VEB factory for technical glass Ilmenau

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VEB factory for technical glass Ilmenau

logo
legal form Combine
founding 1969
Seat Ilmenau , Germany
Number of employees about 12,600
Branch Glass industry

The VEB factory for technical glass Ilmenau was a large combine of the glass industry in the Thuringian Forest . It existed from 1969 to 1990 and had around 12,600 employees, including around 5,000 in the main plant at Vogelherd in Ilmenau , which was built in 1975 . It was the largest glass factory in the GDR . The focus of production was on technical glass (e.g. measuring devices such as thermometers or barometers , and glass devices for the chemical industry ).

The headquarters of the combine in Ilmenau was the largest employer in the Ilmenau district . The area of ​​the glass combine complex is about 75 hectares.

Operating parts

Former administration building of the combine

In addition to the main factory at Vogelherd and all glass factories in Ilmenau, the combine also included the following companies:

history

prehistory

The combine for technical glass Ilmenau was founded in 1969. All state-owned companies that produced glassware in the Ilmenau district and neighboring areas were subordinate to him . The administration of this combine was based in an office building in Langewiesener Strasse in Ilmenau until 1984 , before moving to the office building of the main plant at Vogelherd in Ilmenau. In addition to PGHs and some companies that were privately owned or semi-public ( KG ) until 1972 and then nationalized, the associated companies were companies that were founded between 1850 and 1915 and were expropriated by order 124 of the SMAD on October 30, 1945 or were nationalized. This also included the eight Ilmenau glassworks and the Ilmenau glass instrument factory:

Glassworks
Year of foundation		 Location Employee
1938 		production
adjustment 		status
Sophienhütte 1852 Fir bridge 280 1991 demolished, now Ilm sports hall and a discounter , two office buildings preserved
Long hut 1900 Grenzhammer 250 1968 completely demolished, now industrial park
Spessarthütte 1904 north of the train station ~ 180 1950 completely demolished, now residential area
Fisherman's hut 1910 Langewiesener Strasse ~ 120 1976 completely preserved, listed
Ilmenau glassworks 1922 Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 150 1975 completely demolished, now Ilmenau ice rink
Thuringian glass instrument factory Alt, Eberhardt & Jäger 1874 Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 300 1990 demolished, the facade preserved and integrated into the new shopping center

On February 6, 1963, the council of the Ilmenau district decided to make a request for the development of a central industrial area in the city. For this purpose, the city administration proposed the parcel at Vogelherd in the northeast of the city. On August 29, 1963, the application was approved by the Suhl District Council and passed on to the GDR Council of Ministers . This decided on September 23, 1963 that the city should keep its industrial area. In 1966 a plan approval procedure was initiated and in 1968 the development work began.

Establishment of the plant at Vogelherd

The foundation stone for the new headquarters at Vogelherd in northeastern Ilmenau took place on 22 April 1970. This new building had become necessary because of the need for technical glass in the GDR and in the CMEA had become -Staaten rise steadily and the old production ailing since since 1945 they have only been maintained "half-heartedly". In addition, larger capacities were required for the production of supplier products for the optical industry in Jena ( VEB Carl Zeiss Jena ), which could not be provided by the Schott glassworks there . Schott wanted a new glassworks in Rothenstein near Jena, but this met with resistance from the state planning authority and was therefore not implemented. That is why the construction plan was expanded again and some production lines that were supposed to remain at Schott were added. Furthermore, the Schott glassworks in Jena were spun off from the combine and incorporated into the Carl Zeiss combine, as these were aligned as the sole supplier for Carl Zeiss after the other production areas were relocated.

The construction of such a large industrial plant also brought about extensive changes in the city. The development of the construction area at Vogelherd began as early as 1968. Two prefabricated building areas for 10,000 residents were built for future employees . In addition, Bücheloher Strasse was a new, cross-free street into the city center, which should ensure better connections for commuters . Furthermore, by the building of a brown coal - heating plant at Vogelherd which the energy for glass production and district heating should provide for the two new Ilmenau plate areas. Its two chimneys , which are more than 100 meters high, were visible landmarks of the city until they were blown up in 1996. To improve the infrastructure, a railway connection was also laid as a works track to the Ilmenau station , where a new freight station was also built. All construction work was carried out by the Polish state construction company Budimex , which - when the construction costs were lower than estimated - also built the new Ilmenau open-air swimming pool in Hammergrund. The plant was completed in 1976 and was able to start operations. Around 2000 construction workers were involved in the construction work. The total investment amounted to about 600 million marks from the GDR .

The combine between 1975 and 1989

Main plant at Vogelherd 1984
Production hall
Main plant 2012

The main plant comprised eleven glass melting tanks, ten of which were fully electric and one was operated manually. Around 12,000 different items were produced. Of the total turnover, which amounted to 214 million GDR marks in the 14 years, about 30% was accounted for by the second processing stage (manufacture of end products) and 70% by the first production stage (supplier industry). Many of the products were developed in Ilmenau in cooperation with the Technical University (now the Technical University) and the Glass College. The annual surplus that was achieved in the combine was around 100 million marks a year at the beginning of the 1980s. Nevertheless, the glassworks (due to the socialist planned economy ) worked less profitably than a comparable company in West Germany.

In 1980 the main factory ran the following production lines:

In addition, end products were also made:

For many years, the Rasotherm brand glass , a highly stressable borosilicate glass of water resistance class I developed in the Jena glassworks , was produced in the factory. Furthermore, a material developed and produced in Ilmenau was “Ilmabor”, also a special borosilicate glass .

The products went

  • 60% for further processing in companies within the GDR
  • 15% in the export to the Eastern Bloc countries (mainly semi-finished products)
  • 15% for export to western countries, especially to western Germany (almost exclusively end products such as laboratory equipment)

literature

  • Friedrich Aurich: VEB factory for technical glass Ilmenau (1975 to 1990) . In: Glass in Ilmenau . Funding and Friends of the Ilmenauer Glasmuseum e. V., Ilmenau 1998.
  • Norbert Moczarski et al .: Thuringian State Archives Meiningen. Department of the Regional Economic Archive South Thuringia in Suhl . A brief inventory overview. Ed .: Thuringian State Archives Meiningen. 1st edition. Druckhaus Offizin Hildburghausen, 1994, Development of traditional industrial areas in South Thuringia until 1990, p. 16-24 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 41 ′ 42 ″  N , 10 ° 56 ′ 18 ″  E