Progress in agricultural machinery

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The "Progress" trademark, registered since 1955
E512 combine harvester
swather E303
Progress tractor ZT 300
Progress mower harvesting green forage
Development of the employees of the combine progress agricultural machinery

The collective combine progress agricultural machinery was in East Germany from the 1960s, the largest agricultural machinery manufacturers. From 1978 the entire agricultural machinery production of the GDR and parts of the food machine production were combined in this company .

history

The first stage in the development of the combination of progress agricultural machinery began in 1951 with the merger of five agricultural machinery companies from East Saxony of the VVB agricultural, construction and woodworking machinery (VVB LBH). These were the companies:

  • Herkules agricultural machinery works in Neustadt / Saxony (formerly a branch of Hering AG Nuremberg)
  • Agricultural machinery factory Stolpen (formerly Carl August Klinger)
  • Combination threshing machine construction Singwitz (formerly Hermann Raußendorf )
  • Agricultural machinery factory in Bischofswerda (formerly Max Knauthe)
  • Machine and gear manufacturing Kirschau (formerly CA Wagner)

The companies in Neustadt and Stolpen had been merged as early as 1949 under the name Progress Agricultural Machinery Works with a joint management in Neustadt.

The formation of VVB LBH Progress Agricultural Machinery Works in Neustadt / Saxony was a first step towards concentration and profiling in agricultural machinery manufacturing in the GDR. The company was subsequently expanded through the allocation of further companies in the East Saxon region and extensive investments, and it was oriented towards the development and production of grain and forage harvesting technology.

In 1953 the company was renamed VEB Progress Harvesting Machines and in 1964 VEB Kombinat Progress Agricultural Machinery As early as 1955, the progress trademark, which was used until 1990, was registered with the Office for Invention and Patents of the GDR.

In connection with the amalgamation of agricultural and food goods engineering to form VVB agricultural and food goods technology in 1970, the second stage began for the combine progress. In addition to other companies from the region and the VEB Petkus agricultural machinery plant in Wutha, it took over the operations in the field of food machine construction

From this point on, product responsibility towards agriculture in the GDR comprised the machine systems for grain production and processing as well as forage production and processing.

In the 1970s, mainly small and medium-sized companies, including former private or semi-public companies in the agricultural machinery and supplier sector, were taken over and classified as parts of the business or operations in the respective combine operations.

The third stage began with the re-establishment of the Progress Agricultural Machinery Combine in 1978. From this point in time, agricultural machinery manufacturing in the GDR was combined in this economic unit until its official cessation on June 30, 1990.

After the combine was dissolved in the early summer of 1990, 53 GmbHs were initially established under trust management . The parent company in Neustadt in Saxony continued to exist as Progress Erntemaschinen GmbH.

Establishments

With the establishment of the Combine Progress in 1951, the focus was on the creation of a large company with central management in Neustadt / Saxony. The individual companies had de facto the status of production areas. The company's organizational and management structure was subsequently expanded with this in mind. This included setting up a central research and development area in Neustadt / Saxony. The operations that were taken over in the 1950s and 1960s primarily served to expand capacity and could be integrated into this structure.

For some of the companies taken over in 1970, such integration was not easily possible. That is why a group-like organization and management was used primarily for the companies involved in the food processing machinery.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the operations in the first stage of development had resulted in units where the previous organizational and management structure had reached its limits, especially since the greater part of the combine operations had meanwhile been grouped into group-like structures. Therefore, in 1982, the majority of the management and service units centralized for the harvesting machines were dissolved and these farms were also equipped with all the functions necessary for independent operation. In connection with this, the combine harvester plant in Bischofswerda / Singwitz with almost 7,000 employees was established.

The most well-known company name is used in the overview of the most important companies and the period in which they belonged to the combine progress agricultural machinery. These companies had the status of a VEB.

Products

Share of sales of the Progress agricultural machinery programs in the late 1980s

The first stage of development began with the resumption of the product lines of the companies Raußendorf, Klinger, Knauthe and Wagner. These were mainly threshing machines, straw presses and liquid manure pumps. This was followed by the further and in-house developments of the 1950s, which included

  • Several types of threshing machines and straw presses, including the steel version K 117 with remote feeder and straw press,
  • Fan shredder F 603,
  • Several types of tractor mounted mowers and haymaking machines,
  • Several types of drinking bowls, slurry pumps and manure removal systems.

This was followed by products geared towards large farms

  • Broaching and collecting press T 242 (from 1953),
  • Harvester E 062 (from 1955),
  • Forage harvester E 065 with the successor types E 066/067 (from 1957),
  • Flail chopper E 069 (from 1963),
  • High pressure press K 441 with the successor K 442 (from 1959),
  • Wheel rake E 247/249 (from 1962),
  • Multi-purpose trailer / manure spreader T 087 (from 1964).
Progress E175

In the course of the specialization of the agricultural machinery companies, the combine harvester product line was taken over from the Weimar factory at the beginning of 1960 and the self-propelled straw forage harvesting machines were introduced:

  • E 175 combine harvesters and other types of this series (from 1960),
  • E 512 combine harvester (from 1968),
  • Self-propelled forage harvester E 280 and its successor type E 281 (from 1970),
  • Self-propelled swather E 301 and its successor types E 302 and E 303 (from 1970),
  • Special trailer / fertilizer spreader T088 (from 1974),
  • High pressure press K 453 and further development K 454 (from 1975),
  • Combine harvester E 516 and successor type E 516B or E 517 (from 1976 or 1983/1985),
  • E 514 combine harvester (from 1982),
  • E 524 combine harvester as the first model of a new series (from 1988),
  • E 526 combine harvester as the second model in a new series (1990, only a small series due to reversal).

From 1970 to 1989, around 90,000 of the self-propelled forage harvesters and swathers were produced. These are the largest numbers of such products worldwide to date.

In the second development stage, from 1970 onwards, the product range was expanded to include machines and equipment for

  • Processing, preservation and storage of grain and seeds (Wutha and Erfurt),
  • Grain and peeling mills and compound feed plants (Dresden and Wittenberg),
  • Bakery production (hall),
  • Malthouses and breweries (Erfurt and Nordhausen)

as well as the tractors (Schönebeck, from 1973 with the types ZT 300/303 and the further development to the type ZT 320/323 from 1984).

The additional product programs in the third stage of development from 1978 were

  • Machines for tillage and cultivation (Leipzig, Bernburg and Torgau),
  • Machines for fertilization (Güstrow, Elsterwerda / Annaburg and Döbeln),
  • Potato harvest technology (Weimar),
  • Machines and equipment for the processing, storage and marketing of potatoes (Weimar, Döbeln / Lommatzsch, Falkensee and Halberstadt),
  • Beet harvesting technology (from the mid-1970s only assembly production for the self-propelled beet harvester KS 6 in the Ukraine in Leipzig, Döbeln and Torgau),
  • Handling, transport and conveyor technology (Weimar, Falkensee and Elsterwerda / Annaburg),
  • Machines and equipment for milk production (Elsterwerda),
  • Machines and equipment for milk processing (Artern).

Focus of supplier and consumer programs were

  • Diesel engines (Schönebeck),
  • Transmission (Kirschau and Güstrow),
  • Roller chains (Zella-Mehlis and Güstrow),
  • Cast and forged parts (Bautzen, Brandenburg, Finsterwalde and Großenhain),
  • Metal mesh and perforated sheets (Wutha / Raghun),
  • Hydraulic hoses (Plauen),
  • Microelectronic assemblies (engineering company for rationalization and project planning Dresden),
  • Production and maintenance of military technology (Güstrow, Neubrandenburg and Leipzig),
  • Oil heaters (Neubrandenburg plant),
  • Car trailer (Torgau and Schönebeck),
  • Gartentrac (Neustadt in Saxony),
  • Youth bikes from the brands Mifa , progress , Pionier , Twenter and Junior (Bischofswerda / Neukirch).

Social commitment and sports promotion

The Kombinat took over the financial support for the current football clubs SSV Neustadt / Sachsen and Bischofswerdaer FV 08 , which are located at the production sites in Neustadt and Bischoffswerda , which is why both clubs had the brand name of Kombinat Progress in their name, which was otherwise only reserved for company sports groups from the textile industry.

literature

  • Klaus Krombholz: Agricultural machinery in the GDR - light and shadow . DLG-Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-7690-0717-6 .
  • Collective of authors: The nationally owned combine progress agricultural machinery Neustadt in Saxony and its businesses 1945–1990 . Publication of the traditional association KOFO Neustadt / Sa. eV, Neustadt in Saxony 2005.

Web links

Commons : Progress Farm Equipment  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikibooks: Tractor Lexicon: Progress  - Learning and Teaching Materials

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.ddr-fahrradwiki.de/Modelle_Fortstieg DDRFahrradWiki