Poldi (company)

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Poldi sro

logo
legal form Společnost s ručením omezeným ( sro , = ~ Ltd. )
founding 1889
Seat Kladno
management Vladimír Živičnjak
Number of employees 350
Branch Steel industry
Website www.poldi.cz

Poldi sro (historically Poldi-Hütte or Huť Poldi ) from Kladno near Prague ( Czech Republic ) is a company that specializes in the production of high-alloy steels. The company has been part of Scholz AG since 1999 .

history

The Poldi-Hütte was founded in 1889 by the entrepreneur Karl Wittgenstein . It was entirely in his possession. For the new company Wittgenstein chose the name Poldi, the diminutive of the first name of his wife Leopoldine. This woman's head profile is still used today as the company's logo .

Around 1900 the Poldihammer was developed in the Poldi-Hütte , a handy device for hardness testing .

Between 1903 and 1911 the company premises were redesigned by the architect Josef Hoffmann . This included the construction of a new guest house (Dům hostů Poldiny hutě, also Poldihaus) including the interior, a villa for the operations director Franz Hatlanek, a roof over the main entrance and several building facades.

In 1909, Poldi-Stahl was used to build the Blitzen-Benz racing car . In 1930 steel products from Poldi-Hütte were used in the construction of the Sydney Harbor Bridge .

Because of extensive armaments contracts for the Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War , the company management decided in 1916 to set up a branch in Komotau . The engineer Richard von Doderer was commissioned to build it. Due to the lack of building material due to the war, the plant could not be put into operation until 1920, after the end of the war.

After the annexation of Czechoslovakia by the Third Reich , the Poldi-Hütte became part of the Reichswerke Hermann Göring . After the Czech-Slovak communists came to power in 1948, the company was nationalized and incorporated into the planned economy . During this time the Poldi hut was also a sponsor of the Poldi Kladno ice hockey club . In 1969 the production of the first surgical instruments made of stainless Poldi steels began. Today the company mainly produces high-alloy forged steel for tool , ship and vehicle construction as well as for wind turbines and nuclear power plants .

After the collapse of communism in 1989/90, the privatization of the hut began. In this context, the production areas not directly related to steel production were spun off as an independent company - Strojírny POLDI sro, today: Strojírny Poldi as - in 1992. In 1993, both the Strojírny POLDI and the rest of the Poldi hut were sold to private investors . In 1996 economic difficulties forced the Poldi-Hütte into bankruptcy . The company's situation only improved sustainably when it was acquired by Scholz AG between 1999 and 2002, first partially and then 100%. By mid-2009, the fixed assets had been completely modernized for around 30 million euros.

Strojírny Poldi was sold to the Brno- based holding company Jet Investment in 2006 and currently has around 300 employees, primarily in the production of crankshafts and large rollers .

In December 2017, the hut again filed for bankruptcy. Several auctions and (attempted) takeovers followed.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Company profile ( Memento from June 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), on poldi.cz
  2. ↑ a b Scholz stainless steel: The Essinger steel Unternehmeninvestierte30 million euros into a giant modern forge complex in Kladon near Prague ( Memento of 13 February 2018 Internet Archive ), on poldi.cz, accessed on May 15, 2016th
  3. ↑ ABOUT US , on strojpoldi.eu, accessed on May 15, 2016.
  4. ^ Radio Prague, December 12, 2017: Poldihütte files for bankruptcy
  5. ^ Radio Prague, April 13, 2018: Poldi hut in Kladno has a new owner
  6. ^ Radio Prague, February 4, 2019: Poldi hut in Kladno definitely has a new owner