Fresh (company)
| Eisenbauanstalt Gebr. Frisch Heinrich Frisch KG Eisenwerk Gebr. Frisch KG Frisch GmbH |
|
|---|---|
| legal form | KG / GmbH |
| founding | 1902 |
| resolution | 1977 |
| Reason for dissolution | Takeover by FAUN-Werke |
| Seat | Augsburg (later Kissing ) |
| Number of employees | around 2,100 (1971) |
| sales | 159 million DM (1975) |
| Branch | Steel construction , mechanical engineering |
Founded in 1902 Eisenbauanstalt Brothers fresh Augsburg was a German company for steel construction and engineering , the 1913 first as Henry Frisch KG and 1953 as ferrous Gebr. Fresh KG changed its name . In 1971 the company was converted into Frisch GmbH . In 1977 FAUN-Werke finally took over the company and formed FAUN-Frisch-Baumaschinen GmbH . The company's production sites, which at times had more than 2000 employees, were in Augsburg and, from 1936, also in Kissing . Smaller branches in Mechernich and Liblar were added later.
Company history
For the planning and execution of iron and steel structures , the brothers Heinrich Frisch jun. and Nicodemus Frisch founded the Eisenbauanstalt Gebrüder Frisch Augsburg in 1902 . They initially set up their production in the art and construction metalworking shop of their father Heinrich Frisch, which opened in 1867 in downtown Augsburg. Just two years later, the two brothers left this workshop due to the limited space and built a new factory on the outskirts of the city on Böheimstrasse. A particular advantage of the new location was the existing siding of the Augsburg local railway . In 1906 the two brothers expanded production and from then on also manufactured switches , turntables and transfer platforms .
Heinrich Frisch jun. retired from the company in 1913. Thereupon the businessman August Starker became a partner and commercial director. At the same time, the company was converted into a limited partnership and from then on traded as Heinrich Frisch KG . August Stark left the company again in 1926 and Nikodemus Frisch took over the management alone. In the same year, Frisch began developing machines for building and maintaining roads.
Due to orders, the workforce grew from 109 in 1933 to over 250 in 1935. During the time of National Socialism , the company profited considerably from the armaments industry and was able to further increase its sales. The clients included the Heereswaffenamt , some Army Construction Offices, the Reich Aviation Ministry as well as the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the Reichspost . At the same time, the company acted as a supplier to MAN and Messerschmitt . Due to the large number of orders, Nicodemus Frisch planned an expansion of the production site in 1934. Since the necessary space on Böheimstrasse was not available, Frisch acquired a new location in Kissing directly on the Augsburg-Munich railway line and opened production there after the construction work was completed in 1936.
In 1938, Nicodemus Frisch handed the management over to his two sons Ernst and Fritz. At that time the workforce had grown to around 350 people. From 1942 the company also received direct orders from the Wehrmacht . Until the end of the war, these orders made up an average of around 30% of total sales. Around 50 to 60 forced laborers were deployed in order to achieve the associated production goals . In the last two years of the war, the plant on Böheimstrasse suffered several damage from bombs, which could only be completely removed after the end of the war.
After the Second World War, Frisch recovered relatively quickly. The construction boom in the 1950s and the associated need for construction machinery and steel structures for the reconstruction of destroyed bridges and buildings brought the company high sales. The workforce grew from around 500 in 1952 to around 1000 in 1957. In 1953 there was an increased focus on the production of construction machinery and the name was changed to Eisenwerk Gebr. Frisch KG (EGFA). In the years that followed, the company expanded its construction machinery program and gained a lot of fame in the industry. 1959 was fresh distribution of its equipment Duisburg trading company Klöckner & Co .
The 1960s continued to see strong growth at the beginning of the decade. After the opening of the branch plants in Mechernich and Liblar, Frisch employed around 1,700 people in 1968 and achieved an annual turnover of around 70 million DM. The company now also has numerous foreign agencies. After the collaboration with Klöckner & Co was terminated, Frisch initially took over sales and customer service himself. However, towards the end of the 1960s, the management found that sales figures for construction machinery were falling. In order to revive sales and save costs, the decision was made to work with the northern German manufacturer Hatra . Hatra-Frisch GmbH was founded on January 1st, 1968 and sales and customer service were organized together. However, as expectations were not met, the connection was dissolved again in 1969 and sales were taken over by Frisch-Baumaschinen GmbH from 1970 onwards .
The maximum number of employees was finally reached in the early 1970s. In 1971, around 2100 workers and employees worked for the company. In the same year, the legal form was changed to a GmbH and was now simply called Frisch GmbH . The 1973 oil crisis ensured that Frisch got into economic difficulties and the loss-making steel construction division had to close. Sales of construction machines recovered somewhat in the mid-1970s, sales were at 159 million DM and sales of construction machines rose to 700 machines per year. Exports abroad also played an important role. By 1975 around 50,000 construction machines had been sold since production began.
In 1977 FAUN took over the majority of the shares in Frisch GmbH. The reason for the takeover was the persistently poor economic situation of the company despite its high market shares (10% for wheel loaders and 50% for graders in Germany). The production of wheel loaders and graders was continued by the newly formed FAUN-Frisch-Baumaschinen GmbH , headquartered in Lauf an der Pegnitz, and complemented the existing FAUN dump truck range . In 1986 FAUN-Werke and with it FAUN-Frisch-Baumaschinen GmbH joined the O&K group. In 1998 the Fiat subsidiary New Holland acquired the construction machinery division of O&K and in 1999 completely stopped production in the former Frisch factory in Kissing.
Products
In the early years, the company focused on the manufacture of iron structures that were used in the construction of roof trusses, warehouses and factories, as well as road and railway bridges. Frisch supplied the steel construction for the Ludwigsbau , the Lech Bridge near Gersthofen and the inlet locks at the Hochablass . A few years later, the production of points, turntables and transfer platforms for the Royal Bavarian State Railways was added.
In addition to the manufacture of steel structures, from 1926 on, Frisch also developed construction machines for the construction and maintenance of roads. The result of this development process was the Licus attached grader , which came onto the market a little later and was manufactured until 1934. Its successor was the Type E , which was produced from 1936 . The company also launched a self-propelled grader called Augusta in the same year . It was the first motor grader made in Germany.
In the post-war period, Frisch stuck to the development and production of construction machinery and in 1949 presented the newly designed M 75 H 4 motor grader , which could be equipped with either a Deutz or Hanomag engine. At the time, Frisch was closely connected to Deutz and Hanomag, as the company supplied front loading equipment for Deutz and Hanomag caterpillar tractors. Towards the end of the 1950s, Frisch also added grading and overhead loading equipment for these crawler tractors to its range. At the same time, more powerful graders such as the M 90 H 6 were offered. On the other hand, rippers and scrapers to hang on or vibrating plates and rails as well as splitting rakes were only briefly part of the range.
With the presentation of a self-developed wheel loader in 1959, Frisch responded to the steadily growing interest of the construction industry in these new types of machines. In 1960, Frisch continued the production of wheel loaders together with the Italian wheeled tractor manufacturer Moncalvi . The Moncalvi-wheeled tractors of the type Tiger served as gear tray for loading facilities fresh. In 1961 the type 600 followed in in-house production. From this point on, the company presented its customers with new wheel loader models at regular intervals. From 1964 the types F 800 and F 1300 and from 1966 the F 1100 were available. After the introduction of the articulated wheel loader in the United States in the mid-1960s, Frisch also built such a machine from 1967 with the 1800 model . This type was also offered as a garbage compactor at the end of the 1960s . The F 3000 presented in 1969 , which also had articulated steering and was considered the largest series wheel loader in Europe at the time, was particularly powerful . But wheel loaders without articulated steering, such as the F 900 introduced in the same year , continued to be sold.
At the same time, Frisch continued to develop its range of graders. From 1963 the type F 75 left the Kissinger factory and in 1964 the F 185 followed . In 1968 the types F 65 , F 95 , F 115 , F 125 and F 145 were launched , all of which could be equipped for the first time with the “Nivomatik”, an automatic coulter control. In the 1970s, some of these types were further developed. However, completely new graders came onto the market, such as the F 85 , F 185 or the F 215, the largest grader model in Europe at the time . Similar to the wheel loaders, articulated steering has now also been introduced for the graders. A special feature in this context was the F 65 C , which appeared in the mid-1970s . It was a compact articulated grader that consisted of a Fendt drive part and a Frisch front frame.
With the F 2020 , Frisch presented a wheel dozer to its customers for the first time in 1970 . Between 1970 and the takeover by FAUN in 1977, further wheel loader models were also developed. After the F 1600 , which was added in 1970 and equipped for the first time with Z-kinematics, the F 1400 followed a year later . The backhoe loader presented by Fendt in 1974 was a special product for foreign customers. At the same time, the F 1202 with the then new hydrostatic drive went on sale. A year before the takeover, some wheel loader models were revised and the "Priomatik" control system was added.
Locations
Augsburg plant
The factory on Böheimstrasse in Augsburg ( location ) was moved into from 1904 and was the company's headquarters for many years until it was relocated to Kissing. The property with an area of about 1.8 hectares was located in the west on Böheimstrasse and was bordered in the north and east by tracks of the Augsburg local railway. The eastern half of the property received a siding and served as an open storage area. On the other hand, there were several buildings on the western half of the property. For the management there is a three-storey Blankziegelbau according to the plans of the construction was Thormann & Boots with stepped gables , rusticated window window surrounds and an artfully forged balconies built. With this design, the typical appearance of Augsburg's old town should be modeled. A three-aisled assembly hall with galleries for production was added to it. In 1909 a workshop extension with a bare brick facade was added as well as an iron half-timbered hall, which also served as an advertising medium for the company's iron construction. In 1916, Frisch also had a Biedermeier residential and porter house built on Böheimstrasse according to plans by the Augsburg architect Leopold Kalbitz .
After the plant was closed, the site was converted into a commercial park. The buildings in the western part of the property still exist today (as of February 2020). Only the outdoor area in the eastern part of the property disappeared with the construction of Schleifenstrasse around the turn of the millennium.
Kissing plant
Due to the limited space in the Augsburg plant, Frisch built a branch in Kissing in 1936 ( location ). The property was located south of the Kissingen train station and bordered the Augsburg-Munich railway line to the west and Reichsstraße 2 (later Bundesstraße 2 ) to the east . This plant also quickly got a siding. After the Second World War, the Kissingen plant was gradually expanded and the headquarters moved there. Until it was taken over by FAUN-Werke in 1977, the site covered around 14 hectares.
The factory premises were used for the production of construction machinery until 1999. Subsequently, the conversion into a commercial center took place. The building stock has remained almost unchanged until today (February 2020).
See also
literature
- Ulf Böge: Yearbook Construction Machines 2020. Podszun-Verlag, 2019, ISBN 978-3-86133-934-2 , page 81 ff.
Web links
- Eisenwerk Gebrüder Frisch in the Augsburgwiki
Individual evidence
- ^ Victor-Georg Hohmann: Augsburger Wirtschaftsalmanach . Archive publishing house, 1952.
- ^ Siegfried Baum: The Augsburg Local Railway . EK-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 2000, ISBN 3-88255-444-4 , page 48.
- ↑ Winfried Nerdinger : Buildings Remember. Augsburg during the Nazi era. (= Writings of the Architekturmuseum Schwaben , Volume 10.) Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-496-01473-7 , page 125.
- ^ Community Kissing (ed.): Kissing - history and present . 1983, p. 235.
- ^ Community Kissing (ed.): Kissing - history and present . 1983, p. 292.
- ^ Dieter Engelhardt: Old companies in the Swabian economic region . Engelhardt-Werbung und Verlag, Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-9802736-1-X , page 224.
- ^ Walter Gerlach: The book of the old companies of the city and the industrial district of Augsburg in 1930. Jubilee publishing house, Leipzig 1930, page 63.
- ^ Digital image archive of the Augsburg University Library