Heinrich Reining

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Heinrich Reining (born May 24, 1885 in Mülheim an der Ruhr ; † September 29, 1961 in Kürrenberg ) was a German entrepreneur. He was the founder and owner of Constructa-Werke GmbH , which in 1951 developed the first fully automatic washing machine under the brand name Constructa , thereby revolutionizing household activities.

education

He attended the Mülheim elementary and secondary school and after completing his apprenticeship at Thyssen and attending the Duisburg hut school, he studied at the TH Aachen .

Professional background

After working as a designer, operations manager and technical manager at various steelworks, he founded his own company in 1919, Heinrich Reining OHG, a trading and sales company for special and stainless steels, in Düsseldorf. In 1923 the company was transformed into Heinrich Reining GmbH. In the next few years the company gained an excellent reputation for the reliable delivery of excellent stainless steels, which under the word "RAXA" produced new qualities. To ensure the quality of the portfolio, Reining acquired the majority in the Reckhammer steelworks in Remscheid-Lüttringhausen in 1936. When this production site became too small, Reining decided in 1939 to build a new, modern production facility in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel. After production had partially come to a standstill during the war, Reining resumed production in Oberkassel shortly after the war and manufactured special machines for agriculture. In the 1950s, it was above all the well-known Reining Wasp, a tractor attachment, which , when attached to a tractor or Unimog , made agricultural work much easier.

Establishment of the Constructa works

At the same time, however, Reining laid the foundation stone for his greatest entrepreneurial success in the adjoining rooms of his plant in Oberkassel. He commissioned the designer Peter Pfenningsberg, who was employed by him, to develop Germany's first fully automatic washing machine. As early as 1951, the Constructa -Werke was founded under the company name "Maschinenfabrik Peter Pfenningsberg GmbH" in the premises of its agricultural machinery production facility in Oberkassel. The Constructa washing machine is still known today as one of the symbols of the German economic miracle. From 1954 Heinrich Reining GmbH was the sole shareholder of Constructa-Werke. It wasn't just the product itself that was groundbreaking, but also the state-of-the-art assembly line production and advertising that was extremely progressive for the time. But above all, the establishment of a nationwide customer service was a novelty for the time. Despite the construction of a new, modern assembly hall in Oberkassel, the demand could not be met and so, at the age of almost 73, Reining built the largest special factory for washing machines in Germany in 1958 in Lintorf. In less than 10 years, the agricultural machinery manufacturing company with 200 employees had become Europe's leading washing machine manufacturer with over 3,500 employees and a market share of 80% in Germany. In addition to Constructa, Heinrich Reining GmbH also had around 1,000 employees in the operations of Edelstahlhandelsgesellschaft Raxa Export Union, Edelstahlwerk Reckhammer and the Velbert gear factory acquired in 1956. Reining, now over 75 and without a successor, sold Constructa to Siemens in 1961. In the same year Reining died of a heart attack while practicing his great hobby, hunting, in his hunting ground in the Eifel, where a path is named after him. In the course of the steel crisis, Heinrich Reining GmbH filed for bankruptcy in 1980.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Steel and iron . tape 80 (1960) , no. 10 . stahleisen, May 12, 1960, p. 502 f .
  2. ^ Wilfried Kossmann: Steel and iron . No. 81 . stahleisen, 1961, p. 1856 .
  3. ^ Steel and iron . tape 80 (1960) , no. 10 . stahleisen, May 12, 1960, p. 502 f .
  4. ↑ Ute Rasch: The first fully automatic washing machine. RP Online, March 30, 2015, accessed August 28, 2016 .
  5. ^ Christian Göddecke: Fascinating Fifties. Spiegelonline, November 13, 2011, accessed on August 28, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Hans Tischert: Places German labor . Ed .: Europa-Pressedienst / Hans Tischert. tape 15 . Europa-Pressedienst / Hans Tischert, Berlin-Charlottenburg 1959, p. 3-8 .
  7. ↑ Heike Kirchhoff, Sibille Cooney: Drive and Voltage, 250 Years of Industrial History Ratings . Ed .: Friends and supporters of the Cromford Industrial Museum e. V. Rhineland Regional Association, Ratingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-9813700-1-0 , p. 100-103 .
personal data
SURNAME Reining, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH May 24, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Mülheim an der Ruhr
DATE OF DEATH September 29, 1961
Place of death Kürrenberg