Sulzer AG
| Sulzer AG
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Corporation |
| ISIN | CH0038388911 |
| founding | 1834/1914 (AG) |
| Seat |
Winterthur , Switzerland
|
| management | Greg Poux-Guillaume ( Management ) Peter Löscher ( Chairman of the Board ) |
| Number of employees | 14,732 |
| sales | 3.05 billion CHF (2017) |
| Branch | mechanical engineering |
| Website | www.sulzer.com |
| As of December 31, 2017 | |
The Sulzer AG is a globally active Swiss industrial group based in Winterthur .
Corporate structure
Sulzer consists of four core operational divisions:
- Pumps Equipment - Pumps
- Rotating Equipment Services - Services for rotating machines such as thermal turbo machines , generators and motors
- Chemtech - process technology, separation columns
- Applicator Systems - two-component mixing and dispensing systems for adhesives, cosmetics, dental applications and for animal health (since 2017)
Sulzer Management AG is the staff function . Sulzer Immobilien , which managed a portfolio of over CHF 1 billion, was sold in 2010. The Sulzer Group employed a total of 14,732 people in December 2017 and generated sales of 3.05 billion Swiss francs in 2017.
history
Foundation and growth
The company “Gebrüder Sulzer, Giesserei in Winterthur” was founded in 1834 by Johann Jacob Sulzer , who had the “Building 1834” built on Zürcherstrasse in Winterthur. His sons Johann Jakob and Salomon produced cast iron, built fire engines, pumps and apparatus for the textile industry; later they also started installing heaters. In 1836 the workforce grew to around forty journeymen , henchmen and apprentices . In 1839 a foundry was added, a mechanical workshop was set up in the original building, and the first steam engine in Winterthur was built. In 1845 the in-house “Sick Support Association for Factory Workers” was founded. This later became the Sulzer health insurance company , which was renamed Provita in 1997 and is now an independent health insurance company . In 1859 the first “society contract” was signed between the Sulzer brothers, introducing new products, first steam engines, and later ships, as well as new organizational and production methods. The first foreign sales office followed in Turin around 1860, and in 1867 participation in the World Exhibition in Paris . The workforce had grown to over 1,000 workers, so that extensions were necessary.
The first company-owned vocational school in Switzerland with training workshops was founded in 1870. In 1872, 24 workers' apartments were built in Veltheim by the Society for the Construction of Cheap Housing , further apartment buildings and also private homes followed in other parts of Winterthur. In 1873 he took part in the world exhibition in Vienna . From 1880, steam engines in particular contributed to the growth to around 2,000 employees. In 1881 a branch was founded in Ludwigshafen am Rhein . In 1890 the first «workers' commission» in Switzerland was founded. In 1898 the first Sulzer diesel engine was created in collaboration with Rudolf Diesel . By 1900 the company had over 3,000 employees and sales offices in Milan , Paris , Cairo , London , Moscow and Bucharest , and from 1914 also in Kobe, Japan .
As a family business, the company had grown over the years in the form of a general partnership; in June 1914 it was converted into two stock corporations based in Winterthur and Ludwigshafen am Rhein, both of which were named Gebrüder Sulzer Aktiengesellschaft . In 1917, both companies were combined in a holding structure under Sulzer-Unternehmerungen AG, and the foreign sales offices were subsequently also transferred to independent companies.
In 1919, the first regular newspaper for the workforce in Switzerland was published as the customer magazine “Technische Rundschau Sulzer”. In the following years the company grew with the advancement of technology. Numerous production facilities spread south-east of the old town of Winterthur, later also in other quarters. In 1920 the Sulzer Brothers' welfare organization established the first social insurance for the employees of the Sulzer company. Works welfare is the oldest forerunner of today's Sulzer pension scheme .
1930s crisis
During the 1930s, as a result of the Great Depression, production fell by two thirds and there were massive downsizing. In 1937, a strike, the threat of a second national strike was thereby narrowly avoided even at Sulzer and the "peace agreement" to secure industrial peace signed. The subsidiary in Ludwigshafen am Rhein was sold to Halbergerhütte in 1941 and the parent company was dissolved.
Growth and prosperity in the post-war years
From 1945 a growth phase began with a flourishing economy and a strong expansion of foreign activities. The production of gas turbines was added as a new segment, a twin-flow jet engine was also planned for the Swiss military and a single-flow engine was built and tested. In the 1950s there was an increasing production by guest workers, especially from southern Europe. The Oberwinterthur plant was expanded and new business areas for energy, systems engineering and textile machinery were created, accompanied by better working conditions, the expansion of social benefits, women’s work for “light factory work” and housing subsidies in the surrounding communities.
During the second heyday after the Second World War , the Sulzer high-rise was built in the early 1960s - the company's new headquarters, a landmark in Winterthur and at that time the tallest building in Switzerland.
In 1961 the Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik (SLM) in Winterthur was taken over, and the large diesel engine became Sulzer's global flagship product. In 1966, the company acquired a 53 percent stake in Maschinenfabrik Escher Wyss AG in Zurich, with Sulzer reaching an all-time high with over 30,000 employees. A reorganization followed in 1968; Sulzer adopted a “ corporate structure ” with a four-person management based on the “principle of collegiality ”. In 1969 Escher Wyss AG was completely taken over, which resulted in Sulzer-Escher Wyss AG .
Crisis of the 1970s and 1980s
In the 1970s, the oil crisis announced a new orientation towards the technology group and the development of material technologies. During the 1980s there was a reorganization with a « presidential system » and decentralization that began slowly . Sulzer responded to the global decline in capital goods in the 1970s after losses in the second half of the 1980s. In 1982 the Rüti machine factory was taken over, local production and the weaving machine business were expanded.
Losses and reorganizations
In 1984 Sulzer suffered losses and massive restructuring took place. In 1988 Tito Tettamanti joined the company as a shareholder. Another reorganization followed with the abandonment of unprofitable product lines and a reorientation. Medical technology was expanded through the purchase of the American Intermedics Group for a billion francs. The Winterthur machine factory was dissolved in 1990 and its previous departments were vertically integrated into the company while at the same time streamlining the product areas. The founding area in Winterthur was cleared and planning began for a new use. For the first time, Sulzer employed more people abroad than in Switzerland. New Sulzer Diesel (NSD) was founded in 1989 and the diesel engine division was sold to Fincantieri (42%), Bremer Vulkan (42%) and management (6%) in 1991 while retaining 10% of the share capital (from 1997 Wärtsilä NSD , from 2000 Wärtsilä Switzerland ). In 1992, non-Swiss shareholders were admitted for the first time. The Oberwinterthur foundry was closed in 1993. On May 14, 1993 the name was changed from Gebrüder Sulzer, Aktiengesellschaft to Sulzer AG .
In 1996, Sulzer Orthopädie AG established a technology center in the Oberwinterthur industrial park . Sulzer Chemtech's environmental division was sold to Austrian Energy & Environment (AE&E). After the independent Elma Electronic AG went public , the financing company "Fund for the creation and maintenance of jobs" was founded for outsourced (discontinued) company areas.
Shrinkage and sell-out
In 1997, Sulzer Medica went public, and Sulzer Thermtec (equipment and valves for power plants) was sold to the British IMI .
In 1998 Sulzer Medica took over the American Spine-Tech (spinal orthopedics). In the same year, the engineering of the Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik (SLM) was sold to ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation (Schweiz) AG , the rack railways division to Stadler Rail , while the remainder of the company continued to exist as Sulzer-Winpro until mid-2000. Meanwhile, new weaving machines ( multi-phase weaving ) have been introduced at Sulzer Rüti . In 1999 there was another reorganization. Sulzer Industries and Sulzer Medica became independent. Sulzer Pumps founded a joint venture with the Chinese company Dalian Pumps, which aims to cut 1,900 jobs in the industrial sector by 2001. Sulzer Hydro (hydropower) was sold to VA Tech Hydro , Austria , and Sulzer Medica relocated to Sulzer Biologics in Austin, Texas.
In 2000, Sulzer Pumps took over the Finnish Ahlstrom Pumps , and several divisions were to be divested and Sulzer Turbo was the first to be sold to the MAN Group . In the middle of the year the steam locomotive and machine factory DLM was spun off from Sulzer-Winpro, the remnants of the former SLM became Winpro AG through a management buyout in 2001, while the measurement technology division was sold to PROSE AG .
In 2001 there were problems with contaminated hip joint implants from Sulzer Medica and class actions by the spin-off from Sulzer Medica, Sulzer Infra, to Groupe Fabricom as part of the Suez Group. The company was sold and henceforth operated under the name Axima AG in Switzerland ( Axima GmbH in Germany), Sulzer Textil by the Italian Promatech . In 2002 the board of directors was completely re-appointed except for the president, and Sulzer Medica was renamed Centerpulse . Sulzer Burckhardt was sold to management and Sulzer Medica reached a settlement with the US plaintiffs. Sulzer AG paid 75 million US dollars for this, which caused its share price to drop massively.
New start with four divisions
The time since 2003 is referred to as a new beginning, since the group has consisted of the current four divisions since then. Since the completion of the structural adjustment, the group has been smaller, but more profitable and with strong growth. In 2003 a «culture program» was decided, which should contribute to increasing the efficiency of the company. Supported by the good global economic situation, the program was able to show some successes in the following years. The core divisions, especially the pump business, grew profitably and increased operating and net income by over 50 percent.
In 2006, the venture company Sulzer Hexis, which had been developing a high-temperature fuel cell of the SOFC type for years, was given up due to a lack of economic prospects. Remnants of the company remained through a management buyout.
In 2007, the Viennese investors Ronny Pecik and Georg Stumpf joined Sulzer together with the Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg . On April 26, 2007, Everest Beteiligungs GmbH (Vienna), a joint venture between the Russian Renova and the Austrian investment group Victory, announced that as of April 20, 2007 it held a stake of over 31 percent in Sulzer. In detail, this stake was made up of a share component of almost 18 percent and an option component of around 14 percent. At the time, the economic beneficiaries of Everest were Viktor Vekselberg, the Vienna-based RPR private foundation of Ronny Pecik and the Vienna-based Millennium private foundation of Georg Stumpf. None of these investors had previously made a disclosure report to Sulzer. This surprising entry resulted in the longest investigation by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) , at the end of which a report resulted in a breach of the disclosure obligations. The investors had made use of a loophole in the Swiss capital market regulations and, with the improper use of options formally denominated in cash, they had potential control over the voting rights associated with shares or mediated by options with real fulfillment. FINMA also found that Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB), Deutsche Bank AG Zurich Branch (DBZ) and NZB Neue Zürcher Bank (NZB) had seriously breached their supervisory obligations in connection with the issue or trading of these options .
At the same time as the rumors about a then unknown investor, coupled with concerns about a hostile takeover, Sulzer announced in 2007 that it wanted to take over the English company Bodycote . However, the board of directors of the listed company rejected a takeover offer.
In 2010 the British company Dowding & Mills, a leading provider of maintenance and repair services for generators and motors, was acquired for CHF 180 million. This strengthened the Sulzer Turbo Services division and expanded its field of activity. This step also served to strengthen the service business, away from the cyclical new goods business.
In spring 2011, Sulzer announced that it would take over the Cardo Flow Solutions pump division of the Swedish company Assa Abloy for CHF 858 million, thereby strengthening the Sulzer Pumps division in the promising water and wastewater market. As a result of the deal, which was approved by the competition authorities in July, Sulzer grew to include the ABS and Scanpumps brands with 1,800 new employees.
In July 2013, Sulzer announced that it intends to sell its fourth division, "Sulzer Metco", despite sales growth and an increase in incoming orders compared to the first half of the previous year. A sale is intended to provide additional funds for acquisitions and investments in organic growth in the remaining three key markets. In June 2014 the sale of "Sulzer Metco" to the Swiss OC Oerlikon was completed.
After two years with only three divisions, Sulzer added a fourth division to its reporting structure at the beginning of 2017. The Sulzer Mixpac Systems unit, which has been manufacturing applicators for industrial adhesives in the group since 2006, has since formed the new Applicator Systems division together with the Geka and PC Cox businesses acquired in 2016.
Reactions to the American sanctions against Russian oligarchs
Although Sulzer was not directly listed on the OFAC sanctions list in April 2018, Victor Vekselberg's majority stake came under fire because the Russian oligarch concerned controlled the industrial group through 63.42% of the financial company he controls, Renova . So that Sulzer is not indirectly exposed to the American sanctions, the company has applied to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to take over 5 million shares from Renova, so that Vekselberg's stake would drop to just under 50%, which is no longer a majority would correspond. With this measure, Sulzer was initially able to free itself from the sphere of influence of the American sanctions.
On April 12, 2018, the company announced: "Transfer of shares completed - Renova stake below 50% - Sulzer exempt from US sanctions".
literature
- Abendrot Foundation / Project Management Lagerplatz (ed.): Lagerplatz Winterthur. A changing industrial quarter. editions denkstatt, Basel 2015, ISBN 978-3-9524556-1-6 .
- Anna Bálint: Sulzer is changing. Innovation out of tradition. Edited by Sulzer AG. Here and Now, Baden 2015, ISBN 978-3-03919-319-6 .
- André P. Buchel: Medical technology from the mechanical engineer - four decades of Sulzer. In: Franz Betschon , Stefan Betschon, Willy Schlachter (eds.): Engineers build Switzerland. First-hand history of technology. Volume 2. Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-03823-912-3 , pp. 378–408.
Web links
- Sulzer AG website
- Sulzer Immobilien AG website
- Web presence of the development of the original Sulzer area southeast of the old town (see also Wikipedia article Sulzer area )
- Christian Baertschi: Sulzer. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- History of the Sulzer family at winterthur-glossar.ch (accessed on January 8, 2014).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c [1] . Annual report 2017.
- ↑ Hundred Years of the Sulzer Brothers, Winterthur , Schweizer Bauzeitung, Volume 103/104, August 11, 1934, doi : 10.5169 / seals-83252
- ↑ a b SULZER-UNTERNEHMUNGEN, AG, Winterthur , State Archives of the Canton of Zurich, accessed on March 1, 2015
- ^ Halberg Maschinenbau und Gießerei GmbH , Albert Gieseler, 2009
- ^ Georges Bridel: Swiss jet aircraft and jet engines. Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne 1975, ISBN 3 85954 902 2 .
- ↑ Handelsregisterauszug Sulzer AG , Monetas, accessed on February 26, 2015
- ↑ Financial supervision closes the Sulzer case with a criminal complaint ( memento of November 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) , Wirtschaftsblatt of November 3, 2009.
- ↑ Sulzer wants to take over Bodycote - offer rejected ,wirtschaft.ch dated March 2, 2007
- ↑ Bodycote also rejects higher Sulzer offer ,wirtschaft.ch of March 27, 2007.
- ↑ Sulzer Annual Report 2010 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF)
- ↑ Sulzer takes over British Dowding & Mills , SF Tagesschau from June 2, 2010.
- ↑ Sulzer clearly grows after the acquisition of Cardo Flow Solutions ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Stocks dated April 7, 2011.
- ↑ Sulzer completes acquisition of Cardo Flow Solutions ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Sulzer media release of July 29, 2011.
- ↑ Sulzer completes the sale of the Metco division to Oerlikon ( Memento of the original from June 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Sulzer media release of June 3, 2014.
- ↑ More orders in all regions. In: Media release from April 27, 2017. Accessed April 27, 2017 .
- ↑ G. Müller (April 2018). Sulzer falls victim to the US sanctions against Russia . The New Zurich Times. Economy. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
- ↑ Transfer of shares completed - Renova share below 50% - Sulzer exempt from US sanctions. Retrieved January 18, 2019 .
Coordinates: 47 ° 29 '54.5 " N , 8 ° 43' 5.2" E ; CH1903: 696405 / 261 642