The city of Schweinfurt is well-known above all because of its reputation as an industrial city. For many decades the image of the city has been determined by companies engaged on a worldwide basis in the production of roller bearings and automobile accessories such as for example, FAG Kugelfischer, SKF and Mannesmann-Sachs AG. But other branches of industry as well, among others medical engineering, measurement and control techniques, energy technology, linear motion technology and plastics processing, are well represented by a number of middle-sized companies. The professional qualification of Schweinfurt's population is assured by a finely woven network of all types of educational institutions: vocational and trade schools, the technical college, the universities of the nearby cities of Würzburg and Bamberg and not least by qualifying measures of Schweinfurt's employment office. The freeways Hamburg-Hanover-Ulm (A7) and Cologne-Frankfurt-Nuremberg-Munich (A3), two of the most important European north/south connections pass near the city. The A71 Schweinfurt-Erfurt that is currently under construction places Schweinfurt in the center of economic relations to East Europe. The freeway Schweinfurt-Bamberg-Hof (A70) already provides a short-cut to Berlin and to the East. Direct access to this freeway is possible via the new Maintal industrial park. Here on a surface area of approx. 150 hectares factories as well as logistics and service enterprises find ideal prerequisites for establishing themselves. Besides its excellent location in the middle of Europe, there are other good reasons to convince a company to settle in the Maintal industrial park: reasonable real estate prices, the supplying of the park at low rates for electricity, gas, water and long-distance heating. Great importance is placed on the competent and comprehensive counseling of investors when the property is awarded, during the approval procedures and in applying for grants and aid. As an example of this the settling of the American firm "SRAM Deutschland GmbH" may be cited, that received permission to build a factory for bicycle components within just 24 working days. Following a construction period of about nine months the company moved into its new manufacturing quarters in October 1998. Schweinfurt is not only the economic center of the region. Attractive shops with a wide selection of goods and numerous municipal festivals make a shopping trip enjoyable for the roughly 500,000 inhabitants of the city and the surrounding districts. The diverse cultural opportunities have something to offer for every taste. The beautiful countryside of the Frankish winegrowing area, the Steigerwald and the mountainous regions of the Hassberge and the Rhön invite hikers and bikers. A variety of hotels, restaurants, wine and beer bars attract connoisseurs of the hearty Frankish cuisine as well as gourmets with preferences for international specialties.