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Development of the business and technical milestones
1873 Founding of the Augsburg plant by Johann Renk.
1897 Conversion into a joint stock company trading as "Zahnräderfabrik Augsburg, vorm. Joh. Renk (Act. Ges.)".
1916 Production of the largest gear cutting machine till then (7 m diameter).
1923 Integration of the company into the GHH group of companies (now MAN group).
1926

Production of the first wheels with with ground tooth profile.
1939 Production of the world's "fastet" (36 000 r.p.m.) gear transmission for the aircraft industry.
1943

Invention of the hydrostatic superimposition steering systems for armoured vehicles.
1956

Production of the first turbine gear unit with the highest pitch circle velocity till then (185 m/s).
1961 Development of the world's first electronic control system for an automatic vehicle transmission.
1965 Invention of the hydrostatic-hydromechanical steering drive for tracklaying vehicles.
1971

First vehicle braking system with friction brake and retarder (also function for the first time as an operating brake) integrated into a vehicle gear transmission.
1975

Acquisition of the slide bearings and couplings division of Eisenwerke Wülfel, Hanover.
1976 RENK becomes the world's first drive systems manufacturer to harden and grind gear wheels measuring over 3 000 mm in diameter.
1982 Construction of the most powerful marine gear unit till then (40 000 kW).
1986

The company's Augsburg based industrial and marine gear division is spun off and integrated into RENK TACKE GmbH. Creation of the company's Control and Test system division.
1987 Change of the company's name into "RENK Aktiengesellschaft". The company's product division now include automatic vehicle transmissions, drive elements and test systems.
1989 RENK supplies a high-speed gear unit with the highest power rating (75 000 kW) ever transmitted by gears in mesh.
1992 Construction of the world's most powerful epicyclic gear unit (20 600 kW) for a marine propulsion system with counter-rotating propellers.
1995 Merger of RENK TACKE GmbH into RENK AG.
1997

First type of the most powerful turbo gear unit worldwide; gas turbine output 100 MW.
1998 Bevel-planetary KPAV 280 gear unit for one of the largest vertical cement/raw-flour mills developing 4 800 kW at a speed of 21 rpm. In Rheine the 1 000 000th curved-tooth coupling is manufactured and delivered.
1999 First type of the most powerful turbo gear unit worldwide; gas turbine output 140 MW.
Delivery of a bevel planetary gear unit with a weight of 110 tons for the largest and most powerful vertical roller mill in a cement plant in Argentina; transmission power 54 000 kW.
2000 Presentation of the newly developed etaX ® gear unit with energy profit.
RENK acquire for the test system division the activities of th US American company LABECO.
Acquisition ot the slide bearing activities from A. Friedr. Flender AG for the RENK Hanover plant.
2001 First CODAG installation worldwide for a Naval application, 38 MW total power.
2002 Development of a 5 MW AEROGEAR for a windpower plant.
2004 First type of the high-capacity marine propulsion gears for COGAG arrangement with the lowest specific weight worldwide, 6 300 kW total power.