Alfred Winkler (entrepreneur)
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Alfred Hugo Oswald Winkler (born August 8, 1872 in Zittau , Saxony ; † September 6, 1945 in Neuwied , Rhineland-Palatinate ) was co-founder and senior director of the Winkler & Dünnebier company .
life and work
The beginnings
Alfred Winkler grew up in poor circumstances, as his father had left the family for another woman in his childhood. So from an early age he not only had to look after himself, but also his younger siblings and his mother. After leaving school, he completed an apprenticeship as a mechanic and then began a career in the paper processing industry. Via intermediate positions in Heilbronn ( Ernst Mayer Briefhüllenfabrik ) and Frankfurt am Main , Winkler finally came to Neuwied in 1902 to work for the envelope manufacturer Neuwied Couvertfabrik Willy Strüder ( taken over from Curtis 1000 Europe AG in 1992 ) as foreman and later as plant manager work.
Since envelopes were still largely produced by hand or on non-automatic machines at that time, Winkler quickly recognized the need for fast machines for the mass production of envelopes. In his spare time, he began to develop an envelope machine that could continuously produce envelopes (rotary envelope machine). Since his income and his savings alone were not enough to finance the developments, Winkler's wife and children not only had to help but also earn the missing money (manufacture of mantles in home work and retail food trade ).
After Alfred Winkler had already acquired several patents in this field, he met Max Dünnebier (1878–1950) in 1911 . He worked as a machine fitter at the Elberfeld envelope machine factory Fischer & Wescher and was supposed to set up a new envelope machine for them at the Neuwied envelope factory Strüder. Dünnebier had also privately engaged in the further development of these machines and received patents in this area.
Company formation
The mutual interest quickly led to a friendship and the desire to do business together. With a start-up capital of only 3,500 gold marks , an advance from the sale of foreign patents, the two men implemented their wish in 1913 and founded the Winkler & Dünnebier company in Neuwied. The distribution took place under the brand name Helios .
On the basis of the earlier inventions and patents by Alfred Winkler and Max Dünnebier, the young company was able to offer rotary envelope machines that enabled significantly higher speeds and precision in envelope production than conventional flapper technology.
The first order for the innovative machines came from the Neuwied envelope factory Strüder . The first foreign order came from England from John Dickinson & Co. Ltd. Because of the outbreak of war, however, these had to be delivered via the neutral Netherlands. While the first workshop was still in a back yard in downtown Neuwied, Winkler & Dünnebier had to move to larger premises in Neuwied "Mittelstrasse" shortly before the start of the war due to the increasing demand. Another expansion took place in 1917, when the first factory hall was built at its current location on "Sohler Weg" in the Heddesdorf district .
World Wars and Great Depression
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The outbreak of the First World War brought Winkler & Dünnebier a major collapse in business. Alfred Winkler tried to counter this by entering the confectionery machine business. A chance acquaintance with the director of a chocolate factory had given him the idea of developing a chocolate enrobing machine. After receiving a patent on it in 1914, a first copy was delivered to a major German chocolate factory in 1916. After the First World War, these machines were then sold worldwide. Before that, however, Winkler & Dünnebier was involved in the armaments industry and, from 1917, had to manufacture mainly shell casings.
After the end of the war, the machine park worn out by war production and the hyperinflation made it very difficult for Winkler & Dünnebier to resume machine production. When the leading US envelope manufacturer Tension Envelope offered to sell the Winkler & Dünnebier envelope machines in the US in 1922, a new, huge market opened up for the Neuwied company.
Winkler & Dünnebier recovered so well after the global economic crisis that in 1936 the competitor and former employer could be taken over by Max Dünnebier Fischer & Wescher . From 1939 to 1945 the company was again obliged to produce equipment essential for the war effort and manufactured gauges , measuring tools and test devices for the armaments industry in Plant II .
Alfred Winkler dedicated himself to the company until the end. His death as a result of an illness came at a very difficult time not only for Winkler & Dünnebier. The factory in Neuwied was badly damaged by Allied bombing and dismantling . In addition, many employees had died in the war or were prisoners of war.
family
Alfred Winkler was the son of the tailor Johann August Winkler (1846–1919) from Zittau and his wife Clara Auguste Pauline Waurich (1846–1892). He was married to Karoline Heinrich (1871–1913), with whom he had four children: Else (1895–1961), Alfred (Junior) (1897–1959), Richard (1898–1972) and Anna Pauline (called Anny, 1900 -1992). After the early death of his wife due to liver disease, Alfred Winkler had a relationship with his housekeeper, Klara Nath. This relationship resulted in a son, Eberhard Winkler (* 1938). He was recognized by his father as a biological son and heir right after his birth, which was not a matter of course at the time.
After Winkler and his family had to move often for financial and professional reasons, thanks to his entrepreneurial success he was able to afford to build a city villa in Neuwied "Seminarstraße" 39 in 1927. He also owned a holiday home in Manderscheid ( Eifel ) since the 1930s .
Alfred Winkler and his family were supporters of anthroposophy from the twenties until his death . He is buried together with other family members in the Neuwied cemetery "Elisabethstrasse / Bogenstrasse".
literature
- Klara van Eyll , Renate Schwärzel: German Economic Archives . Volume 1, p. 304, Franz Steiner Verlag 1994, ISBN 3-515-06211-4 .
- Kurt Wolfram: The economic development of the city of Neuwied , p. 32f., Verlag Peter Kehrein, Neuwied 1927.
- "50 years of Winkler & Dünnebier", in "Heimatkalender des Landkreis Neuwied - 1964", p. 133.
- Hermann-Joseph Löhr: "Production started 100 years ago in the backyard: Alfred Winkler and Max Dünnebier founded an envelope factory in 1913", in "Landkreis Neuwied: Heimatjahrbuch - 2013", pp. 310-314.
- 25 years of Helios machines . Edited by Winkler & Dünnebier machine factory and iron foundry, Strüdersche Buchdruckerei, Neuwied 1938.
- 50 years of Winkler + Dünnebier, 1913–1963 . Edited by Winkler & Dünnebier machine factory and iron foundry, Hoppenstedts Wirtschafts-Archiv publishing house, Darmstadt 1963.
- 75 years of Winkler + Dünnebier, 1913–1988 . Edited by Winkler & Dünnebier Maschinenfabrik und Eisengiesserei, Neuwied 1988.
Web links
- Entry on Alfred Winkler in the Rhineland-Palatinate personal database
- The company's website for envelope and hygiene machines
- Internet presence of the confectionery machine manufacturer
- Archive information for research into the company history of Winkler + Dünnebier
References and comments
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Winkler, Alfred |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Winkler, Alfred Hugo Oswald (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 8, 1872 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zittau |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 6, 1945 |
| Place of death | Neuwied |