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Company
History |
| Von
der Homepage von Skoda Plzen - muß noch übersetzt werden! |
| In
1859, Count Wallenstein-Vartenberk set up a branch of his foundry and engineering
works in Plzen. The output of the plant, employing over a hundred workers,
included machinery and equipment for sugar mills, breweries, mines, steam
engines, boilers, iron bridge structures, and railway facilities. In 1869,
the plant was taken over by Emil Skoda, an industrious engineer and dynamic
entrepreneur. |
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| Emil
Skoda (1839 - 1900), founder of the Skoda Works in Plzeò |
| Skoda
was quick to expand business, and in the 1880s founded what was then a
very modern steelworks capable of delivering castings weighing dozens of
tons. Steel castings and, later, forgings for larger passenger liners and
warships went on to rank alongside the sugar mills as the top export branches
of Skoda's factory. |
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| Casting
of the rudder frame for the Japanese warship Mikasa (1900) |
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In
1899, the ever expanding business was transformed into a joint-stock company,
and before the First World War Skoda Works became the largest arms manufacturer
in Austria-Hungary. It was a navy and army contractor, mainly supplying
heavy guns and ammunition. |
| Guns
for the Austro-Hungarian navy (1904) |
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Exports
included castings, such as part of the piping for the Niagara Falls Power
Plant or for the Suez Canal sluices, as well as machinery for sugar mills
in Turkey, breweries throughout Europe, and guns for the Far East and South
America. |
| Casting
of part of the piping for the Niagara Falls Power Station (1905) |
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The
First World War brought a drop in the output of peacetime products. Huge
sums were invested into expanding production capacities. By this time,
Skoda Works already held a majorities in a number of companies in the Czech
Lands and abroad that were not involved in arms manufacture. In 1917, the
company had 35,000 employees in Plzen alone. |
| 380
mm calibre mortar in firing position (1916) |
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| Following
the emergence of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918, in the complex economic
conditions of post-war Europe the company was transformed from what was
exclusively an arms manufacturer into a multi-sector concern. In addition
to traditional branches, the production programme embraced a number of
new concepts, such as steam (and later electric) locomotives... |
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| Locomotives
for Romania State Railways (1921) |
...freight
and passenger vehicles...
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| The
luxury SKODA - HISPANO SUIZA for President T.G. Masaryk (1926) |
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SKODA
606 truck in Iran (1936) |
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...aircraft,
ships, machine tools, steam turbines, power-engineering equipment, etc.
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| Casting
of the rudder frame for the French passenger ship Normandie (1933) |
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Turboset
at Ervìnice Power Station (1929) |
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In
1923, the company's world-famous registered trademark - the winged arrow
in a circle - was entered in the Companies Register. The deteriorating
political situation in Europe saw arms production rise again in the mid-thirties.
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| AVIA
B 534 fighter plane for the Czechoslovak Army (1933) |
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150
mm calibre howitzer 16/19 (1934) |
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The
Second World War and the company's forced integration into the German weapons
programme led to serious damage at the Works themselves (70% of the company
complex was destroyed by Allied bombing in April 1945) and the loss of
several foreign markets. |
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Skoda Works
after the bombing raid of 25 April 1945.
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| In
1945, the company was nationalized. Skoda Works was gradually split up
into different sections (e.g. the car works in Mladá Boleslav, the
aircraft plant in Prague, factories in Slovakia, and other plants producing
food-industry equipment). The company's main task now was to produce equipment
for heavy engineering, capital construction in the industrial sector, public
transportation, and power engineering. Most exports were headed towards
the Eastern Bloc. |
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| Electric
locomotive capable of 8,000 KW output and a speed of 200 kph, built for
the USSR (1977) |
Melník
III Thermal Power Station, with a 500 MW turboset (1981) |
The
SKODA WD 200 horizontal drilling and milling machine won the Grand Prix
at Expo 58 in Brussels |
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Following
the change in political climate in 1989, SKODA started along the path of
privatization, and used this time to come up with an optimal production
programme, make new business contacts, and look for markets other than
those that had so far been its priority (and only) markets, i.e. the Comecon
countries and the Soviet Union, which collapsed after 1989.
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| 14
Tr E trolley-bus for urban transportation in Dayton, Ohio (1996) |
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Astra
low-floor tram (1997) |
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| In
1992, the company was privatized by the so-called Czech method. It began
expanding its production activities (e.g. by acquiring the TATRA and LIAZ
vehicle works and constructing a plant to produce aluminium drinks cans).
This expansion put the company's financial stability in jeopardy. In 1999,
it concluded a standstill agreement with its main creditor banks, and restructuring
of the entire capital structure of the Skoda group was launched. The result
was legal and financial stability at the company. Now the sectoral restructuring
of the production companies in the group is under way. In April 2000, SKODA
HOLDING a.s. took over at the helm, controlling nineteen subsidiaries and
most product lines. |
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