Niles machine tools
The Niles Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH is a manufacturer of precision machine tools with a long tradition in Berlin . It has been part of the Kapp Group Coburg since 1997 . The production location has been in the Marzahn-Hellersdorf district on the border with Berlin-Falkenberg since 2000 , where one of the most modern production facilities for machine tool construction was built with an investment volume in the double-digit million range.
Production profile
Today profile grinding machines for the production of cylindrical gears and profiles up to six meters in diameter are mainly produced. Areas of application are power engineering, shipbuilding and aviation, rolling mill and mining equipment as well as general mechanical engineering.
history
Deutsche Niles-Werke AG was founded in 1898 as a licensee of the American machine tool manufacturer Niles Tool Works Company , Hamilton (Ohio) . The contract ran for ten years. The corporation was formed from representatives of large German banks and industrial companies. The share capital was 6 million gold marks . The first factory was built according to American plans in Oberschöneweide near Berlin. 33,000 m², its own foundry, the close connection to the Görlitzer Bahn and the quays of the Spree gave the plant a favorable economic position. The company therefore quickly rose to become one of the world's most important manufacturers of precision machine tools.
Production in Schöneweide began in 1901. Around 1000 people were employed. There were u. a. Carousel lathes , milling machines , planing and shaping machines, horizontal drilling machines, later also compressed air tools.
After the licenses expired in 1915, the Ober-Schöneweide AG (MOAG) machine factory was founded
In 1919 Richard Kahn GmbH Berlin was founded, which held the majority of MOAG shares
After the general economic difficulties, the plant in Schöneweide was sold to AEG for 4.35 million marks in 1920. The AG was renamed back to Deutsche Niles-Werke AG and relocated to Berlin-Weißensee . A new production line was built there in the former August Riebe GmbH ball bearing factory . As a result, the production of one-off and custom-made products was switched to series production.
In 1926 the company was able to separate from the Kahn Group and stand completely on its own two feet again. Engineer Paul Uhlich developed the new process of partial hobbing - it made it possible to develop completely new and groundbreaking machines with the simplest of operation, which in the future would be inextricably linked with the name Niles. In 1934 the new RS (wheel) grinding machine went into series production.
In 1930 the company already had 1,500 employees despite the general economic crisis. The public orders from the state and the Reichsbahn fell drastically, but extensive orders from the Soviet Union could be acquired. Niles expanded and acquired or merged with other companies. The production program was expanded with a view to the Deutsche Reichsbahn z. B. extended to axis lathes. Also in 1930 the Escher lathe factory in Chemnitz was taken over.
The Deutsche Reichsbahn later acquired the majority of the Niles share capital.
In the period under the under the Nazis 1933-1945 and Niles was brought into line , the operation benefited from the general order situation and the defense industry and was during the Second World War, a major defense contractor . The AG was converted to a GmbH. Towards the end of the war most parts of the factory were destroyed by air raids .
After the Second World War, the Niles-Werke were in Weissensee in 1945 under Soviet receivership provided and should dismantled are and blown up. The magistrate of Greater Berlin advocated the reorganization of production. From 1947 the new production started with a different profile.
In 1949 the company was converted to VEB Deutsche Niles-Werke and the owners of the capital were effectively expropriated. At that time there were still 489 employees including 51 apprentices. Under these catastrophic production conditions, the plan could not even come close. The manufacture of compressed air equipment was outsourced to VEB Niles compressed air tools in Berlin-Pankow in 1950 .
In 1951 the first five-year plan began and the Niles-Werke were affiliated with the VVB WMW (Association of Nationally Owned Machine Tools and Tools) Chemnitz . On November 7, 1952 the factory was renamed VEB Großdrehmaschinenbau “7. October “Berlin . The products have been but still under the trademark Niles marketed. The Chemnitz branch was renamed VEB Großdrehmaschinenbau “8. May ” .
As a result, Niles became the sole manufacturer of tooth flank grinding machines in the GDR and the main supplier for the COMECON states and thus had an extremely good market position. In 1959 the demand was exactly twice as high as the production capacity could satisfy. The production of single-column carousel lathes was discontinued in 1962 because the Comecon Economic Council had decided to leave this production to the USSR .
In 1967 Niles was affiliated to the VEB grinding machine combine Berlin and in 1969 to the VEB machine tool combine "7. October “ Assigned to Berlin , one of four machine tool combinations in the GDR. These four combines brought together twelve combine operations from what were previously 25 independent companies. The combine “7. October ” included u. a. the companies Berliner Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik (BWF) Berlin-Marzahn , the grinding machine works Karl-Marx-Stadt and Mikrosa Leipzig . Weißensee became the parent company and headquarters of the combine management. The combine was directly subordinate to the Minister for Processing Machinery and Vehicle Construction. As a result, Niles was given preferential treatment for investments, including with foreign currency-dependent machines.
In 1972 the production of two-column carousel grinding machines was discontinued.
In the late 1980s, the demand from the Comecon countries fell, probably a consequence of the incipient disintegration of the Comecon. In contrast, sales to western countries rose continuously. In 1989 the combine had a total of 22,924 employees, including 2,943 in Weißensee.
The dissolution of the combine “7. October “ began in 1990 by splitting into 24 GmbHs. 16 of them merged in the holding Niles-Industrie GmbH . including Niles Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH , Niles Pressluftwerkzeuge GmbH , the machine tool factories in Magdeburg and Zerbst. Niles-Industrie GmbH was now a 100% subsidiary of the German Federal Treuhandanstalt in Berlin. The Chemnitz part of the business was once again a company of the Treuhandanstalt to Niles lathe GmbH . In the second half of the year, the number of employees had already dropped to 1,600.
In 1992 Niles lathe GmbH in Chemnitz became Niles-Simmons Industrieanlagen GmbH with the help of an American investor .
On January 1, 1993, Fritz Werner Werkzeugmaschinen AG in Berlin-Marienfelde took over Niles Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH in Berlin-Weißensee . In 1994 Niles had 410 employees. Due to the general economic downturn in machine tool construction, the Niles and Fritz-Werner-Werke merged in 1995 to form Fritz Werner & Niles Werkzeugmaschinen AG . Then in 1996 the bankruptcy petition was filed. In 1997 Niles with 80 employees was taken over by the Coburg company Kapp GmbH . Kapp himself manufactures gear and profile grinding machines up to 500 mm in diameter, so that the Niles production program complements the range.
In 2000 production was relocated to the Marzahn-Hellersdorf district , on the border with Berlin-Falkenberg . One of the most modern production facilities for machine tool construction was built there with an investment volume in the double-digit million range.
Today the two companies offer the world's largest range of grinding machines for machining gears of all kinds. External or internal gears of the highest quality for applications in power engineering, shipbuilding, aviation and general mechanical engineering, e.g. B. for rolling mill or mining equipment can be ground with it. In 2013 the company had 182 employees and sales of around 45 million euros.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b http://www.niles-simmons.de/de/unternehmen/historie.html
- ↑ www.berliner-zeitung.de: On the way to the network , published June 11, 1994
- ^ Kapp takes over Niles Berlin , Berliner Zeitung of January 21, 1997
- ↑ rf: Niles restart with the latest technology in Marzahn. In: welt.de . April 18, 2000, accessed October 7, 2018 .
- ↑ According to information in the balance sheet for 2012/2013 in the Federal Gazette
