Alfeld iron works
The Alfelder Eisenwerke were a foundry goods and machine manufacturer based in Alfeld (Leine) , which was a major construction machinery manufacturer from the 1920s and existed until bankruptcy in 1984.
history
Foundation and location
The company was founded on July 23, 1890 as Alfelder Eisenwerk, Otto Wesselmann & Cie. Founded by Otto Wesselmann, engineer and former operations manager at Carlshütte in Delligsen . The factory premises were conveniently located on the Hanover Southern Railway . The establishment of the company began in March of the same year, the first casting took place in August. In the early years, the ironworks cast, among other things, columns, balcony and stair railings, window frames, ring furnace parts, rolling rings, flywheels and manhole covers. A mechanical engineering department was later added, which supplied the potash, cement and sugar industries that were emerging in the area.
Between the world wars
The company struggled to keep afloat in the First World War and the inflationary period in the early 1920s. Shortly before his death in 1924, Wesselmann handed over management to the Magdeburg engineer Hans Ring. Wesselmann's son-in-law Carl Heise became heir at the same time the company was renamed Alfelder Eisenwerke Carl Heise Kom. Ges., Formerly. Otto Wesselmann & Cie. In 1928 Heise took over the management, at which time the ironworks were threatened with bankruptcy due to the economic situation and the merger of large-scale industry. He focused on the manufacture of road construction machines and was able to stabilize the company in the following years. During the global economic crisis , exports of construction machinery secured the company's existence and the construction of the Reichsautobahn from 1933 onwards resulted in a significant upturn.
Since 1945
After the Second World War , Heise was banned from employment by the British military government . After the ban was lifted, initially only foundry and locksmith products were allowed to be produced, primarily for agriculture. With the renewed production of road construction machines and asphalt and concrete mixing plants , the company experienced a rapid upswing and soon became one of the most important companies in the sector at European level. Carl Heise died in 1960, his son Carl-Hermann Heise took over and received the Rudolf Diesel Medal in 1963 .
Towards the end of the 1960s, the company employed around 500 people.
In the late 1970s, the economic decline came from foreign competitors and a deteriorating economic situation. The Alfelder Eisenwerke went bankrupt in 1984 , the bankruptcy assets were taken over by the Swiss Ammann Group , which today still produces asphalt mixing plants in Alfeld under the name Ammann Asphalt GmbH .
executive Director
- 1890–1924 Otto Wesselmann
- 1924–1928 Hans Ring
- 1928–1960 Carl Heise
- 1960–1984 Carl-Hermann Heise
Social
Facilities
The company had a company choir, a company health insurance fund and built company apartments .
Factory choir
The factory choir was founded in 1937 and appeared in public for the first time a year later. Membership existed in the German General Singers Association . In the first few years, the company was essentially limited to appearances at internal events, but after the Second World War also traveled through Germany, the Netherlands and Austria. However, the focus was still on company parties of the ironworks and events in the vicinity. The repertoire consisted of around 250 titles and three records have been released over the years. In 1977 the choir celebrated its 40th anniversary, at which time more than 200 company employees were active in the choir. With the decline of the Alfelder Eisenwerke in 1984, the factory choir probably ceased to exist.
Song fathers and chairmen
- 1937–1952 Adolf Fricke
- 1953–1962 Karl Gade
- 1963–1975 Reinhard Walter
- Since 1976 Hans Wagner
Conductors
- Werner Dockhorn
- Karl-Heinz Fischer
- Hubert Galler
- Hans-Joachim Grebe
- Albert Henkel
- Fred Humpert
- Wilhelm Krukenberg
- Horst Pinkawa
- Hugo Schubach
patronage
- 1937–1966 Margarete Heise
- Since 1966 Gisela Heise
literature
- Alfelder Eisenwerke (Ed.): One wheel meshes with the other. Publishing house for business journalism, Alfeld (Leine) 1965.
- Alfelder Eisenwerke (Ed.): 40 years of the Alfelder Eisenwerke factory choir 1937-1977. Alfeld (Leine) 1977.
- City of Alfeld (Hrsg.): Alfeld in the industrial age. Alfeld (Leine) 2008, ISBN 978-3-00-024212-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rudolf Klein (ed.): Alfelder Eisenwerke Carl Heise KG , in ders .: Lower Saxony Lexicon. Everything you need to know about the state of Lower Saxony, Frankfurt am Main: Umschau-Verlag, 1969, p. 6
Coordinates: 51 ° 58 ′ 55.98 " N , 9 ° 48 ′ 53.81" E