BWF Marzahn

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The Berlin machine tool factory in Berlin-Marzahn ( BWF Marzahn ) was a manufacturer of universal internal cylindrical grinding machines, special internal cylindrical grinding machines for the rolling bearing industry, as well as automatic lathes and industrial robots. The plant was sold by the Treuhandanstalt to Körber AG in 1993 and closed in 2004 after some restructuring. The work emerged from the following three predecessor companies:

Hasse & Wrede

The company Hasse & Wrede Maschinenfabrik GmbH was founded on July 1, 1897 by Carl Hasse with 30 employees based in Berlin-Wedding. As an important armaments company, Hasse & Wrede acquired a property of 347,000 m² in Bürknersfelde (today Berlin-Marzahn ) from the city of Berlin in 1940 and built a new workshop with 200 × 200 m² and an adjoining administration building. From 1942 hard metal lathes, four-spindle automatic lathes, drum turret lathes and other machines and parts for armaments production were manufactured with around 4000 employees (some of them foreign forced laborers).

Apart from a minor bomb damage, the plant remained undamaged until the end of World War II . The plant was sequenced on October 30, 1945 (placed under Soviet administration) according to the Allies' determination of the treatment of German armaments companies. In 1946 the workshop was dismantled, including all systems and machines, as well as the entire boiler house. In 1948, the resumption of production began in today's Waschkauen West under the German Treuhandverwaltung with a few employees to restore old machines. In 1952 the company was renamed VEB Berliner Drehautomatwerk.

G. Kärger machine tool factory

In 1872 Gustav Kärger founded the G. Kärger machine tool factory in Berlin. In 1888 Gustav Kärger acquired a plot of land in Krautstr. 52 on which he built a factory and residential building. From 1893 onwards 150 employees produced lathes with an export share of 18%. In the 1920s the workforce increased steadily and in 1934 it had already reached more than 500 jobs. Mechanic, lead screw and turret lathes as well as other machine tools were manufactured. From 1926 the factory belonged to the Philips group. The plant received significant bomb damage during the Second World War and was dismantled from 1945 for reparations payments to the Soviet Union. In 1945 the company was placed under the German Treuhandverwaltung and, from 1949 onwards, was assigned to VVB Machine Tools and Tools (VVB WMW) under the name Berliner Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik (BWF) .

Karl Jung GmbH

The company Karl Jung GmbH was founded in 1921 at Köpenicker Str. 48/49 to manufacture three-jaw chucks and grinding machines . The workforce increased from 120 employees in 1934 to 600 in 1939. The plant was badly damaged in the Second World War and after the expropriation in 1948 it was continued as the “Jung repair shop”. From 1949 the Jung company traded as VEB Schleifmaschinenbau Berlin. In 1951, VEB Drehautomatwerk and VEB Berliner Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik merged to form VEB Berliner Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Marzahn. A makeshift hall for the production of lathes and radial drilling machines was built on the site in Marzahn .

Reconstruction of the workshop of the BWF Marzahn

In 1958 it was decided to rebuild the dismantled workshop on the premises of the Berlin machine tool factory Marzahn. At the end of April 1963, all machines were moved from the factory in Köpenicker Strasse and Krautstrasse to the new hall in Berlin-Marzahn. In 1968 the VEB Schleifmaschinenkombinat Berlin was founded and in 1969 the machine tool combine was formed on October 7th , in which the Berliner Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik (BWF) became an operating facility.

Under the long-standing operations director Fred Dellheim and the director for research and development, Werner Bahmann, the BWF has developed into a leading company in machine tool construction with up to 2,600 employees. The production profile of the plant was mainly internal cylindrical grinding machines for the rolling bearing industry and universal internal cylindrical grinding machines, as well as single-spindle automatic lathes and, from the 1980s, industrial robots .

Slip ring network and sale to Körber AG

In 1992 the Treuhandanstalt founded the Schleifringverbund with four East German grinding machine manufacturers: MIKROSA Leipzig, Schleifmaschinenwerk Chemnitz, Wema Glauchau and BWF Berlin. In 1993 the Treuhandanstalt sold the Schleifring Group to Körber AG in Hamburg. BWF specialized in NC-controlled universal internal cylindrical grinding machines, roller bearing cylindrical grinding machines and fine drawing grinding machines. In 1992 the company moved to the halls of the Berlin carburetor works, which were rebuilt in the 1980s behind the BWF site. After the move, around 500 employees still worked in BWF, which were further reduced to around 300 colleagues over the years. The production profile was reduced and the production of fine-drawing grinding machines was discontinued. The main production was NC-controlled universal internal cylindrical grinding machines for the automotive industry. The order situation for roller bearing cylindrical grinding machines deteriorated and this production was finally also discontinued.

Development and production of the Stratos machine

In 1995 the development of a new machine began with the aim of performing hard fine turning and grinding on one machine. In cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences Berlin (FHTW Berlin), under the direction of Werner Bahmann, technological investigations were carried out. In 1999 the first prototype was exhibited at the Stuttgart mechanical engineering fair and was very popular. In 2000, the Körber companies Schaudt Stuttgart, Mikrosa Leipzig and BWF Berlin merged to form the new Schaudt Mikrosa BWF GmbH company with headquarters in Stuttgart. Each individual company should remain independent. The newly developed machine, called Stratos, was now mainly supplied to the automotive industry, which replaced the machines previously supplied by Schaudt. With this machine the order situation was very good and the company in Marzahn was able to generate profits. With the existing workforce, the existing orders could not be carried out on time.

Closure of the plant in Marzahn

In August 2003, the closure of the Berlin-Marzahn location by Körber AG Hamburg was announced. At this point in time, the order situation at Schaudt Stuttgart was much worse, but from the perspective of Körber AG, it was better known in the old federal states than BWF Marzahn. The order volume was insufficient for both companies. Despite considerable resistance from the workforce, the original Berlin machine tool factory was closed in 2004. Individuals with experience were able to work at Studer or at Schaudt after the closure. The Studer company took over the construction of the Stratos internal cylindrical grinding machines. The Schaudt company in Stuttgart was also closed as a successor in 2009.

people

Web links

literature

  • KH Eckhardt: From the capitalist stock corporation to the socialist production collective Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 1981, ISBN 978-3-8100-0402-4
  • Werner Bahmann: Won and yet lost Verlag am Park 2008 ISBN 978-3-89793-167-1
  • Werner Bahmann: Machine tools compact Springer Verlag 2013 ISBN 978-3-658-03748-2
  • Martin Flug: Treuhand Poker The Mechanisms of the Sale 1992 ISBN 3-86153-028-7
  • Author collective of the BWF Marzahn: We are no longer here urban-consult Berlin 1993
  • Stadtmuseum Berlin: Fully busy - half supplied Book accompanying the exhibition, Berlin 1996 ISBN 3-929642-16-6
  • Helmut Engel (Ed.): Berlin-Marzahn location. Historical Knorr-Bremse. Industrial complex in transition. Berlin 2001 Jovis-Verlag ISBN 3-931321-44-4

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gabriele Oertel: Works Council: We are only interesting with a dowry. In: neue-deutschland.de. September 11, 1991, accessed February 29, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Thomas Fülling: Körber AG is moving. In: morgenpost.de. September 13, 2003, accessed February 29, 2020 .