The Vorwerk & Co. KG family enterprise was founded in 1883. The holding company's registered office is located in Wuppertal, Germany the headquarters of the various divisions are in Wollerau, Switzerland (Divisions Kobold, Thermomix), Westlake, USA (Division JAFRA Cosmetics), Singapore (Division Lux Asia Pacific), Hamelin, Germany (Division Carpets) and Wuppertal (Division akf group, HECTAS Facility Services, Engineering). At the head of the corporate group are Managing Partners Peter Oberegger and Walter Muyres. The other member of the Executive Board is Reiner Strecker. Vorwerk's core business is the worldwide direct sale of high-quality products. Worldwide there are around 578,000 working with Vorwerk, of whom 30,000 are sales advisers in the business of selling household appliances and 526,000 working for JAFRA Cosmetics. Vorwerk generates a business volume of more than 2.4 billion euros a year (2008) and operates in 58 countries (2009). Photo material of the management and the products, an electronic Corporate Presentation and further press releases can be accessed in the press section at www.vorwerk.com.