Alusuisse

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Alusuisse, Zurich-Altstetten

The Alusuisse in 1888 under the name Aluminum Industrie Aktiengesellschaft (short AIAG ) in Zurich founded and built the first aluminum plant in Europe . After various mergers and acquisitions, the remaining operations and assets belonged to the Canadian aluminum group Alcan (primary production) and Constellium (further processing). This resulted in Novelis , which is responsible for production in Switzerland today, as well as a further spin-off, Constellium.

history

Founding share of Aluminum-Industrie-AG from January 1, 1892

The four main persons responsible for the construction of the plant were Gustave Naville , Georg Robert Neher , Peter Emil Huber-Werdmüller and Paul Louis Toussaint Héroult . In April 1886, Héroult had received the patent for the aluminum fusible flux electrolysis , which he brought into the company. Peter Emil Huber-Werdmüller, President of Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon , supplied the dynamo to generate the enormous electricity demand, Gustav Naville, President of Escher, Wyss & Cie. in Zurich, was a leader in turbine construction at the time. JG Nehers Söhne & Cie., Represented by Georg Robert Neher, had the usage rights for the hydropower at the Rhine Falls and was able to provide the infrastructure with its former ironworks.

Neuhausen aluminum works, 1930

Together with other shareholders, they founded the Swiss Metallurgical Society on October 31, 1887 . In 1888 their first plant was built in Neuhausen am Rheinfall on the site of the former ironworks in Laufen (founded in 1693, production until 1779 and from 1810 to 1850) which once smelted ore from the Klettgau. For the purpose of large-scale production, Aluminum Industrie AG (AIAG) was founded, in which German investors such as Georg von Siemens , Emil Rathenau and Carl Fürstenberg played a key role. After production in Neuhausen was extremely successful, the AIAG expanded and two more plants followed, in 1898 in Rheinfelden, Germany ( Aluminum Rheinfelden ) and in 1899 in Lend, Austria (today's Salzburger Aluminum AG ). However, it soon became apparent that all three locations were in an unfavorable position. For example, the water supply was not optimal, the labor was too expensive compared to other regions, or there was no good electricity supply, for example because there was no hydroelectric power station.

As early as 1905, AIAG set about relocating its production facilities to Valais . It began with the fact that it first regulated the water supply by acquiring a concession for the hydroelectric use of the Navisence River , so that the main problem of the previous locations could be resolved before the construction of the new aluminum plant. In the same year, the three-year construction work began on the new plant in Chippis . The hydropower plant built for AIAG was transferred to Kraftwerke Gougra AG (KWG), which today belongs to the Atel Group , in 1952 .

In 1908, the new factory in Chippis was inaugurated on schedule. Despite low wage costs, the expected profit did not materialize for the time being due to the rather weak demand for aluminum. Thanks to the construction of further power plants between 1911 and 1942 in Susten , Bramois , Turtmann , Oberems and Mörel , the long-term electricity supply was secured. After the Second World War, energy was also acquired from other new dams, such as the Moiry dam .

Despite the relatively stable economic balance and the established main location in Switzerland, over time, production was increasingly relocated abroad in order to find buyers for the products abroad and to expand the company's own sales market. With the better transport options, foreign locations became increasingly interesting, not least because foreign workers became cheaper and cheaper. In order to save further costs, already closed plants abroad were put back into operation and partially renewed.

In 1929 AIAG was able to open its new rolling and pressing plant in Sierre. 15 years later, in 1944, the plant in Switzerland (Neuhausen) was converted into a research center and expanded. In 1970, due to the “ Fluorine War” (environmental deficiencies were discovered in the processing of fluorine ), the company merged with the chemical company Lonza and thus secured its existence.

A rethink followed in the 1980s. Jobs were cut, old electrolysis plants closed, the facilities for intermediate production modernized and the packaging areas expanded. In the packaging area, they merged with the already existing Lawson Mardon company . In 1997 the Alusuisse Lonza Group employed over 30,000 people worldwide. In spring 1998 the company changed its name to Algroup. In 2000, the merger with the Canadian company Alcan followed, which in turn merged into the company Rio Tinto Alcan in 2007.

Manpower

Number of workers in selected years
year Workers
1917 1700 workers
1942 more than 3500
Since 1970 approx. 2000

From the very beginning, AIAG was one of the most important employers in Valais, which is illustrated by the number of workers employed in the aluminum works from 1917 to the end of the 20th century.

The number of workers fell after the Second World War due to more modern production methods and the renewed outsourcing of production abroad. For comparison: In 1936 the AIAG employed almost 12,000 workers outside Switzerland.

literature

  • Adrian Knoepfli: Under the sign of the sun. Light and shadow over the Alusuisse 1930–2010. Verlag hier + now, Baden 2010. ISBN 978-3-03919-171-0 . (On-line)
  • Werner Bellwald and Sandro Guzzi-Heeb (eds.): A people hostile to industry? Factories and workers in the Valais mountains. Here + now publisher. Baden 2006. 563 pages. ISBN 3-906419-88-6
  • Cornelia Rauh : Swiss aluminum for Hitler's war? On the history of 'Alusuisse' 1918-1950. (= Series of publications on the journal for corporate history 19) CH Beck Verlag: Munich 2009 ISBN 978-3-406-52201-7 ; review

Web links

Commons : Alusuisse  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Where the legacy of Alusuisse lives on , NZZ, 23 January 2017