5,001 to 10,000 people.

Where is Ferchau based?

Ferchau is headquartered in Gummersbach, Germany, in the Europe region.

How does Ferchau make money?

Four revenue lines are on record. Project-Based Engineering Services (COMPETENCE) is the primary driver. The others are staffing and Personnel Services (SUPPORT), freelancer Contracting (CONTRACT) and professional and Executive Search (DIRECT).

Who are Ferchau's main competitors?

Direct peers on record are AKKA Technologies, Bertrandt, Hays, Brunel International, EDAG Engineering and Alten. Broad incumbents are Capgemini Engineering and SEGULA Technologies. Avanade (Accenture/Microsoft JV) is listed as an others. GFT Technologies is listed as a regional player.

Does Ferchau have an API?

No public API is recorded for Ferchau.