VEB Kombinat Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla
The VEB Kombinat vehicle Ruhla was founded on Oct. 1, 1968 Kombinat in the GDR , it was in the core business manufacturers of components and accessories for the vehicle electrical system and the bicycle art, and through the 1978 take-over of the combine was Galvanic Zwickau also the national economy to the main producer important branch of industry of accumulator production.
The combine was subordinate to the Ministry of Electrical Engineering and Electronics and had its administrative headquarters in the Thuringian district town of Eisenach . The combine consisted of eight state- owned enterprises (VEB) and numerous allocated small enterprises and workshops and in 1990 had 11517 employees. With the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, the combine began an adjustment process from a state-controlled planned economy to a market economy , during which numerous parts of the company were liquidated , also at the instigation of the Treuhandanstalt . FER Fahrzeugelektrik GmbH existed as the successor company to the parent company until 2008.
Products are still manufactured under the FER trademark . The product range consists primarily of components for the automotive industry: lighting equipment (including in Eisenach and Mexico), horns (including in Poland) and sensors . Cable harnesses are no longer manufactured.
prehistory
Otto Schlothauer & Sons (Ruhla)
A metal goods factory was founded in Ruhla in 1867 under the company Otto Schlothauer & Söhne OHG , which initially specialized in the series production of fittings for shoe soles and brass accessories for the Ruhla meerschaum pipes , which were popular at the time . A former grinding mill on the Erbstrom was used for operation. The sons Christoph and Friedrich Schlothauer recognized a completely new product range in the manufacture of gas fittings and turned parts made of brass . By purchasing a steam engine and other investments in the building structure was established on the southern outskirts of Ruhla into the cliff of the mountain town Ruhla, a second metal-working large company. From 1900 electrical lamp sockets and various switches were manufactured in the main factory. Electric switches for automobiles, bicycles and radio receivers have also been manufactured since the 1920s.
With the beginning of the Second World War , the company - now under the company C. & F. Schlothauer GmbH - gained further importance as an armaments company (supplier of on-board instruments in aircraft construction). After the expropriation of the previous owners in July 1945, the allocation to the Soviet Elektrotechnische AG , a Soviet joint-stock company active in the territory of the Soviet occupation zone , took place on July 19, 1946 . At that time, the plant had around 350 employees. The production of electrotechnical installation materials was transferred to VEB Elektroinstallation Ruhla in the early 1950s .
Eisenacher Metallwarenfabrik Alfred Schwarz
Alfred Schwarz GmbH with 70 employees was founded in the Eisenach industrial park on Am Kupferhammer / Oppenheimstrasse in 1907 and used the abbreviation MELAS as a word mark . The core business initially included the lighting technology division (carbide and petroleum lamps) for carriages, lanterns, bells and horns for bicycles and carriages, as well as pedals and air pumps. During the First World War it was also manufactured for armaments production. After 1920, the manufacture of car and bicycle accessories became the main branch of production: switches, electric reflectors, car indicators, marker lights, warning and stop lights, license plates and the first windshield wiper motors were partly developed in-house or manufactured under license. In 1923, 40 percent of the manufactured goods were exported, and the company grew to 400 employees in 1927. The company's founder died in an accident in 1935. The company was converted into a stock corporation ( Metallwerk Alfred Schwarz AG ), the majority of which was held by the “Union” Gesellschaft für Metallindustrie Sils, van de Loo & Co. , based in Fröndenberg , by 1938 at the latest . The Eisenach plant already had 1,000 employees in the summer of 1939.
With the outbreak of war, supplies for the war economy had to be preferred, the range included small engines, camouflage searchlights and detonators. The plant was damaged several times by air raids and the resulting fires; in April, US grenade fire destroyed several factory buildings on the western site.
In the first post-war years, the company cooperated with the Stuttgart branch of Bosch , they delivered direction indicators and received alternators, ignition electronics and starters. In 1946 the workforce again comprised 400 employees. In 1947 the company was expropriated , in 1948 it became public property and merged with other Eisenach companies to form VEB Auto- und Fahrradelektrik Eisenach (AUFA) . Most important was the main factory of the former Bruns cigar factory at Eisenacher Westbahnhof, which was only built in the 1920s; it was only 500 m from the main factory on Oppenheimstrasse and later became the location for wiper motor production. The Eisenach production facility on Oppenheimstrasse took over the production of flasher units, interior lights and other light assemblies in the early 1950s. The number of employees was increased to 1065 in 1957.
Merger of the Eisenach and Ruhla factories
As early as 1947, the production of alternators for vehicle construction in the Soviet occupation zone began on a trial basis in Ruhla. The main customer, the Eisenach automobile plant , was still dependent on the delivery of certain components and materials from the Federal Republic in the 1950s , so replacement manufacturers had to be found in the GDR.
In 1958 the Ruhla plant was merged with the Eisenach AUFA to form VEB Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla . In the 1960s, site-specific concentration and standardization took place: In Plant I in Ruhla, only starters and signal horns for the automotive industry were manufactured, in Plant II in Eisenach (developed from the former Metallwerk Schwarz (MELAS or AUFA)) wiper motors for windscreen wipers and Bicycle lighting technology , electromagnetic switches and headlights for cars in Plant III in Brotterode and the ignition distributors in Plant IV in Gumpelstadt .
The foundation of the VEB Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla combine
As a result of a series of economic reforms in the GDR, the VEB Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla combine was founded on October 1, 1968. The factories were further combine operations from the automotive supplier industry
- VEB Metallwaren (MEWA) Ruhla
- VEB vehicle electrics Karl-Marx-Stadt
- VEB vehicle electrics Ilmenau
- VEB vehicle electrical system Pirna
- VEB vehicle electronics Thalheim.
The total number of employees in the combine was 4750 in 1969. The total volume of the production services amounted to 230 million marks. In 1977 about 6500 people were employed in the combine, the production output was now 456 million marks.
In 1978 the previously independent Combine Galvanischeelemente Zwickau, at that time the main producer of the economically important branch of industry of accumulator production, was affiliated to the Combine FER, the new combine operations were:
- VEB Berliner Akkumulatoren- und Elementewerke
- VEB mine lamp works Zwickau
- VEB battery factory Sehma
- VEB Akkumulatorenbau Gröningen
- VEB Batterie und Elementefabrik Tabarz.
The combine thus also became important as a mine supplier, in rail vehicle construction and in shipbuilding in the GDR and was also the manufacturer of all commercially available batteries for the consumer goods sector, including lithium batteries for medical device construction (e.g. for pacemakers ) were manufactured by FER. After the merger of the two combines, FER already had 45 production sites, with a focus on Thuringia, Saxony and Berlin.
Selected combine companies and their products
VEB Berliner Akkumulatoren- und Elementewerke
The VEB Berliner Akkumulatoren- und Elementewerke was formed from four operational parts, which were located in Berlin-Oberspree , Berlin-Oberschöneweide , Zehdenick and Gröningen and employed a total of 1400 people. The main products of the company were lead-acid batteries (also manufactured in Zehdenick and Gröningen) for battery-operated industrial trucks of all types and rail vehicles. As part of the COMECON economic agreements, the main plant was linked to partner companies in Hungary (Accumulator Budapest) and Poland (Centra Poznań and Elektron Starograd) through supply and cooperation agreements relating to research and development. The second range of products included the manufacture of the primary elements R6, R14, and R20 on a manganese dioxide-zinc basis - in particular for flashlights, battery-operated consumer electronics devices and technical toys. Through rationalization measures, the production of round tubes for these products could be increased to a production volume of 100 million pieces / year. With the fully automatic production system for R20 elements, the entire annual requirement of the GDR population could be covered and surpluses were exported to the Comecon countries. Another production line was built in 1986 for R14 elements, and in 1988 it delivered 30 million units. As a third product range, button cells have been developed and produced in Berlin since 1984. They were made for electronic watches, pocket calculators and other electronic assemblies on the basis of silver oxide-zinc and manganese dioxide-zinc elements. In 1987 the Berlin company was honored with the "Wandering flag of the Council of Ministers and the Federal Executive of the FDGB".
VEB vehicle electrics Brotterode
The Kombinatbetrieb in Brotterode had around 1000 employees in 1988 and was a manufacturer of car headlights for the GDR vehicle types and for export.
VEB Vehicle Electronics Karl-Marx-Stadt (FEK)
The Chemnitz company emerged from the Hermann Riemann factory founded in 1866 and, at peak times, had a total of 1,500 employees with six production sites - in Cranzahl , Flöha , Klingenthal , Niederndorf and Sehma . The range of products included several types of alternators for motorcycles, three-phase and direct current alternators for cars, headlight inserts for the Trabant car, various tail lights and indicators, tail lights for mopeds and motorcycles as well as ignition units and contacts. A first industrial robot was developed and built in the factory to manufacture the three-lever interrupter housing for the Wartburg car . The development department had CAD workstations as early as 1986.
Former VEB vehicle electrics Karl-Marx-Stadt ...
... on the Chemnitz Sonnenberg
VEB vehicle electrical system Pirna (FEP)
The Pirnaer Kombinatsbetrieb was incorporated in 1978 and initially specialized in the production of all rotary, push, toggle and rocker switches for vehicles from the GDR range of types. Furthermore, fuse holders, switch contact elements, cables and connectors were produced.
From 1982 onwards, a second factory developed and produced lithium batteries for pacemakers made in the GDR in collaboration with specialists from Dresden . For this product, the company was awarded the Karl Marx Order as the highest state distinction. Another production line for button cells and lithium batteries for wristwatches was set up in the mid-1980s.
VEB battery and element factory Tabarz
The combine operation in Tabarz had two operating parts in Ohrdruf and Gotha with a total of 250 employees. To the original production spectrum - flat batteries for flashlights etc. a. (Type 3R-12A and 3R-12B) as well as anode batteries for electronic devices fitted with tubes - a production line for coil components (pull magnet and field coils for starters, coils for horns) was built in 1978 by relocating from the main factory in Ruhla. From 1986 a production line "add-on headlights" was taken over for the Russian passenger car Moskvich.
VEB mine lamps and accumulator factory Zwickau (GAZ)
The Zwickau company with a branch in Sehma emerged from the Zwickau company Friemann & Wolf, which was founded in 1884 and developed and manufactured lighting technology for the mining industry. Since 1930, train light and vehicle batteries based on NiCd have also been manufactured. From 1950 to 1990 the nationalized company was the main manufacturer of lead starter batteries for all GDR types of commercial vehicles and passenger cars (e.g. the Trabant battery 12 V 38 Ah cf) as well as motorcycles. Furthermore, different types of NK accumulators and, as a traditional production range, pit lamps for mining were manufactured. The Zwickau company has received high government awards several times (e.g. the banner of work ), it was also a "company for excellent quality work".
Economic relations
As part of the division of labor within the Comecon , the combine was a monopoly for vehicle electrics and electronics in this economic area. The headlights and taillights for the GDR cars Trabant and Wartburg , as well as the starters, came from Vehicle Electronics Ruhla. In addition, Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla manufactured bicycle lights (dynamos, headlights, taillights). Considerable financial resources were invested in the cooperation with the partner companies in the Comecon countries until 1989, with the parent plant in Ruhla in the Lithuanian Soviet Republic supporting the partner company ELEKTRA in Kaunas through joint venture agreements, and similar relationships also existed with Polish and Czech partners of the combine companies.
As early as the 1980s, the then state-owned company was delivering to 40 countries, including France and West Germany. These were often barter deals with the Federal Republic of Germany. Several thousand VW Golfs were exchanged for machines or supplier items. That is why numerous VW models were equipped with FER headlights even before the fall of the Wall. These can often be found on the VW Golf I , Golf II and Transporter ( T3 ) models . Also had bicycle dynamos from the former Eisenach plant section of West German bikes to find.
Eisenach data center
In order to cope with the steadily increasing administrative effort, the construction of a data center (with a Soviet mainframe) was applied for with the Eisenach automobile plant and approved by the GDR Ministry of Economics. The new building was built in Eisenacher Karl-Marx-Straße, on the neighboring property of the SED district administration in Eisenach. The number of employees rose to 10,000 in 1978, generating a production volume of 982 million marks, in 1979 the billion mark was exceeded with new products and in 1988 the combine generated a total of 2.2 billion marks in goods and services.
Follow-up company after 1990
As a result of the economic collapse of the GDR, the FER combine was dissolved by the Treuhandanstalt.
- The part of the business in Brotterode , which was still under renovation in 1989 , was taken over by Robert Bosch GmbH and in 2013 is a location of Automotive Lighting , a subsidiary of the Italian Magneti Marelli
- The main factory in Ruhla and the Eisenach production facilities were worn out and not attractive to the Robert Bosch Group, which is why Robert Bosch GmbH built a new factory building on the Wartenberg from 1991 , in which parts of the former FER workforce found new jobs.
- From 1992 the company managed by the Treuhandanstalt was privatized as FER Fahrzeugelektrik GmbH , in 1994 it moved from its old location in Ruhla to a new plant in Eisenach-Stockhausen . The “bicycle lighting” division, which was important in the early years, was spun off as aufa FER through a management buy-out in 2000 and was based in Eisenach-Stedtfeld . In spring 2008 this company became insolvent. The remaining FER Fahrzeugelektrik GmbH has been operating as Truck-Lite Europe since 2008 . After the loss of the original business partners in the Comecon countries and the GDR automotive industry, FER Fahrzeugelektrik GmbH had to make a new start with new products. At this point in time, the worldwide targeted use of LED technology in the automotive lighting application segment was ready for series production. Under the brand name FER, special components and parts for tail lights, interior lights, mirror indicators, brake lights, side indicators and side reflectors were initially developed and produced in Eisenach.
- Other combine companies were also successfully privatized, for example the Zwickau mine lamps and accumulator factory (GAZ) - today a manufacturer of accumulators for rail vehicles and vehicle electrics Pirna (FEP).
Structural certificates from the FER combine
Most of the factory buildings in Ruhla and Eisenach were demolished after 1995 as part of state-sponsored downtown renovation projects, but there are still four ruinous building complexes in Eisenach:
- the former main administration building of the combine in Fritz-Erbe-Straße,
- the chemical-contaminated building complex (former electroplating) in Oppenheimstrasse,
- the social building with canteen in Adelheidstrasse
- the former holiday home Am Röseschen Hölzchen in a nature reserve
In Ruhla, the ruins of the former vehicle electrician's house are located near the sports field on the edge of the forest.
literature
- Klaus Lantzsch, Jonni Bachmann: Young and steeped in tradition: FER Fahrzeugelektrik GmbH . In: Eisenach yearbook . tape 1994/95 . Hitzerodt Verlag, Marburg 1994, ISBN 3-89398-163-2 , p. 46-49 .
- Martin Kersten: The company and its time. From the chronicle of FER Fahrzeugelektrik GmbH . In: Eisenach yearbook . tape 1994/95 . Hitzerodt Verlag, Marburg 1994, ISBN 3-89398-163-2 , p. 50-57 .
- VEB Vehicle Electronics Combine in Ruhla (Ed.): 10 years VEB Vehicle Electrical Combine in Ruhla. Special edition of the company newspaper Das Signal. Ruhla 1988.
- Kombinat VEB Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla (Ed.): 30 years of national vehicle electrics (1949–1979). Eisenach 1979, DNB 208762353 .
- Between Ruhla, Bad Liebenstein and Schmalkalden (= values of our homeland . Volume 48). 1st edition. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1989.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ History . Truck-Lite Europe GmbH
- ↑ Lotar Köllner: The Ruhlaer streets and their history . In: Stadtverwaltung Ruhla (Hrsg.): Contributions to the local history of Ruhla . Volume 5. Verlag und Druckerei Löhr, Ruhla 2004, p. 44 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Martin Kersten: The company and its time. From the chronicle of FER Fahrzeugelektrik GmbH . In: Eisenach yearbook . tape 1994/95 . Hitzerodt Verlag, Marburg 1994, ISBN 3-89398-163-2 , p. 50-57 .
- ↑ Deutsche Bergwerks-Zeitung , No. 44 of February 21, 1941
- ^ Kombinat VEB Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla (Ed.): 10 years VEB Kombinat Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla. Special edition of the company newspaper Signal. Ruhla 1988, p. 13.
- ^ Kombinat VEB Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla (Ed.): 10 years VEB Kombinat Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla. Special edition of the company newspaper Signal. Ruhla 1988, pp. 8-10.
- ↑ AG Sonnenberg: The manufacturer of vehicle lamps, the Hermann Riemann company, made an interesting development on the highest point of the Sonnenberg. Retrieved February 1, 2019 .
- ^ Kombinat VEB Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla (Ed.): 10 years VEB Kombinat Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla. Special edition of the company newspaper Signal. Ruhla 1988, p. 12.
- ^ Kombinat VEB Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla (Ed.): 10 years VEB Kombinat Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla. Special edition of the company newspaper Signal. Ruhla 1988, p. 15.
- ^ Kombinat VEB Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla (Ed.): 10 years VEB Kombinat Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla. Special edition of the company newspaper Signal. Ruhla 1988, p. 5.
- ↑ a b The company history of GAZ. In: The GAZ Batterie GmbH. Retrieved January 14, 2014 .
- ^ Kombinat VEB Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla (Ed.): 10 years VEB Kombinat Fahrzeugelektrik Ruhla. Special edition of the company newspaper Signal. Ruhla 1988, p. 10.