Petkus agricultural machinery plant Wutha
The operating plant Petkus Wutha was as a company of agricultural engineering in the GDR leading producer of cereal and seed processing technology within the Comecon .
history
The origin of the company is the company of Christian Friedrich Röber , founded in Eichrodt near Eisenach in 1852 as a forge and agricultural machinery workshop , in which hand-operated chopping mills, beet cutters and simple seed processing machines were produced as early as 1866.
In 1945 the part of the company Spezialmaschinenbau Gebrüder Röber (Wutha) located in Wutha became property of the State of Thuringia and in 1948 it became public property. At the same time he was named "Agricultural Machinery Factory Petkus Wutha" and became a member of the VVB Agricultural, Construction and Woodworking Machinery . The name Petkus refers to the Brandenburg town of Petkus . The production of seed processing machines was resumed.
From 1952 to 1954 the company was a subsidiary of the Meteor-Werke Zella-Mehlis and was involved in the production of mower binders . At the beginning of the 1950s, the products in the field of fine seed processing and drying technology were sold by the companies Neusaat (Eberswalde), Jäger (Halle) and Gomper (Hainichen) and in 1961 companies in Dingelstädt (formerly Wegerich), Gerstungen and Vacha (formerly Lyding). Another part of the business was later set up on the western outskirts of Creuzburg , where seed cleaning technology was tested.
In 1970, the company, with around 1,700 employees, became part of the Progress Agricultural Machinery Combine . In 1978, this resulted in the assignment of the Erfurt malting and storage facilities (grain silo and malting plants), Raguhn pressing and punching plant (perforated sheets), Erfurt Unitechnik (electrical systems), Raguhn and Neustadt / Orla metal weaving mills (metal mesh, wire screens) and apparatus construction Nordhausen (brewing plants for breweries) a unit with around 4,000 employees. From this point on, the name Anlagenbau Petkus Wutha was also used. In 1984 the last two companies mentioned were spun off from agricultural machinery and the other companies were converted into parts of the company. At the end of the 1980s, the plant construction company Petkus Wutha had a turnover of more than 500 million GDR marks and around 4,000 employees, of which around 1,400 were employed in the main plant in Wutha.
In 1990 the company came under trust management. From 1993 onwards, several attempts at privatization were made. The result was PETKUS Technologie GmbH, which is still active today in the field of grain and seed processing systems and is based in Wutha. The other locations were liquidated.
Products
In the first post-war years, the company was able to rely on a viable range of products from Röber, which was further developed from the mid-1950s and expanded by the programs of the above-mentioned companies. The following main products were therefore current at the end of the 1950s:
- Seed maker Petkus-Super K 212 and Petkus-Gigant K 213 with the later further development of the K 541 and K 531
- Flat screen machines K 062
- Fine seed cleaner K 218 with drive block K553
- Electromagnetic seed cleaning machine K 073
- Seed repeller K 041
- Warm air grain dryer K 841 and K 844
- Cold ventilation system K 831
- Central pipe ventilation silos K 839
- Grain blower T 231, T 232, T 233
From the 1960s onwards, in addition to increasing performance in seed processing due to the increasing harvest with combine harvesters, machines for grain processing and storage were required. The main products of this stage are:
- Silo systems based on the K 850 aluminum silo cell (from 1966)
- Combine post cleaners K 521 and K 523 (from 1966) and their further developments K 525, K 526, K 526
- Seed conditioner K 545 (from 1971) and further development K 547
- Fine seed conditioner K 546 (from 1972) and further development K 548
- Sieve sifter K 560 (from 1985)
- Cell separator of the K 230 series (from the mid-1970s)
- Universal cleaning machines U 40 and U 100 (from 1985)
- Metal silo systems based on 500 t silo cells (from 1986)
The product range was shaped to a large extent by cooperation with the USSR from the mid-1960s. One focus was on the complete systems for the processing, preservation and storage of fine seeds from 1970. Within the framework of the Comecon , the Petkus Wutha company had developed into the leading producer of grain and seed processing technology, exporting more than 90% of its products. In the 1980s, an average of around 6,000 machine units (grain cleaning machines and seed machines) were produced annually, which is the top value for this type of product worldwide.
The grain cleaning machines and seed machines offered by PETKUS Technologie GmbH today are based on the concepts of earlier products. The current K 531 Gigant and K 541 Super seed machines have the longest tradition.
Monument protection
The status of a monument was established in 1994 for the Wilhelminian-style factory building on Eisenacher Strasse, the two factory owners' villas and the associated park with a pond.
literature
- Christa Reißig: 120 years of foundation of the Röber brothers special machine construction in Wutha. Part 1. (For the special exhibition in the Hörselberg Museum Schönau). In: Hörselbergbote No. 54. Wutha-Farnroda 2003. pp. 28–37
- Klaus Krombholz: Agricultural machinery in the GDR - light and shadow. 3rd edition, DLG-Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-7690-0717-6 .
- Collective of authors: The nationally owned combine progress agricultural machinery Neustadt in Saxony and its businesses 1945–1990. Publication of the traditional association KOFO Neustadt / Sa. e. V., 2005.
- Festkomitee (ed.): Festschrift 650 years of Wutha. Printing and publishing house Frisch, Eisenach 1999.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 57 ′ 23 " N , 10 ° 23 ′ 29" E