Schaltbau Gmbh Klausenburger Str
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Schaltbau GmbH Klausenburger Str. 6 81677 München Germany Tel.: +49 (0)89 9 30 05-0 Fax: +49 (0)89 9 30 05-3 50 [email protected] www.schaltbau-gmbh.de Our experience – your future 19291938 1972 1974 1984 2004 S1789/0405/0.5 Printed by Schaltbau GmbH Publication details Research and text: Dr. Michael Kamp (Neumann&Kamp Historical Projects, Munich) Text: Schaltbau GmbH, Munich Schaltbau Holding AG, Munich Layout and realisation: artconcept Werbeagentur GmbH, Munich Munich 2004 2 43 Words of gratitude Our thanks are due to all our employees and partners. They have shaped the success of the company and are actively involved in it. Anniversary publication of Schaltbau GmbH 3 4 Table of Contents Page Words of Welcome . 6 - Erwin Huber, Member of Bavarian Parliament, Manager of the Bavarian Minister-President’s office and State Minister for Federal Matters and Administrative Reform - Dr. Jürgen H. Cammann, Speaker of the Board of Management of the Schaltbau Holding AG - Hans Kudlacek, Managing Director, Speaker - Peter Hübner, Works Committee The History of Schaltbau GmbH – A Retrospective . 8 - Schaltbau GmbH – a Company Founded by Widerstand AG Hanover . 8 - Success and Crisis – Schaltbau GmbH in the First Few Years . 10 - Schaltbau GmbH During the Second World War . 14 - Reconstruction and the New Railway Business . 15 - Entry into the Industrial Business . 17 - New Factory Branches in Lower Bavaria and the Move from the Original Main Factory . 20 - Schaltbau GmbH Becomes a Stock Corporation . 23 75 Years of Schaltbau – 75 Years of Experience . 27 Schaltbau GmbH Today – with Experience into the Future . 28 - Schaltbau GmbH in Bavaria . 28 - Schaltbau GmbH International . 30 - Product Line Today . 32 The History of Schaltbau GmbH at a Glance . 36 The Partners of Schaltbau GmbH . 38 The Vision of Schaltbau GmbH . 40 References to Literature and Sources, Picture Credits . 42 5 LaudatorsWords of Welcome 75 years of Schaltbau GmbH Business Location Germany continues to stand for innovative ideas and high- My congratulations to the manage- quality engineering products. That is ment and employees of Schaltbau why the State Government of Bavaria GmbH on the company’s 75th anni- will do everything in its power to en- versary. able Bavaria to maintain its leading position in research and technology. In 1929, on the eve of the world eco- In addition to that we intend to go on nomic crisis, which bankrupted many improving the business environment a company and made millions of here. To this end we have started a bread-winners redundant, chances of profound administrative reform in founding a successful company were, order to dismantle bureaucracy and Erwin Huber in fact, rather unfavourable. That in to increase the personal responsibility Member of Bavarian Parliament, spite of this Schaltbau did have a good of our citizens. Manager of the Bavarian start, speaks well for its innovative pro- Minister-President’s office and ducts and a clever company strategy. I wish Schaltbau GmbH with its loca- State Minister for Federal Matters and Administrative Reform tions in Munich, Velden and Alders- Obviously, this recipe for success has bach a successful future. not lost in value up to now. We shall meet the challenges of an expanded EU and a globalised world, only if Looking ahead with optimism During the 75 years of its history con- tinuity and change have been close to A jubilee is always a good occasion one another. In the interplay Schaltbau to look back on a more or less long GmbH has always managed to preserve period of time that has passed. For its identity and to be actively involved Schaltbau GmbH such an occasion is in the development of the electrical its 75th anniversary. Schaltbau GmbH engineering industry. started the course it has taken at the end of the 1920s as a small Munich firm After a success story spanning 75 years, whose twelve employees designed and having accumulated a wealth of and manufactured switches for the experience from good and hard times, first electric radiators used in passen- Schaltbau may now not only look back Dr. Jürgen H. Cammann ger coaches. And after some turns with pride, but also look ahead with Speaker of the Board of and changes it concluded its course optimism – on the basis of its solid Management of the Schaltbau as a corporate group going global. In foundation. Holding AG the name of its board of management I want to offer the management and staff of Schaltbau GmbH my congrat- ulations on the occasion of the com- pany’s 75th anniversary. 6 Our experience – your future Schaltbau GmbH was founded in In accordance with our slogans “wor- Munich 75 years ago. The company king for Schaltbau is fun” and “working and its staff can be proud of the suc- with Schaltbau’s business partners cess, that can be attributed to their skill, must be a pleasure”, let me express commitment and innovational energy. my best wishes for continued success to our company celebrating its 75th Both in good and bad times, a great anniversary as well as to all customers, number of excellent results have been distributors, friends, and employees of achieved by our former and present Schaltbau GmbH. employees. For their exemplary work Hans Kudlacek I should like to express my special Managing Director, thanks and appreciation. It is your ener- Speaker gy and joint efforts that will enable us to master the future successfully. Dear readers, dear colleagues, the special efforts of our colleagues. I want to mention in particular that “We have good reason to be optimis- Schaltbau GmbH has always taken tic, because we can celebrate the 75th responsibility for good vocational anniversary of our company.” training of apprentices and later on for their further education. Schaltbau’s em- As the speaker of the Works Commit- ployees honour this by feeling strongly tee, looking back on 41 years of attached to their company. As a result, employment with Schaltbau GmbH, the company has always good and I have lived through quite a number committed staff at its disposal. of ups and downs, so I am proud and grateful to be able to celebrate this For the future I wish the company Klaus Peter Hübner event together with you. The Works that their order books will always be Works Committee Committee has a long and good tradi- full, so that the jobs of our colleagues tion in our company. Even when expe- remain secured. riencing business problems the Works Committee has always succeeded in finding acceptable solutions and com- promises, in strengthening our soli- darity and securing our jobs, thanks to 7 HistoryThe History of Schaltbau GmbH – A Retrospective 1923 – 1929 Schaltbau GmbH – a Company Founded by Widerstand AG Hanover 1929 – the crash of the stock exchange on New York’s Wall Street set off a world-wide economic crisis. Thousands of companies went bankrupt and millions of people had no job. The events in the year of inception of Schaltbau GmbH gave hardly any cause for optimism. But the young Munich-based company was able to establish itself despite the difficult circumstances. It started with a few employees, increased the turnover, em- ployed additional staff, established itself in the market and laid the foundation stone for a success story spanning 75 years. But the history of Schaltbau GmbH does not start as late as in the year 1929. In the middle of the 1920s, the Imperial German Railways had decided to pur- chase an electric radiator from the Hanover-based Widerstand AG, a subsidiary of Hackethal Kabel- und Drahtwerke AG. All the passenger coaches of the Railways were to be fitted with one uniform design in future. Coach heating radiator models from different large companies were tested in large- scale comparison tests in the Repair Works of the Hackethal Draht- and Kabelwerke Aktiengesellschaft, Imperial Railways in Neuaubing near Munich. The a factory that was founded in 1900, in Hanover, ac- winner was the model from Widerstand AG. quired the Widerstand AG for Elektro- and Wärme- technik, Berlin in 1917. The registered office was shifted to Hanover, and the production was started The Imperial Railways had specified an operating in the premises of the Hackethal company. The voltage of 1,000 Volts. The idea was to keep the parts of the factory belonging to the Widerstand AG in this picture from the years 1921/22 are the build- material costs for the conductors down with the high ings in the middle, behind the factory grounds. voltage. The heating supply of 1,000 Volts was a In the middle of the 1920s, Widerstand AG was particular challenge for switchgear technology. For awarded an order for supplying electric radiators to low voltages, solutions had already been found at the Deutsche Reichsbahn (Imperial German Rail- ways). To start with, the radiators and the switching the end of the 19th century; in contrast, the develop- elements were manufactured in Hanover; in 1929, ment of switches for higher voltages was still in an Widerstand AG founded Schaltbau GmbH in infant stage. Thus, in the 1920s, Widerstand AG was Munich. The new company took up the task of developing and manufacturing high-voltage charting completely new territory. In the beginning, switches for train heating systems. the radiators and the necessary electrical compo- nents as well as the switches were developed and Cables were produced in the Hackethal factory in Hanover. The photograph from the year 1925 shows the testing of cables. The Hackethal Kabel- und Drahtwerke AG now belong to the French company Nexans. 1923 1924 1926 November 1923 Inflation has reached its peak in Germany. One US dollar rated for RM 4,200,000,000,000.00.