Anker Gebr. Schoeller
| Anker Gebr. Schoeller GmbH + Co. KG
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| legal form | GmbH & Co. KG |
| founding | 1854 |
| Seat | Düren -Birkesdorf, North Rhine-Westphalia |
| management | Gerd Hope |
| Number of employees | 252 |
| sales | 54.6 million euros (2015) |
| Branch | Carpet manufacturer |
| Website | www.anker.eu |
The Anker Gebr. Schoeller GmbH + Co. KG ( own spelling with ANKER ) is the oldest and largest German carpet weaving mill, based in Düren - Birkesdorf in North Rhine-Westphalia . The carpet factory emerged from the cloth factory "Leopold Schoeller and Sons" in 1854.
history
The Schoeller family has been documented for centuries; its origins can be traced back to the year 1382. Numerous members of the extensive Schoeller family founded companies in the paper and textile industry. In 1854 Leopold Schoeller (1792–1884) founded the so-called “Carpet Office” - initially as a branch of his cloth factory. The later name and logo "anchor" comes from the re-issuance of the Schoeller family coat of arms as part of the ennoblement of Alexander von Schoeller in 1863, when he added an anchor to the old family coat of arms as an old emblem of trade.
By contract dated December 9, 2019, the company was replaced by the Chinese company Ofc Commercial Carpet Co., Ltd. (OFC) adopted.
New techniques
Various inventions had created the basis for the machine production of carpets: In 1785 the Englishman Edmond Cartwright (1743–1823) developed a mechanical loom for machine production of cloths and carpets. However, only simple fabrics without a pattern could be made on his loom. In 1805, the French Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1752–1834) constructed a loom with a punched card system on which patterned, multi-colored fabrics and carpets could also be made. In 1831 the Scot Richard Whytock invented the warp dyeing process, in which the individual threads were printed in color according to the pattern of the carpet and only then woven.
Carpet manufacture was considered a supreme discipline in the textile industry because it was extremely time-consuming and complicated. The models were the hand-knotted, brightly colored oriental carpets, which were still real luxury goods in the 19th century. In the manufacturing plant were made as early as the 18th century in France and the UK carpets. Leopold Schoeller therefore promised himself a good deal of machine-making carpets that came close to the originals in terms of color and pattern, but were much cheaper. In 1852 Leopold Schoeller heard about Whytock's invention and immediately secured a Prussian patent on this process. It is still kept today with the associated drawings in the Secret State Archives in Berlin .
From carpet office to carpet factory
Leopold Schoeller initially commissioned his fourth son (Philipp Eberhard) Leopold Schoeller (1830–1896) to manage the carpet office, which was founded in 1854 . The beginnings of manufacturing were difficult for various reasons. Various technical and personnel problems prevented the factory from getting out of the red. Since Philipp Eberhard Leopold was also closely involved with the Silesian family businesses, Leopold Schoeller therefore handed over management to his fifth son Philipp Nikolaus Ludwig (1833–1904) in 1867. An entrepreneur had been found in him who led the office to success with expertise and commercial flair. In 1876 the anchor symbol , which traditionally stands as a symbol for trade and commercial solidity, was registered as a trademark of the carpet factory at the royal commercial court in Aachen . It has long been part of the Schoeller family coat of arms.
In 1902 Philipps Nikolaus Ludwig's son, Philipp Leopold Schoeller (1868–1932), became a personally liable partner in the carpet factory. He made large investments in modernizing and expanding the factory and gave the company a remarkable boom in the years before the First World War . During the war, however, carpet production came to a complete standstill due to a lack of raw materials and workers. At the end of the day, the factory produced armaments, mended mailbags and woven paper yarn . In the difficult years after the war, the carpet factory also suffered from the effects of the onset of inflation. Nevertheless, the Schoeller Brothers company developed two sensational new products in these difficult years, the Turan carpet and the Broadlooms in 1922 and 1924. The pattern was also visible on the reverse of the Turan carpets. This made the machine-woven carpet a step closer to the oriental knotted carpet . The Turan carpet with its exclusive quality sold very well, so that in 1928 six more drums were purchased and a new building specially built for production. The Broadlooms impressed not with their pattern, but with their size and thickness: The plain-colored, very thick and heavy carpets were up to 5 meters wide. They were made for the US market, because the Americans loved to sink into deep, heavy carpets when walking through large rooms. The 366 centimeters, 457 centimeters and even 549 centimeters wide looms required for this, derived from the British system of measurement , were built by the Düren-based company Depiereux. The 549 cm loom was the first of its size in the world.
The contract business
Schoeller now concentrated more on the "contract business", that is, equipping large, public building projects, and received numerous prestigious orders. In 1925, Anker delivered carpets for the legendary Hotel Adlon . In 1932 Werner Schoeller (1895–1976), son of Philipp Leopold, took over the management of the carpet factory. As early as 1934, the Reich Ministry of Economics rationed the raw materials for the textile industry, which meant the first restrictions for the carpet factory. During the war years, deep cuts had to be accepted because of the serious shortage of workers and raw materials. From 1940 Werner Schoeller also had to produce for the armaments industry . The carpet factory was almost completely destroyed in the large bombing raid on Düren on November 16, 1944. After the end of the war, reconstruction and repair work began immediately. Carpets could be woven again from May 1946. From the mid-1950s onwards, in addition to classic Persian patterns , modern designs designed by external artists were also woven. In 1959, the Anker Carpet Factory developed the Perlon Rips product , the first carpet for public buildings that was able to compete with hard flooring in terms of durability.
Up until the mid-1970s, Anker produced custom-made carpets, with the production of “wall-to-wall carpets”, especially the so-called “Broadlooms” for the USA , started in the early 1920s . Anker has only been producing carpets since 1976 . In 1968 the company introduced the tufting process developed in the USA as a new and additional production process, which has been in use since the late 1950s.
After Werner Schoeller's death, his son-in-law Alexander Schoeller (1925–1987), grandson of distant relative and bank director (Julius) Alexander Schoeller, took over management of the company in February 1976 . After his early death, the company was run by external managing directors and not by family members for 14 years, as Werner Schoeller's sons were still too young to take over the management of the company themselves. In July 2000, Markus Alexander Schoeller (1961–2015), son of the previous Alexander, finally took over the role of managing partner. Since then he has led the medium-sized family company in the sixth generation.
Since 1997 the former carpet factory has been operating as "Anker-Carpeting Gebr. Schoeller GmbH + Co. KG". Today, carpets are only produced here for the commercial sector (public buildings such as banks, administrations, hotels, hospitals, rehabilitation areas, shopping, etc.) and for aircraft .
Since September 15, 2014, ANKER has only traded as "ANKER Gebr. Schoeller GmbH + Co. KG" The word 'carpet' was parted with in order to take account of the growing international business. The color and shape of the logo have also been revised and since then bears the addition "Professional Carpet"
Products
The best-known Anker product is the carpet quality "Perlon Rips", which was developed in 1959 from spun carded yarn and has a high market share to this day. Other products are: Woven and tufted carpets, hygienic carpets for hospitals, carpet tiles , air-conditioning tiles for source ventilation systems, magnetic tiles, aircraft carpets.
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.aachener-nachrichten.de/lokales/dueren/chinesen-uebernehmen-mehrheit-bei-anker-teppich_aid-48323477
- ↑ Aachener Zeitung from June 18, 2016
- ↑ https://www.aachener-nachrichten.de/lokales/dueren/chinesen-uebernehmen-mehrheit-bei-anker-teppich_aid-48323477
- ↑ https://de.made-in-china.com/co_ofc-kerry/
- ^ Dürener Zeitung of January 11, 1950
- ↑ Definition of terms for Broadloom
- ↑ www.anker-teppichboden.de
- ↑ http://www.aachen-gedenken.de/nachruf/markus-schoeller/43757567
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 49 ′ 4.4 " N , 6 ° 28 ′ 1.5" E