About BraunAbility®
Changing Lives Around the World
BraunAbility has grown from a modest small-town entrepreneurial venture with a handful of employees to a global company with over 1200 employees serving more than 70 countries. With the most diverse product portfolio of any mobility vehicle company in the industry, BraunAbility is able to deliver the right solution to more people than ever before.
Our Mission: Empowerment
For 50 years, BraunAbility has been committed to changing lives for people with physical disabilities through innovative mobility solutions that provide independence and ease-of-use. As the industry leader, and the brand most recommended by mobility dealers, BraunAbility combines the quality product solutions you need with the service and financing expertise you can trust.
Created from Necessity, Re-Imagined for Others
Ralph Braun’s early life helped build the mobility industry as we know it today. It all started with what doctors announced was a fatal form of muscular dystrophy at the young age of six. When he could no longer rely on his own two legs and he’d outgrown piggyback rides from his dad, he began using a wheelchair.
In time, Ralph and his family would realize doctors were wrong – his diagnosis wasn’t fatal, but it was lifelong. Ralph became determined to reclaim his independence and designed the world’s first powered scooter to keep his job as a quality control inspector at a nearby factory. When his job moved further away, Ralph moved with it – this time in a renovated postal Jeep with hand controls and a hydraulic lift.
When others took notice of what he was doing, requests for orders began pouring in. Knowing the difference his products made for himself, Ralph refined his designs and dedicated his life and his savings to creating what is now BraunAbility – the global leader in mobility products. Now with over 45 years of industry-leading experience, BraunAbility is the global leader of mobility solutions with a manufacturing center of excellence in the small town of Winamac, Indiana – right where it all began.
The BraunAbility Timeline
When a manual wheelchair clearly wasn’t meeting his needs, Ralph Braun turned to towns across Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois to find the parts he would need to build the world’s first motorized wheelchair. After it’s completion, it was a matter of years before a company formed and transformed the mobility industry to change the lives of thousands.
Certifications
BraunAbility holds certifications for quality and safety in both the manufacturing, automotive and mobility industries, including accreditation with the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association (NMEDA), ISO and OEM manufacturers.
Mobility Product Expertise
It isn't just the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that makes BraunAbility products the best. It's our mobility experts and countless hours of research and development we put in each vehicle. When you choose BraunAbility, you can take our pledge – Built to Trust – to heart.
BraunAbility North America
Driving mobility throughout the United States and Canada
BraunAbility Commercial
From buses to taxis, BraunAbility has the mobility solution for your need and the products are available worldwide.
BraunAbility News & Press
Get the latest BraunAbility updates on our News & Press pages.
BraunAbility Corporate Citizenship
At BraunAbility we are committed to improving the world around us by positively impacting society, changing lives one mobility product at a time, and working to make our own communities even stronger. This is reflected in our mission, vision and values, which are at the forefront of everything we do.
Investor AB is the leading owner of several international companies and was founded by the Wallenberg family, who has been engaged in developing world-class companies and supporting excellence in scientific research for the advancement of mankind for five generations. The family is dedicated to managing The Wallenberg Foundations, a collection of non-profit charitable foundations that rank among the world’s most prolific supporters of academic research and discovery in medicine, technology, social sciences, and education. Each year, the work of the Wallenberg Foundations is funded through dividends earned by their industrial holdings, the largest of which is Investor AB, representing several well-known international brands, including Atlas Copco, Ericsson, NASDAQ, and Husqvarna.
The Wallenberg’s business philosophy is to build high-performing, high-growth companies over the long-term through active and engaged participation at the board of directors’ level. They pursue sustainable value creation by providing the resources and tools each company in their portfolio needs to reach its full potential. BraunAbility is a part of Investor’s Patricia Industries Division, which includes a growing family of non-publicly traded companies including Permobil, the innovative leader in power and manual wheelchairs, as well as Mölnlycke Health Care, the world’s premier supplier of surgical and wound care products.
