Heavy engineering combine "Ernst Thälmann"

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A circulating air sifter from SKET
logo
Self-propelled large crushing and conveyor system, SKET Magdeburg, GDR postage stamp from 1971

The heavy mechanical engineering combine " Ernst Thälmann " (SKET) based in Magdeburg was a combine of the GDR , to which numerous state-owned ( VEB ) mechanical engineering companies with tens of thousands of employees belonged.

history

The combine emerged on January 1, 1969 from the former SAG company VEB Schwermaschinenbau "Ernst Thälmann" founded on December 31, 1953 . The roots of mechanical engineering in Magdeburg go back to the first half of the 19th century.

At first almost the entire management of VEB Schwermaschinenbau "Ernst Thälmann" was in the hands of former National Socialists. An internal SED analysis reported in 1953: "Here the former NSDAP membership extends to all influential positions in the company, from the plant director, his deputies, the directors, assistants, to the dispatcher, payroll clerk and chief accountant to the employee."

In 1989, 18 companies with around 30,000 employees belonged to the SKET combine.

Products

The focus of the product range was on equipment for the metalworking and huts -Industrie as complete rolling mills , large plants etc. There also were cranes and machines for general machine made. The headquarters of the combine management was in the parent company of the same name, the former Friedrich Krupp AG Grusonwerk in Magdeburg-Buckau . The products were sold all over the world under a uniform logo made from the stylized lettering.

As part of the production of consumer goods in the GDR , a home computer kit was produced from 1988 with the HCX .

Development of the company after the end of the GDR

After the end of the GDR and a subsequent sale to investors Carsten Oestmann and Helmut Borchert, the company, which had previously been active almost exclusively in the East, was internationalized and was finally represented worldwide again. After violent disagreements between the entrepreneurs and the Treuhandanstalt or its successor organization, the Federal Agency for Unification-Related Special Tasks (BvS), on a further aggressive expansion strategy as a large-scale plant manufacturer in China and the USA, the purchase contract was finally reversed.

On January 3, 1997, the BvS founded the following sub-companies:

  • SKET Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH (today: SKET GmbH)
  • SKET Maschinenbau-EDV GmbH (today: SKET EDV GmbH, subsidiary of data experts GmbH )
  • SKET Ölmaschinen GmbH (today: CPM SKET GmbH)
  • SKET Verseilmaschinenbau GmbH
  • SKET Walzwerktechnik GmbH. (today: MWE Magdeburger Walzwerk Engineering GmbH)

On October 21, 1997, the European Commission opened the proceedings concerning the two companies SKET Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH and SKET Walzwerkstechnik GmbH because of the planned state aid that had largely already been paid.

The relevant aid of

  • 79.2 million DEM (39 million ECU ) for SKET machine and plant construction
  • 128.9 million DEM (63 million ECU) for SKET Walzwerkstechnik

which had been notified by the German authorities as restructuring aid and which were intended to enable the companies to be sold, were questioned "as to their compatibility with the Community guidelines for the assessment of state aid for rescuing and restructuring companies". Reasons were u. a. "The lack of a contribution from a private investor".

In 1998, SKET Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH was re-privatized by the investors Aloys Wobben ( Enercon , Aurich ) and Heinz Buse ( Logaer Maschinenbau , Leer ). 2003 Heinz Buse and Aloys Wobben transferred their shares in SKET Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH to Enercon GmbH.

On October 1, 2010, SKET Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH was renamed SKET GmbH. The company operates as an industrial service provider in the areas of mechanical processing of large parts, including as a supplier for Enercon, and assembly.

Movie

Web links

Commons : Heavy mechanical engineering combine "Ernst Thälmann"  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 6 ′ 14.6 "  N , 11 ° 37 ′ 33.6"  E

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Contemporary history: For honest cooperation. In: Der Spiegel. 19/1994, May 9, 1994, pp. 84-91.
  2. ↑ History of SKET In: sket.de , accessed on January 21, 2020.
  3. ↑ IP / 97/904 Commission opens proceedings concerning two SKET companies , Brussels, 21 October 1997