Pfaff (company)
| Pfaff Industriesysteme und Maschinen GmbH
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| legal form | Company with limited liability |
| founding | Predecessor company: 1862 by Georg Michael Pfaff , current company: 2009 |
| Seat | Kaiserslautern , Germany |
| Number of employees | 200 (January 2016) |
| Branch | mechanical engineering |
| Website | www.pfaff-industrial.com |
The Pfaff Industrie und Maschinen GmbH is a German company based in Kaiserslautern . It employs around 200 people in development, production, sales and administration. The products are sold worldwide through our own sales subsidiaries and partners.
history
GM Pfaff AG
From 1862 until the Second World War
The company was founded by the instrument maker Georg Michael Pfaff . In 1862 he sold his first sewing machine , which is now in the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
About ten years later, he gave up the manufacture of brass instruments and expanded the company into a leading sewing machine manufacturer, which sold several thousand sewing machines annually. In 1874 GM Pfaff founded a health benefit fund , and shortly afterwards a company pension fund . In 1885 Pfaff opened a sales branch in London , while the Kaiserslautern plant continued to grow. In 1891, 400 workers produced around 25,000 machines a year. After Georg Michael Pfaff's death in 1893, his older son Georg Pfaff (1853–1917) took over the company. Under his leadership, the plant was expanded and between 1896 (construction began in 1894) and 1906 it was relocated to the Galgenberg on what was then the western outskirts of Kaiserslautern.
In 1907 or 1908 the first special industrial sewing machines were manufactured, while the sewing machines manufactured up to then had been used in households as well as in industry and craft. In 1910 Georg Pfaff donated the millionth Pfaff sewing machine to the Historical Museum in Speyer. In 1913, the quantitative export share was already 60%.
Until Georg Pfaff's death in 1917, the company exported to 64 countries. As a result, his sister Lina Pfaff (1854–1929) continued the company. Their social attitudes were reflected in the establishment of a survivors' fund, the construction of the first Pfaff settlement (apartments for employees) and the establishment of the Pfaff baths on what was then Wittelsbacherplatz. When it was converted into a stock corporation in 1926, Karl Pfaff (1888–1952), son of the founder's younger son Jakob Pfaff (1856–1889), took over management. The company now employed 2,600 people and again introduced a pension fund. 300 machines left the factory every day. The assembly took place on the assembly line . In 1936 the three millionth Pfaff sewing machine was manufactured.
Production was limited during the Second World War. Pfaff now also manufactured closures for machine guns . In 1944 around 60% of the plant was destroyed in a bomb attack, but was quickly rebuilt after the war.
From World War II to 1998
In 1951 the first portable suitcase household sewing machine with a variable free arm came onto the market. In 1952 Karl Pfaff died unexpectedly. The company was further expanded under the chairman of the board, Hugo Lind, who created the first high-speed industrial sewing machine with circulation lubrication. In 1956 the ELTE plant in Landstuhl was taken over, in 1957 the Gritzner -Kayser AG company in Karlsruhe , from which the Karlsruhe-Durlach plant emerged.
From 1960 the shares of GM Pfaff AG were traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange. In the same year Pfaff developed the first machine with a thread cutter and presented the first oil-free high-speed sewing machine for "dry" work. In 1967 the company introduced the first zigzag a machine with 6,000 stitches per minute and presented in 1968 the world's first Patch machine for jeans pockets and in 1973 the first programmable contours machines in the world.
Since the 1980s, the company had to suffer from changes of ownership and the difficulties of the shoe and clothing industry as its main customer. There were also serious management errors. In 1988 the majority of the shares went to Wolfgang Schuppli . In 1993 he sold the company to Semi-Tech (Global) Co. Ltd. This sold the majority of the shares in 1997 to its then subsidiary Singer , which resulted in the Singer / Pfaff group.
Pfaff Industriemaschinen AG
1999 to 2007
In 1999 the group got into a threatening economic situation and had to file for bankruptcy. This resulted in the separation of Pfaff and Singer. Therefore, in the same year, the household sewing machine division including the rights to the Pfaff brand was sold to Husqvarna Viking from Sweden . Since then, the industrial machinery division has been operating as Pfaff Industriemaschinen AG, and in 2001 it went to Rimoldi from Italy and in 2002 95% to Bianchi Marè (the remaining 5% was held by Merchant Bank Efibanca in Milan). Marè, based near Milan, was one of the largest dealers in Pfaff industrial sewing machines. The “Pfaff” brand was allowed to continue to be used under a license from Husqvarna Viking .
Soon after, the global Asian trend in the textile industry was followed: the merger with the Chinese sewing machine manufacturer Zoje Sewing Machine Co. Ltd. to the joint venture company Shanghai Pfaff-Zoje Machinery Industry Ltd. took place. As a result, Pfaff sewing machines are mainly manufactured in China today, while high-tech devices for sewing and welding in industry continued to be largely produced in Germany.
In order to further expand its commitment in China , Pfaff founded its own plant in Taicang , near Shanghai , and took over all shares in the Shanghai Pfaff-Zoje Machinery Industry Ltd. joint venture . The 100% own company in Taicang is a main pillar of the Pfaff Group's production and market strategy and the future heart of China's activities. In 2008 around 20,000 Pfaff industrial sewing machines and the associated controls and drives were manufactured in the Taicang plant.
In 2004 Pfaff was back in the black. This trend continued in 2005. At the end of 2005, the previous shareholders Bianchi Marè ( Milan ) and Efibanca ( Rome ) transferred all of their shares to the German investment company GCI BridgeCapital AG ( Munich ). The transaction with GCI made it possible to clean up legacy balance sheets and create a positive equity ratio of around 30%. In January 2007, Pfaff Industrie Maschinen AG was listed on the capital market again for the first time with an opening price of EUR 2.42.
The factory premises on the edge of downtown Kaiserslautern were largely unused due to the downsizing of the company. Effective and therefore inexpensive production was no longer possible in the outdated factory. In addition, the factory premises no longer belong to the company, but to the previous owners, Bianchi Marè, so high rent payments were due. That is why in October 2007 the groundbreaking ceremony for a new building in the northern industrial area of Kaiserslautern took place. This new building was ready for occupancy, but Pfaff Industriemaschinen AG could no longer move into it because it had become insolvent. The successor company has now moved into the new building.
2008 to 2009
On August 4, 2008, it was announced that GCI only held 62% of the company's shares. 12% was transferred to Banco Popolare in Milan. Background of this business was a debtor warrant , which had been granted to the bank as the lead bank of the former owner Bianchi Marè during the renovation. At the same time, GCI announced that it only wanted to hold a minority stake in Pfaff and that it was negotiating the sale of the majority of the shares with various investors (including a financial investor and two companies from the mechanical engineering sector). On September 11, 2008, the company applied to the Kaiserslautern District Court to open insolvency proceedings. The application was granted on January 2, 2009. The court appointed the Kaiserslautern attorney Paul Wieschemann, who was already acting as the preliminary insolvency administrator, as the insolvency administrator. The business operations of Pfaff Industrie Maschinen AG were continued by the insolvency administrator, the employees largely switched to a rescue company.
Four potential investors submitted offers to continue operations, including the German sewing machine manufacturer Dürkopp-Adler , the Chinese sewing machine manufacturers Typical and Jack and the medium-sized mechanical engineering company Joachim Richter from Konken . The latter was favored by the employees, the IG Metall trade union and local politicians, as the largest number of jobs at the Kaiserslautern location should be retained in its continuation concept.
Pfaff Industriesysteme und Maschinen AG
From 2009 on
On March 26, 2009, Richter was awarded the contract for the company, which from April 16, 2009 had operated as Pfaff Industriesysteme und Maschinen AG . The financing was provided by a consortium of regional savings banks , which in turn were partially secured by a guarantee from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . Initially with 160 employees, industrial sewing and textile welding machines were manufactured in the main factory in Kaiserslautern. In the medium term, the number of employees should increase to 300, most of whom should be recruited from the employees of Pfaff Industriemaschinen AG iL . The move to the new Pfaff plant in Kaiserslautern's northern industrial area was completed. In addition to sewing and welding machines, special machines should also be built here in the future. The focus should be on high-quality devices for the European and US market. Pfaff has been represented at trade fairs again since the takeover by Richter, who also wanted to use synergies with his company Joachim Richter Maschinenbau.
On May 12, 2012, Richter announced a restructuring of the company due to losses in the 2011 financial year. Since May 2011 the company has been cooperating with the Taiwanese company Chee Siang Industrial Co. Ltd. Another partner in the Asian region has been announced. On August 23, 2012, Richter transferred his shares in Pfaff to a trust and thus decided not to have a say in the further development of the company.
From 2013: New owner SGSB Group
On March 6, 2013, the company was sold to the Chinese SGSB Group Co. Ltd. sold, which is also the owner of the previous Pfaff competitor Dürkopp . At the end of 2014, the legal form was changed from a stock corporation to a GmbH .
Awards
Pfaff won the IMB INNOVATION AWARD 2006 for the programmed welding solution with 100% parameter control . In 2007, the jury of experts at the interzum award 2007 awarded a newly developed PFAFF upholstery sewing machine with the BEST OF THE BEST award in the field of upholstered furniture production and bedding. In the same year the Initiative Mittelstand PFAFF awarded the 2007 Industry Innovation Prize for the development of the PFAFF 8310 Cut & Seal ultrasonic welding machine .
Pfaff area
The former company headquarters in Kaiserslautern, the so-called Pfaff area , is now the largest contiguous urban development area in Kaiserslautern.
literature
- Willy Freitag: The development of the Kaiserslautern textile industry since the 18th century. (= Publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland , Volume 8.) Saarbrücken 1963.
- Gerhard Neumeier: Pfaff, sewing machine manufacturer. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-00201-6 , p. 293 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Rolf Müller: Pfaff. Self-published, Kaiserslautern 2011.
Movie
- The history of Pfaff sewing machines - Feinstich from the Palatinate. Documentary, Germany, 2014, 44:40 min., Script and director: Utz Kastenholz, camera: Stefanie Vier, production: SWR , series: Geschichte im Südwesten, first broadcast: November 30, 2014 on SWR, synopsis by ARD .
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ PFAFF Industriesysteme und Maschinen GmbH - German. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
- ↑ Jürgen Zirbik: zigzag. In: brand eins , 2003, issue 6.
- ↑ Benno Stieber: Sewing machine manufacturer Pfaff is insolvent. In: Die Welt from September 11, 2008.
- ↑ jr / DP / wiz: Insolvency proceedings opened for machine manufacturer Pfaff. In: Handelszeitung from January 2, 2009.
- ^ Print edition of the daily newspaper Die Rheinpfalz from April 15, 2009, regional edition Kaiserslautern
- ↑ ShangGong (Europe) Holding Corp. GmbH takes over 100% of the shares in Pfaff Industriesysteme und Maschinen AG Kaiserslautern. On: duerkopp-adler.com , April 9, 2013, accessed December 1, 2014.
- ↑ Kaiserslautern District Court, HRB 31763, entry from December 3, 2014.