became chairman of the Vossloh board, after having raised his shareholding in the company from below 5% to over 10% in Mar. 2011, and to over 25% in 2013. Thiele's election to chair was opposed by the Vossloh family who owned over 30% of the shares. In November 2013 the Vossloh family unexpectedly sold 22% of its shareholding, reducing their holding to under 10% and leaving Heinz Hermann Thiele as the main shareholder in the company. In 2014 the company began a restructuring. New executive board members were introduced and high level management numbers were reduced by a third, and talks started on general workforce redundancies. The transfer of locomotive production in Kiel to a more modern site was also under investigation, with three sites identified. In June 2014 Kieler Nachrichten reported that an offer had been made for Voith's locomotive plant, however in July the company announced it was to build a new plant at a cost of €30 million in the Suchsdorf area of Kiel. A groundbreaking ceremony for the new plant took place 17 July 2015. In December 2014 the company announced it intended to divest its transportation division. The rail-vehicles division was announced as sold to Stadler in late 2015. The Electrical Systems division (formerly Vossloh Kiepe) was sold to Knorr-Bremse in 2016. End of 2016, Vossloh acquired Rocla Concrete Tie, Inc., headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado from Altus Capital Partners II. Since 1986 the North American company mainly supplies customers in the USA focus market with concrete thresholds. At the same time, Vossloh has purchased the remaining 50% of the shares in the previous Alpha Rail Team joint venture. Company structure Vossloh has three divisions contribute to the core business, rail infrastructure: Core Components, Customized Modules and Lifecycle Solutions. Vossloh currently operates with four divisions. The fourth division, Transportation, covers the developing and manufacturing of diesel locomotives, and also provides all necessary locomotive maintenance and repair services. With the adoption of the strategy at the end of 2014, the Transportation division stopped being part of the core business. The individual companies are centrally coordinated by the holding company, Vossloh AG, and operate in common under the Vossloh brand. Core Components The Core Components division manufactures standardized products on an industrial scale, which are required in large quantities for rail infrastructure. Vossloh's business unit Fastening Systems produces rail fastening systems and components, which are used in more