Schärdinger Dairy Association
The Schärdinger Dairy Association is a former Austrian company in the dairy and cheese industry that emerged from an agricultural cooperative founded in 1900 and existed as an independent company under changing names until 1990. The company was based in Schärding am Inn . The Schärdinger brand , which is owned by Berglandmilch today , achieved a particular level of awareness .
history
Foundation and early years
In 1900, several farmers from the area around Schärding founded the First Austrian Central Tea Butter Sales Cooperative to collect and use the butter they produced themselves. The influential politician and brewing entrepreneur Georg Wieninger (1859-1925) , who also made a name for himself as an agronomist and converted his Otterbach estate near Schärding into an agricultural research institute with a model and training farm, played a decisive role in this establishment . Just one year after it was founded, the Schärdinger cooperative won a “great price” and a “gold medal” at culinary art exhibitions in Paris and London. In 1902, the joint purchase of machinery for the local dairy companies represented in the association began. This was the first step in the association towards joint butter production. In 1905, the association also took over the marketing of other agricultural products, such as eggs and honey, and sold 130,000 eggs in the first year. From 1907 the association, also at the instigation of Wieninger, introduced ongoing controls by the Agricultural-Chemical Experimental Station, and in 1909 the Zentral-Theebutterverkaufsgenossenschaft already had 15 smaller local dairy cooperatives. In 1911 the association moved into a newly built administration and production building next to the Schärdinger train station and opened its first branch in Linz.
1914 to 1945
During the First World War , the association was affected by economic measures : One of the first consequences of the war was the export ban on butter. Further measures of compulsory management of milk, butter and eggs followed later. Towards the end of the war, options for producing dry milk were also discussed. In 1925 the association set up its first branch in Vienna. However, the general economic crisis led to a crisis of confidence that ended with the withdrawal of some local cooperatives from the association. In 1928 these local cooperatives returned to the association together with new local dairies. The association survived the global economic crisis largely unscathed.
In 1932, the Schärdinger Milchhof in Vienna began operations on Linzerstrasse. At that time, the association sold 2.7 million kg of butter domestically and 630,000 kg for export. The cheese sales ( Emmentaler , stick cheese , Limburger , Schachtelkäse and curd cheese ) amounted to approx. 70,000 kg during this time. Five years later, the association already had 34 member cooperatives, making it the largest dairy sales organization in Austria.
After Austria was annexed to the German Reich in 1938, the Innsbruck and Linz branches were founded after drastic personnel changes. The Schärdinger association organization was converted into a large distribution and collection point. During the Second World War, there were numerous personnel bottlenecks due to conscription and the beginning of industrial whey processing.
1945 to 1990
After the end of the war, the Schärdinger Milchhof in Vienna stood still for months due to war damage and looting. Production could only start again when, after negotiations with the occupation authorities, the first 150,000 liters of milk from Upper Austria arrived there in the winter of 1946. A catastrophic drought the following year forced production to be cut back.
In 1950 the Schärdinger Association comprised a total of 41 dairy cooperatives, 6 cheese cooperatives and 40,000 members. In 1952, the general assembly of the First Central Theebutter Sales Cooperative in Schärding decided to rename the company to Schärdinger OÖ Dairy Association with the legal form of a " registered cooperative with limited liability " (reg.Gen.mbH).
At the beginning of the 1960s, the member companies of the Schärdinger Dairy Association produced around 60% of Austrian butter exports. Extensive investments have been made in the main locations in Schärding, Linz and Vienna: in Linz the “Schärdinger Hof” in Sandgasse was opened as a new office building, in Vienna the Milchhof was modernized. At the end of the 1960s, total sales exceeded the billion shilling mark for the first time and the association shifted the focus of its activities to the production and sale of butter and branded cheese. The managing director of the Schärdinger Dairy Association has been Hermann Zittmayr since 1964 , who was named "Central Director" in 1969 and "General Director" in 1973. In addition, from 1965 he was managing director of the Schärdinger Milchhallen-Gesellschaft .
In the early 1970s, the company's program comprised 20 cheese brands, and the premium butter brand “Primina” was also introduced. In 1973 the company received the State Prize for Advertising , awarded by the Ministry of Commerce , and the slogan “Schärdinger is easy to live with” was also used for the first time. In 1974 the Pasching central warehouse near Linz was put into operation. At the site Taufkirchen an der Pram , the Company operated one hand, a great work for the production of dry milk products of "Taumil" brand, on the other hand "Schärdinger Summer Butter" was made here, this dairy that eventually developed into the second largest Butte grater driving in Austria. Company boss Hermann Zittmayr was from 1975 also managing director of the dairy operation and trading company mbH from 1976 managing director of Vieh und Fleisch Ges.mbH Linz and from 1976 managing director of Molkona-Molkeverwertungs Ges.mbH 1977 the Schärdinger dairy association merged with the dairy association Mauerkirchen and won the cheese brands "Sirius" and "Achleitner", which are already well established on the market. At the end of the 1970s, the company introduced two more brands, “Schärdinger Landfrischkäse” (1978) and “Bergbaron” (1979), and Molkona-Molkevertriebs Ges.mbH and Landhof Ges.mbH were integrated into the organization. As a result of these measures, the company's sales revenue rose to ATS 4.3 billion by 1980.
Between 1981 and 1988 the Pasching central warehouse and the Wiener Milchhof were further expanded and new packaging techniques were tested for established products. In addition, new types of cheese (eg “Traungold”, “St. Severin”, “Schärdinger Jaus'nkäs”) and the fresh milk brand “Wiesenglück” were brought onto the market. The Schärdinger cheese range ultimately comprised 70 different types and achieved peak sales of 27,800 tons.
1989 by Schärdinger Dairy Association Schärdinger Milch AG founded, from the then over-90s by fusion with the Lower Austrian dairy GmbH the NÖM AG as a joint stock company was.
AMF and decline
In 1990, following a unanimous decision by the general assembly, Schärdinger took part in the merger of a total of six dairy associations, which came about largely at the instigation of the then Schärdinger dairy association boss Zittmayr . This merger resulted in the AMF Group with 1,800 employees, with the Schärdinger Dairy Association holding 47.68% and Agrosserta 25.07% of the shares. At that time, the Schärdinger Dairy Association controlled production sites in Feldkirchen near Mattighofen, Geinberg, Münzkirchen, Peuerbach, Ried im Innkreis and Taufkirchen an der Pram via the Schärdinger Landmolkerei company, as well as production sites in Bad Leonfelden, Pregarten and the Linz dairy via the Linzer Molkerei company.
The founding of the AMF was not without controversy among the employees of the six dairy associations involved, as they feared layoffs and relocations. The corporate headquarters were initially located at the headquarters of the Schärdinger Dairy Association in Schärding am Inn , but corporate management tasks were increasingly transferred to Pasching and finally to Linz. A long-term relocation of the headquarters to Vienna was considered.
After the founding of the AMF, numerous restructuring and rationalization measures are carried out and the brands of the six founding companies are centrally marketed. The “Schärdinger” brand was established in the high-priced market segment and became the market leader for cheese and dairy products. However, despite far-reaching changes, management errors brought a new competitive situation for the AMF, through which the long-flourishing companies came under economic pressure.
After the failure of the AMF, the newly founded Berglandmilch bought their dairy activities and the associated brand rights and started production at the turn of the year 1995/1996. The following years were marked by a tight restructuring and modernization program. Of the originally 27 AMF locations, 20 were closed or merged in the following years, which resulted in the loss of numerous jobs. The closed operations included z. B. The Taufkirchen dairy with milk drying plant and butter production, whose tasks were taken over in 2001 by the Aschbach dairy . The Schärding location was also completely abandoned in the course of these closings, the remaining workforce was dismantled and the property, including the administration and production building built in 1911 next to the Schärdinger train station, was sold. After being vacant for years, the restoration of the former dairy and office buildings began in 2012.
people
- Georg Wieninger , initiator of the Schärdinger dairy cooperative
- Hermann Zittmayr , 1964 to 1990 General Director of the Schärdinger Dairy Association
- Alois Wührer , board member of the Schärdinger Dairy Association from 1948 to 1979
- Anton Emminger , board member of the Schärdinger Dairy Association
- Johann Breiteneder , board member of the Schärdinger Dairy Association
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g The history of Berglandmilch Accessed on August 15, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x The story of Schärdinger ( Memento from December 30, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Accessed August 15, 2012
- ↑ State Prize Winner up to 2011 ( Memento of the original from January 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Accessed September 4, 2012.
