Froude Hofmann Company History

Froude Hofmann has been involved in prime mover testing ever since our founder William Froude invented the hydraulic dynamometer in 1877, and has developed from the originally named Heenan & Froude business. In parallel Froude Hofmann Prueftechnik evolved from the Kleinsorge Company which was formed in the late 1940's by Herr Kleinsorge, an entrepreneurial engineer previously engaged in design and development at the Junkers company, who acquired the rights to manufacture the "Junkers" smooth disc hydraulic dynamometer.

• 1877 - William Froude invented the hydraulic dynamometer
• 1881 - Heenan & Froude established to produce the first commercial dynamometers
• 1903 - Heenan & Froude moved to Worcester from Manchester and extended its product range to include equipment to test engines for ships, cars and aircraft.
• 1952 - The Kleinsorge company started production of roll test rigs.
• 1969 - Large order received from Volkswagen, Wolfsburg for over 30 roll test rigs. Gebr. Hofmann KG Maschinenfabrik, Elze was formed when the Kleinsorge company was acquired by Gebr. Hofmann KG Maschinenfabrik of Darmstadt.
• 1972 - Company name changed to Hofmann Prueftechnik GmbH
• 1976 - Consine Dynamics supply the first direct digital controlled, DC Chassis Dynamometer with full road load simulation.
• 1981 - Froude Engineering Ltd., operating from its own factory at Gregory's Bank, Worcester, celebrated its centenary.
• 1981 - Wegmann Group joined the Hofmann Group. This merger brought new technology and products to the Hofmann Group, in particular, automotive wheel alignment machines.
• 1983 - Consine Dynamics joined Froude Engineering Ltd. to form Froude Consine. This merger expanded the company product range to include 'state of the art' vehicle test chassis dynamometers with digital controllers.
• 1987 - Froude Consine joined the FKI plc organisation
• 1995 - Froude Consine relocated to modern facilities at Blackpole, Worcester.
• 1995 - FKI plc acquired Hofmann Prueftechnik and Brush Automotive Test Systems.
• 1998 - The Froude Consine Automatic Robot Driver awarded Millennium Product status by the British Design Council.
• 1998 - Froude Consine awarded Ford Q1 quality certification.
• 1999 - Froude Consine awarded Environmental certification of ISO 14001
• 1999 - New Detroit office opened.
• 2002 - Go Power Systems / Bennett Control products integrated into our Detroit operation.
• 2005 - Froude Hofmann becomes the sole global identity for the combined operations.
• 2007 - Froude Hofmann companies acquired by Harris Watson Holdings PLC
• 2008 - Froude Hofmann opens multiple offices across the globe providing global sales and service support for all Froude Hofmann products