Rasspe
| Rasspe Systemtechnik GmbH | |
|---|---|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1827 |
| Seat | Wermelskirchen , Germany |
| management | Michael Flanhardt, Fred Schumacher |
| Number of employees | 128 |
| sales | 21.3 million euros |
| Branch | Agricultural engineering |
| Website | www.rasspe.de |
| Status: 2014 | |
The Rasspe Systemtechnik GmbH is a producer of agricultural machine parts , based in Bergisch Wermelskirchen . The company with the trademark of pipe employed at the site Solingen temporarily more than 1,000 people and counted as in the 20th century one of the largest factories in the city. After economic difficulties, Rasspe was taken over by the Schuhmacher Group and production was relocated to Wermelskirchen in a significantly reduced form.
history
Foundation and early years
The farmer and small iron smith Peter Daniel Rasspe, born in Kohlfurth (today Solingen) in 1805 , founded a company for the manufacture of boot irons in Schulkohlfurt near Cronenberg (today Wuppertal ) in 1827 . Among other things, these reinforced the boots of farm workers, but also ordinary street shoes, with an iron plate . The surrounding blacksmiths were commissioned to produce the plates . Due to the favorable sales situation and technical progress (development of closed- die forging ), the capacities at the old location were quickly no longer sufficient. The new construction of the company building was planned at a more easily accessible location, but ultimately Rasspe came into the possession of a relatives' factory on Stöcken near Solingen at a reasonable price. Although there was no improvement from the point of view of accessibility, there were at least enough expansion options.
1860-1960
In 1863, the founder's sons took over the company. In 1868 the pipe was registered as a trademark in the design register of the industrial court. The range of products manufactured by Rasspe gradually increased after the move. In 1868 table and slaughter knives were introduced, later saws , chopping knives and beet knives followed. From 1884 onwards, under the leadership of the third generation of the family, various special machines were purchased, which brought with them the gradual transition from manual work to machine production. In the period that followed, production was focused more and more on the manufacture of spare parts for agricultural technology, which was booming , especially in the United States . This became necessary because, on the one hand, sales of boot irons declined and the products were subject to major economic fluctuations. The grain and grass mowers initially used in the United States were exported to Europe from the beginning of the 20th century. Rasspe increasingly relied on the production of spare parts, mainly for rapidly wearing parts such as cutter blades and bars. The company was quickly able to supply the right spare parts for all possible harvesting machines. The company's general catalog in 1914 comprised almost 30,000 items on over 1,200 pages.
In 1926 the company employed 640 people. Since the social welfare of the employees was also important for the company, it founded a company choir as well as an in-house sports club. In 1909, Rasspe was one of the founding companies of today's Bergische Krankenkasse . In addition, the company operated its own plant fire brigade and maintained a corporate foundation with regular church services. In addition, Rasspe invested in company housing from the 1920s. At that time, some residential buildings for the company's employees were built on the road connecting Stöcken and Schrodtberg . The street was therefore given the name Peter Rasspes on April 26, 1935 , one of the partners in the PD Rasspe Söhne company.
After tractors became increasingly popular as implement carriers after 1930, Rasspe developed mowers for the various tractor types from 1937 onwards. In 1943, the company bought the site of the former Steffens machine knife factory in the Eschbachtal near Burg an der Wupper . Machine knives for cutting meat , bread and vegetables were made there. Both locations were badly damaged by bombing during World War II , but they were rebuilt. In the post-war period, the company was able to flourish again economically with the supplier business as an original equipment manufacturer in combine harvester production. In 1960 1,000 people were employed.
Decline and takeover
For various reasons, Rasspe's sales fell steadily from the 1960s onwards. A new cutting technology replaced the previous cutter bar, but Rasspe only managed to partially compensate for the decline in sales with the manufacture of new rotary or drum mowers. Automatic knotters for hay and straw balers were also further developed and were in turn able to partially compensate for the enormous sales losses in the broken-down sales areas of the mounted mowers and their accessories. Ultimately, the decrease in the number of farmers in Germany and Europe in particular contributed to the fact that Rasspe had to reduce production and lay off staff. By 1995 the number of employees had dropped to just 300.
In the 1990s, attempts were made to open up new business areas. But in the end this didn't help either: In 1999 bankruptcy had to be filed. The company Gebr. Schumacher took over Rasspe and converted the company into the company Rasspe Systemtechnik GmbH at the beginning of 2000. The remaining 150 employees manufactured header components for agriculture, knotters and industrial knives. In 2002 Rasspe was able to celebrate its 175th anniversary. The company finally left the over-growing factories in Solingen in 2009 and relocated production to the neighboring Wermelskirchen .
Today, the company with 128 employees produces various components for agricultural machinery, including mower knife blades, straw chopper knives and rotary mower blades as well as twine and wire knotters for stationary and drawn presses, which are used to tie straw and other products.
Old company headquarters
The factory site on Solinger Stöcken, which was abandoned in 2009, has a size of around 60,000 square meters and is the largest fallow commercial space in the city today. An insolvency administrator had tried in vain to express the area, so that it finally became ownerless . In a bidding process by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Solingen business development company was awarded the contract in 2015, which aims to renovate the area after years of vacancy and reactivate it as an industrial park by 2019. For this purpose, various production buildings are planned to be demolished. The monumental main building and the warehouse on Hauptstraße are to be preserved and were placed under monument protection at the end of 2014. In the bidding process, the city prevailed against a foreign investor who wanted to create 150 production jobs on the site.
In the late evening of January 7, 2016, the former warehouse building caught fire and the roof of the building fell victim to the flames. The investigation revealed that it was arson , but the perpetrators could not be identified. The city of Solingen wants to repair the damage and stick to the rehabilitation of the site.
literature
- PD Rasspe Söhne , 1827–1952, Verlag Hoppenstedt, texts by Ingrid Bauert-Keetmann, Solingen 1952
- 150 years PD Rasspe Söhne , from boot iron to pipeline controls, Solingen, 1977
- Rasspe, Ststätten Deutscher Arbeit, Hans Tischert, special print, 16 pages, Dilsberg 1967 special print from “The West German Economy and its Leading Men”, State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Part III, Oberursel 1974
swell
- ↑ Number of employees according to the Federal Gazette
- ↑ Sales according to the Federal Gazette
- ↑ a b c d Cologne Chamber of Industry and Commerce: company history. Retrieved February 27, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Rasspe: About us at rasspe.de , accessed on February 27, 2016
- ↑ PD Rasspe Söhne on landtechnik-historisch.de , accessed on February 28, 2016
- ↑ Project details on stoecken17.de , accessed on February 28, 2016
- ^ Report of the Solinger Morgenpost from February 23, 2016, accessed on February 28, 2016
Coordinates: 51 ° 8 ′ 50.6 ″ N , 7 ° 15 ′ 19.8 ″ E