What Tas Schafer Gmbh does

TAS Schäfer GmbH is a German precision mechanical components manufacturer founded in 1961 and headquartered in Wetter (Ruhr), North Rhine-Westphalia. The company specializes in shaft-hub connections, also known as friction-locking connections, used to transmit torque, axial forces, and bending moments between shafts and hubs in industrial drive systems. Its product portfolio spans mechanical shrink discs, two-part torque-controlled and displacement-controlled shrink discs, three-part shrink discs, hydraulic shrink discs (its global benchmark segment), locking assemblies (cone clamping elements), rigid flange couplings, rigid shaft couplings, adapter flanges, and friction springs / industrial buffers. Transmittable torque across the portfolio ranges from 11Nm to approximately 3.36 million Nm, with nominal diameters from 6mm to 1000mm, addressing applications from precision machinery to heavy-duty wind, marine, and hydropower installations.

The company sells exclusively to industrial B2B customers through a direct, engineering-led sales model. Customer engagement is collaborative: in-house engineering provides technical consulting and works with buyers' engineering teams to develop customized, application-oriented solutions. The GTM motion is enterprise field sales with no disclosed distributor or reseller network except for the IMTEC partnership in Australia. Manufacturing is centralized at the company's Wetter facility, certified to DIN ISO 9001:2015 by DNV GL, with a proprietary raw material warehouse enabling short worldwide delivery times. The company is a family business in its third generation, privately held with no external investors or parent company, and more than 75 percent of revenue is exported.

TAS Schäfer serves a horizontal set of industrial verticals including wind power, paper, marine, mechanical engineering, conveying and crushing, mixing and process technology, hydropower, food and chemical, oil and gas, wood, and packaging. Marketing is primarily B2B industrial: technical content, industry journal features, LinkedIn and YouTube presence, a technical glossary, and CAD data and downloadable catalogs on the company website. No software products, APIs, or AI/ML capabilities are offered; the value proposition centers on mechanical performance, ease of assembly and disassembly, reliability, and customization.

Name

Tas Schafer Gmbh

Legal name

TAS Schäfer GmbH

Website

https://tas-schaefer.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1961

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

TAS Schäfer GmbH is a third-generation German family-owned manufacturer of precision friction-locking shaft-hub connection components, including hydraulic shrink discs, locking assemblies, and couplings, serving industrial B2B customers across wind, marine, paper, and heavy machinery globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mechanical Power Transmission Components

NAICS

Mechanical Power Transmission Equipment Manufacturing (333613), Bolt, Nut, Screw, Rivet, and Washer Manufacturing (332722)

SIC

Bolts, Nuts, Screws, Rivets & Washers (3452)

akta.pro primary industry

Linear Motion & Mechanical Power Transmission (Ball/roller screws, linear guides, bearings, couplings) (IMAHAGAM)

Keywords

• Shaft-hub connections
• Shrink discs
• Locking assemblies
• Flange couplings
• Drive technology components

Headquarters

HQ city

Wetter

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Precision Mechanical Components Sales: One-time sales of precision shaft-hub connection components including shrink discs, locking assemblies, flange couplings, shaft couplings, adapter flanges, and friction springs. Products are customized solutions developed in collaboration with customers. The company maintains its own raw material warehouse to ensure short delivery times worldwide.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

TAS Schäfer GmbH manufactures precision mechanical components for shaft-hub connections (friction-locking connections) used in industrial drive technology. Its product portfolio includes mechanical and hydraulic shrink discs, locking assemblies, flange couplings, shaft couplings, adapter flanges, and friction springs/industrial buffers. Products transmit torque (from 11Nm up to 3,356,000Nm) between shafts and hubs across shaft diameters from 6mm to 1000mm.

Product overview

TAS Schäfer GmbH offers a comprehensive portfolio of precision mechanical components for shaft-hub connections in drive technology. The core product line includes shrink discs (available in 2-part torque-controlled, 2-part displacement-controlled, 3-part, and hydraulic variants), locking assemblies (spanning 3003/3006/3012/3014/3015/3020/4006/8006/110/130/131 series), flange couplings (FK/FKB/FKS/FKBS/FKH series), shaft couplings (W/WLA/WLB/WK series), adapter flanges (AFS/AF-12/AF-22/AF-23 series), and friction springs/industrial buffers (RF series with IPA 1-4 buffers). These friction-locked connection components transmit torques, axial forces, and bending moments between shafts and hubs across applications in wind power, drive technology, marine, materials handling, mixing, process engineering, and hydropower. All products are manufactured in-house at their Wetter, Germany facility with ISO 9001:2015 certification.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Shrink Discs (Schrumpfscheiben) Friction-locked shaft-hub connections used to attach hollow shafts or hubs to shafts without backlash. Available in 2-part (torque-controlled and displacement-controlled), 3-part, and hydraulic variants for rapid clamping via oil pressure. For industrial drive technology applications.
• Locking Assemblies (Spannsätze) Internally clamping frictional connecting elements (cone clamping elements) for backlash-free fastening of hubs on shafts. Transmittable torque from 11Nm to 1,870,000Nm, nominal diameters from 6mm to 800mm. Available in compliant and rigid designs with self-centering and self-locking properties.
• Flange Couplings FK & FKB (Flanschkupplungen) Rigid flange couplings for connecting two shaft ends, consisting of two flange halves paired with shrink discs. Transmittable torque from 830Nm to 2,742,000Nm, nominal diameters from 38mm to 500mm. Separable at flanges for simplified assembly.
• Shaft Couplings W, WLA, WLB, WK (Wellenkupplungen) Rigid shaft couplings with compact design for safe and clearance-free connection of two shaft ends. Transmittable torque from 80Nm to 1,513,000Nm, shaft diameters from 10mm to 420mm.
• Adapter Flanges AFS, AF-12, AF-22, AF-23 (Adapterflansche) External clamping elements for secure and backlash-free connection of disc-shaped attachments such as brake discs and pulleys. Transmittable torque from 20Nm to 426,000Nm, shaft diameters from 11mm to 1000mm. Include push-off threads for easy disassembly.
• Friction Springs RF / Industrial Buffers IPA (Reibungsfedern) Safety components that absorb sudden forces and kinetic energy. High spring work with low weight and volume, overload-safe in block position, maintenance-free, with approximately two-thirds of introduced energy converted to friction damping. Available as individual units or complete industrial buffers in IPA 1, IPA 2, IPA 3, and IPA 4 series.

Quantifiable outcome

• Hydraulic shrink disc clamping time reduced from hours to minutes using oil pressure technology
• +2 more outcomes

Segments11 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• IMTEC (Australia)regionalChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnership with IMTEC in Australia representing TAS Schäfer products in the Australian market. IMTEC featured as distributor/service partner for TAS Schäfer technology in the Asia-Pacific region.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• R+W Antriebselemente: Manufacturer of precision couplings and torque transmission components including metal bellows and elastomer couplings—overlapping with TAS Schäfer's shaft couplings and flange couplings portfolio.
• Ringfeder Power Transmission: German-headquartered global manufacturer of shaft-hub connection systems including shrink discs, locking assemblies, and friction springs—the most direct competitor to TAS Schäfer's core product portfolio across similar OEM and end-user segments.
• Jakob Antriebstechnik: German manufacturer of metallic servo couplings and drive components targeting similar precision industrial customers, with comparable engineering-focused B2B sales motion and Made-in-Germany heritage.
• KTR Systems: German manufacturer of drive technology components including couplings, clamping sets, and torque limiters—adjacent in shaft-hub connections and overlaps in flange/shaft couplings and locking assemblies for industrial machinery.
• Hainbuch (Hainbuch GmbH): German clamping and workholding specialist producing clamping devices, mandrels, and centering elements that compete with TAS Schäfer's locking assemblies in mechanical engineering and drive applications.
• Mayr Power Transmission: German maker of safety clutches, safety brakes, and torque limiters serving similar high-power industrial applications (wind, machine tools, drive technology), sharing the Mittelstand engineering-driven business model.
• Sitra (Sitra S.p.A.): Italian manufacturer of shrink discs, locking assemblies, and shaft-hub connections directly competing in the same product categories across European industrial OEM and wind energy customers.
• Stüwe (Hermann Stüwe GmbH & Co. KG): German specialist in shrink discs, locking assemblies, and shaft-hub connections with comparable torque ranges and a similar Mittelstand, Made-in-Germany positioning—directly overlapping with TAS Schäfer in mechanical engineering and drive technology customers.

Broad incumbents

• Timken (Lovejoy / Couplings): Global bearings and power transmission company with Lovejoy coupling products competing in industrial shaft connections, but operating at substantially larger scale and with broader mechanical component coverage.
• Regal Rexnord: Large US-listed industrial group with broad power transmission portfolio including couplings, gearing, and bearings—competes with TAS Schäfer in industrial drive customers but at much greater scale and with a wider product breadth.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@TASSCHAFERGmbH
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tas-sch%C3%A4fer-gmbh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Tas Schafer Gmbh