Mauser Waldeck

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Mauser works

logo
legal form Corporation
ISIN DE0006580301
founding 1979, predecessor companies from 1896
resolution 2002
Reason for dissolution insolvency
Seat including Waldeck
Number of employees 1000
Branch Metal goods manufacturer, furniture manufacturer

The Mauser Waldeck AG (also Mauser-Werke ) and their precursors as the Mauser-Werke GmbH were 1896-2002 and were German manufacturer of steel products , fence panels , barrels and furniture . The main locations included Oberndorf am Neckar , Cologne , Waldeck and Korbach .

history

  • Company founder Alfons Mauser

  • Mauser patent barrel

  • Bauhaus-style loop table, 1930s

  • Management room with Mauser round furniture, around 1950

Alfons Mauser founded a factory for sheet steel goods, steel grids, garden gates and fence elements in Oberndorf am Neckar in 1896 at the age of 24, which he sold under the name Zaunkönig . In 1898, Mauser relocated his company headquarters to Cologne-Ehrenfeld with the help of his father-in-law . In addition to the Zaunkönig products, from 1900 he also manufactured baskets made of steel belt there, which were required for the transport of pot-bellied glass balloons in which liquid chemical preliminary products such as acids were transported. In 1903, Mauser also developed airtight lockable steel drums made of sheet iron for the chemical and oil industries, which became famous under the name of Mauser patent drums .

In 1921 Mauser acquired a former carbide factory in Waldeck , Hesse , which he redesigned with production lines for steel drums. The company flourished and became one of the largest employers in the region. Soon gas cylinders, containers, tanks and a wide variety of agricultural products were also manufactured here. In 1922 Mauser moved the company headquarters from Cologne-Ehrenfeld to Brühl in the Rhineland and renamed the company to Mauser-Werke GmbH . Alfons Mauser died in 1927 at the age of 55. His five sons continued the business of the company in the form of a family holding company. After Mauser's death, the Alfons and Maria Mauserstiftung came into being , which was committed to social issues for employees and their families.

The generation of sons diversified the company's product range. In 1929 the production of steel furniture began at the Waldeck plant, and barrel production was also expanded. Large production facilities were built in Harburg, Neuwied and Herdecke, and subsidiaries in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo), Portugal (Sapem / Lisbon) and the Netherlands (Vreeland plant) manufactured Mauser patent barrels . From 1930 onwards, Mauser-Werke produced cantilever tubular steel chairs based on their own designs, which, however , could not deny their design proximity to Bauhaus designs . This was followed by lengthy legal disputes with various patent owners such as Mies van der Rohe (1936) and, after the Second World War, with the furniture manufacturer Thonet, which competed in the design segment (until 1961).

In the course of relocating armaments factories that were important to the war effort, the Henschel aircraft engine factories moved into the production halls of Waldeck in 1944 , for which purpose barrel production had to be stopped. After the war, Mauser-Werke used the barrel and barrel production lines that had previously been stored due to the switch to war production to produce high-quality furniture and office equipment. The Mauser round shape program offered desks, conference tables, club tables and filing cabinets. In the Waldeck factory, tubular steel seating elements such as single chairs and multi-seat club benches were manufactured. At the beginning of the 1950s, the Mauser-Libelle seating furniture (design by Walter Papst ) and the Mauser butterfly came onto the market, and they became design icons of the post-war period . The furniture in the style of the mid-century modern , which Mauser has been producing since 1929 , is a sought-after design classic today. In 1953 the company built its own office furniture factory in Korbach . In 1997 Mauser was still considered the leading manufacturer of office furniture in terms of volume in Germany.

In 1979 the Mauser-Werke GmbH changed into the Mauser-Waldeck Aktiengesellschaft as part of a capital increase . The entrepreneurial family Mauser parted with their shares, which resulted in changing majorities among the owners and different product and corporate strategies for the company. The Rothenberger Group (1988–1992), Rheinmetall (1992–2000) and Ahrend NV (2000–2002) were involved.

The Mauser Waldeck AG product range became smaller over the years, as lines were partially discontinued or integrated into new owner companies. The transport solutions division was continued in Brühl as the Mauser Group . The company in Waldeck, which among other things produced Mauser furniture, went bankrupt in 2002 and was liquidated. The site had already been closed in 2000. The brand name Mauser - Möbel und Sitzkultur is sold as part of a management buyout . The seating furniture division was taken over in 2003 by today's Mauser SitzKultur GmbH & Co KG in Twist valley -Berndorf, the other parts of Mauser Office GmbH became the property of the Vauth-Sagel Group from Brakel-Erkelen in 2004, which is now Mauser Einrichtungssysteme GmbH & Co . KG and has its headquarters in Korbach and Beverungen .

Web links

Commons : Mauser Waldeck  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Mauser round-shaped furniture. In: treffpunkt-kunst.net
  2. ↑ Contract Design, Volume 39, Issues 1-41, Gralla Publications, 1997, p. 49.
  3. ↑ Collection of articles on takeovers of Mauser AG. ( Memento from February 10, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) In: der-betrieb.de
  4. ↑ Rheinmetall separates from his problem child Mauser Waldeck. In: Die Welt from February 25, 2000.
  5. ↑ Office furniture manufacturer Mauser files for bankruptcy. ( Memento from February 6, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) In: möbelmarkt.de from December 4, 2002.
  6. ↑ Gamer Report - Bankruptcy stocks are very popular. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of September 3, 2005.