Franco Tosi (company)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Franco Tosi Meccanica
legal form Spa
founding 1874 (Cantoni Krumm & C.)
from 1884 "Franco Tosi"
Seat Legnano near Milan , Italy
Number of employees approx. 600 (2008),
formerly 6000 (1970s)
sales € 85 million (2006)
Branch Mechanical engineering, energy technology
(formerly also submarine and shipbuilding)
Website www.francotosimeccanica.it

Franco Tosi steam turbine installed in the CAP Cuatreros power plant in Argentina

Franco Tosi (company formerly Franco Tosi & C. , today Franco Tosi Meccanica ) is an Italian machine, apparatus and plant construction and former shipbuilding company based in Legnano near Milan . The company was built by the engineer Franco Tosi at the end of the 19th century .

The company has been insolvent since mid-2013 .

History and products

Franco Tosi steam engine from the Regina Margherita thermal power station

Franco Tosi emerged from the machine factory Cantoni Krumm & C. , in whose service Tosi joined in 1876 as technical manager. The factory had been founded shortly before (1874) primarily for the construction of textile machines, but under Tosi's direction it quickly shifted to the production of steam engines , which Tosi had developed to drive industrial looms. With this product, the young company experienced a rapid boom. After a short time Tosi became a shareholder and from 1881 the company also bore his name. From 1884 (or 1894?) Tosi was the sole owner.

In the early days of the 19th century, Franco Tosi manufactured not only the successful steam engines but also the associated steam boilers . Steam turbines were also added at the beginning of the 20th century (1904) .

A short time later (1907) Franco Tosi also entered the growing business of manufacturing diesel engines . Among other things, Ettore Maserati , one of the five brothers who later founded Maserati , worked temporarily as an engine developer for Franco Tosi . In the area of ​​engine construction, Franco Tosi also cooperated with the motorcycle manufacturer Emilio Bozzi .

Before the beginning of the First World War in 1914, Tosi founded a subsidiary in Taranto in southern Italy, a shipyard for the manufacture of submarines and ships , especially for the Italian Navy.

In the 1930s, the factory soccer team from Tosis Werft in Taranto played in Girone H of the Prima Divisione of the Italian Football League.

  • Franco Tosi Maccanica in 1958. Photos by Paolo Monti.
  • Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Italia, 1958) - BEIC 6365900.jpg
  • Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Legnano, 1958) - BEIC 6361470.jpg
  • Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Legnano, 1958) - BEIC 6361473.jpg
  • Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Legnano, 1958) - BEIC 6361557.jpg

After the Second World War, Franco Tosi cooperated with the American companies General Electric and Combustion Engineering and manufactured license replicas of their large steam turbines and boilers. Parts for gas turbines were also produced. By the 1970s, the number of employees grew to its highest level of more than 6,000.

During the economic crisis in the global power plant business in the 1990s, Franco Tosi was taken over by the Italian armaments company Ansaldo , a subsidiary of the Finmeccanica group , and integrated into its energy sector, AnsaldoEnergia . In 2000, Franco Tosi was transferred to the Casti Group under pressure from the Italian antitrust authorities due to excessive concentration in Italian energy plant construction .

After a takeover by A-TEC failed in 2008, Franco Tosi was taken over by the Indian plant engineering company Gammon in a majority (75%) .

In 2013 the company went bankrupt.

Most recently, Franco Tosi mainly manufactured equipment for power plants and other energy technology systems:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Company on francotosimeccanica.it ( Memento from April 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  2. ↑ a b A-Tec wants to get into turbine construction on handelsblatt.com (accessed on July 17, 2009)
  3. ↑ a b State aid SA.38129 (2014 / N) - Rescue aid to Franco Tosi Meccanica SpA in as - Italy. European Commission, March 11, 2014, accessed June 24, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Tosi, Franco , in: Matschoss, Conrad: Men of technology. A biographical handbook, ed. on behalf of the Association of German Engineers. Berlin: Springer, 1925, XI, 306 p., On digitalis.uni-koeln.de
  5. ↑ Franco Tosi on albert-gieseler.de
Commons : Franco Tosi Meccanica  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Coordinates: 45 ° 35 ′ 33.3 "  N , 8 ° 54 ′ 47"  E