Vitrulan
| Vitrulan Holding
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 2016 |
| Seat |
Marktschorgast , Germany
|
| management | Ralf Barthmann |
| Number of employees | 404 |
| sales | 62.4 million euros |
| Branch | Glass |
| Website | www.vitrulan.com |
| As of April 10, 2017 | |
The Vitrulan Group is a manufacturer of glass products for industry based in Marktschorgast in Upper Franconia .
history
The company's history developed from two roots, initially completely independent of one another: the Haselbach glass factory , which was entered in the trade register on September 16, 1896, and the Thuringian glass wool industry, formerly S. Koch GmbH, founded on November 11, 1921 .
Haselbach glass factory
In the Haselbach glass factory founded in 1896 by Joseph and Hermann Schuller, glass tubes, glass ampoules, test tubes and tablet glasses were initially manufactured. The foundation of the enormous upswing of the "Wernerhütte", as the company was later called, was a series of inventions that are still associated with Werner Schuller's name today. B. in 1938 succeeded in using the rod drum drawing process to produce fine, spinnable glass threads of the desired thickness. These glass threads were initially used primarily for insulation in the technical field.
The NSDAP had at that time in Germany long ago the sovereign political announcements. As a result, the situation of the Jews became more and more precarious. Marriages between "Aryans" and Jews were seen as racial disgrace that was severely punished. Werner Schuller, who was married to a Jew, was therefore imprisoned for four months. Then he decided to obey the need and to save the company, to send his wife Edith together with their two daughters abroad in 1939. His two sons stayed with their father in Haselbach; as "half-Arabs" they were forbidden from attending school.
Despite or maybe because of his difficult private situation and regardless of the war, Schuller still invested all his energy in his ambitious company. In 1939 he decided to set up a branch for fiber optic production in Coburg , Upper Franconia, just a few kilometers away . In the war that had now begun, the special properties of glass wool - fire resistance, durability, insulating power - were particularly in demand. The Haselbach-based company was therefore classified by the new rulers as "important to the war effort", which is why Schuller was not drafted and operations could continue undisturbed.
Two years before the end of the war, Schuller developed a process for producing glass staple sliver. This was particularly in demand as a substitute for asbestos , the health-endangering potential of which was gradually being recognized.
Even before the official end of the war on May 8, 1945, the Americans advanced from the south into Thuringia in April and ended the rule of the National Socialists here. The new rulers asserted extensive reparations . Hence expropriations occurred on a large scale; Industrial companies were nationalized. With “Order No. 1”, the “Wernerhütte Glass Factory” was expropriated together with other companies from the region without compensation and passed into Soviet ownership.
Before his company was actually expropriated on August 1, 1946, Werner Schuller moved to his branch in Coburg. For his escape he used the short period of time in which the Americans still occupied Thuringia and the Soviets had not yet taken possession of the region. In order to create a better starting base for himself in the west, Schuller had dismantled machines at the Haselbach plant before his final departure and transported them over the demarcation line to Coburg under cover of darkness. After the expropriation, the Haselbach glassworks was converted into a Soviet stock corporation (SAG).
The new technological processes in the field of fiberglass production aroused the interest of the new rulers. The workforce was forced to tolerate factory tours by Russian specialists and had to reveal their know-how. People also came from the “socialist brother countries” who took a close look at the technology in order to be able to recreate the devices.
When the GDR was founded on October 7, 1949, SAG Haselbach became a VEB (state-owned company). From now on, the names for the company changed several times: First, the Haselbach glassworks belonged to "Westglas", then it was incorporated into "VVB Zement und Glas Dresden". From 1968 it ran under the umbrella organization " VVB Technisches Glas Ilmenau ", then as a plant in "Technischen Glas Ilmenau", then part of the Altenfeld glass factory. The Haselbach glassworks then became part of the “Technisches Glas Ilmenau” combine , until it was finally merged with other companies in the area in 1981 under the umbrella of the “VEB Trisola Steinach”.
The production of glass tubes and rods remained a production focus. The capacity was not only sufficient for own use, but the rods were exported as raw material to a considerable extent to what was then Yugoslavia and the FRG. The Vitrulan company in Marktschorgast was also one of the customers in Germany . Yarns and threads were also produced. They were wound up and made into insulation, e.g. B. for gloves, seals, pipe wraps and sometimes also for electrical cable insulation.
Another successful product that was developed in GDR times and produced from 1974 onwards was the "Haselbacher glass fiber wallpaper", which came onto the market under the name "Haglasta". Everyone in the GDR knew the slogan of the time: "Young people, old house, take Haglasta, make something of it!"
The “Haglasta” wallpaper was also in great demand in the “non-socialist economic area”, although not to the same extent as in the GDR. The real “hit”, however, was the glass bitumen fabric, which was also led and sold under the name “Haglasta”. It was used as an insert in bitumen roofing membranes , which made them much more tear-resistant. Large parts of the production went to Germany.
With the political change in 1989/90 the struggle for survival began. Entire branches of industry and sales opportunities to Russia and the socialist countries collapsed. Since the FRG itself had sufficient spare capacity, all of Haselbach's efforts to gain a foothold in the West were unsuccessful. Extensive layoffs were the result.
Hamburg / Lauscha / Steinach / Marktschorgast
The second Vitrulan root comes from the "Thuringian glass wool industry, formerly S. Koch GmbH" founded on November 11, 1921, with headquarters in Hamburg and production in Lauscha by H. Goldmann, HFC Cordts, S. Koch and K. Greiner-Petter.
On March 19, 1921, Messrs. Goldmann and Cordts founded the company of the same name “Goldmann & Cordts”. The two young entrepreneurs began their search for suitable merchandise in Thuringia, where they came across a manufacturer of medical glass items and glass eyes. Due to the previous war, the need for artificial eyes and medical equipment was great. During a stay in Lauscha , Hans F. C. Cordts soon made the acquaintance of a certain Septimius Koch, who had specialized in the manufacture of bird tails for glass birds and so-called "angel hair" - both of which consisted of fine glass threads.
It was discovered that the "angel hair", which is popular as Christmas tree decorations, reflected the heat radiation from candle flames and in this way melted the wax. From there it was only a small step to the groundbreaking idea of using glass threads as a material for thermal insulation. In addition, there was the favorable fact that Koch had the patent for a new type of device with which, for the first time, several glass rods lying horizontally in one plane could be mechanically transported into a gas flame and spun. With this apparatus it was now possible to produce larger quantities of glass wool; it was no longer to be manufactured exclusively for decoration purposes, but also to be sold as an insulating material. The missing business partner was soon found in Karl Greiner-Petter, who had suitable premises for the production facility in Lauscha. In 1921, Cordts, Goldmann, Koch and Greiner-Petter founded the "Thuringian glass wool industry, formerly Septimius Koch GmbH" as partners in equal parts.
The business with glass wool as an insulating material developed so rapidly that the capacities in Lauscha were soon no longer sufficient. Therefore, the production should be relocated to Steinach , where there was enough free building space for the construction of spacious production buildings. Soon up to 10,000 kg of glass wool were being produced there every day. As before, the products from Steinach were sold via Hamburg. The local branch testified to the company's financial prosperity: the business premises were located in the architecturally impressive Chilehaus in Hamburg's Schanzenviertel .
In 1929 the name "Vitrulan" was protected by law; it is derived from the Latin "vitrum" (= glass) and "lana" (= wool). From then on, this trademark was used to designate all products that were manufactured by the “Thuringian glass wool industry”.
The global economic crisis ended the golden twenties. In the years 1930–1932 the "Thuringian glass wool industry" also had to fight for survival due to the prevailing recession. A new period of prosperity began in the mid-1930s and lasted until World War II . The company developed into one of the most important German manufacturers of glass wool. The areas of application of the Vitrulan insulation material were diverse: For locomotives, ships, district heating systems, pipelines, public buildings, steam power plants, plants in the chemical industry, oil refineries, coking plants, sugar factories, etc., glass wool was now used.
In addition to the production of thermal insulation, research and development activities were not neglected. A real innovation dates back to 1931: For the first time, the company sampled a wall covering ( wallpaper ) made of glass fiber - made from colored glass.
The Americans marched into Thuringia in April 1945. After the Americans had left all the machines and documents behind, the Red Army took possession of all of Thuringia. With the orders No. 124 and 126 of the Soviet military administration (SMAD) as well as the order of the head of administration of the SMAD of the state of Thuringia No. 367 of July 29, 1946, the company in Steinach - like the glassworks in Haselbach too - was granted reparation payments by the USSR sequestered (confiscated).
Ten years after the founding of the GDR, the Steinach factory was handed over to the German people by the Russian occupying forces on June 1, 1959. The company in Steinach was converted into a VEB. The right to return of June 5, 1950 was rejected by the Ministry of Industry of the GDR.
Determined to make a fresh start, Cordts returned to his roots and returned to trading. Through the Hamburg office he bought and sold textile glass products from the Schuller company, Coburg, and products from the Aachen-Gerresheimer textile glass company in Düsseldorf. In addition, Cordts was looking for contract weavers who manufactured on behalf of the “Thuringian glass wool industry”.
After the end of the war and the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, the course was set for a completely new beginning.
It was possible to convince the VW group of the advantages of the Vitrulan textile glass fabric for thermal insulation . Soon every VW Beetle was equipped with “Vitrulan” glass staple fiber fabric, which ensured that the heat generated by the rear engine could be conducted into the passenger compartment in winter with almost no loss. The same applied later to the VW Transporter equipped with a similar drive .
On July 1, 1956, Cordts, the oldest son of the company founder, took over the planning and execution of a new company building in Marktschorgast, 70 km from the old production facilities in Steinach. On November 26, 1958, the "Textile Glass Factory Hans FC Cordts" was founded with headquarters in Hamburg, Chilehaus A, and production in Marktschorgast. In 1962, Cordts was appointed by his father as the managing director with sole power of representation.
While searching for new areas of application for glass fabrics, Cordts literally saw the light in Marktschorgast in the early 1960s. First he had samples produced for the lampshade industry on a specially constructed test facility. They turned out to be bestsellers, because rustic lampshades made of glass fabric were suddenly very much in trend in interior design. At the same time, the market for supports made of glass fabric in waterproofing membranes for roofing purposes expanded. The first experiments with decorative glass fabrics also took place in the 1960s . Production increased slowly but steadily and developed into another important mainstay of the “textile glass factory”.
Despite all these promising new developments, deliveries to VW remained the most important business. After decades of incredible growth rates in Beetle production, the symbol of the German economic miracle was out of date in the 1970s. Nobody wanted cars with an air-cooled rear engine anymore; VW and its suppliers plunged into a deep recession.
After 50 years of company history, Cordts handed over the entire management to his son Hans Friedrich in 1973; the bookkeeping remained in Hamburg for a few years, after which everything was united under one roof in Marktschorgast.
The years of the economic downturn were used intensively for experimenting with new types of products. The efforts finally bore fruit: the product groups of glass decoration, glass mesh and glass bitumen fabrics as well as glass insulation products proved to be bestsellers on the domestic and international markets. The new breakthrough was achieved.
In 1978 Cordts converted the "Textile Glass Factory Hans FC Cordts" into "Vitrulan Textilglas GmbH". In 1974 the “Thuringian glass wool industry” was finally deleted from the commercial register.
The rapidly increasing demand for glass fiber wallpapers (glass decorative fabric ) brought Vitrulan an unexpectedly great success. But a number of other products were also able to hold their own in the market:
- Glass reinforcement fabric for plasters and paints
- Glass fabric corner brackets for building and window reveals
- Bitumen glass fabric as protection and support for on- and offshore pipeline insulation
- Glass insulation products as protection against heat and energy loss
- Textile glass braids for packs, tapes, fabrics, clothing
After the reunification of Germany
With the reunification of Germany and the political change in 1989/90, the return or repurchase of the Steinach business unexpectedly came within reach. Cordts immediately contacted the former production facility of the "Thuringian glass wool industry". But the first inventory was sobering; the production facilities were in a sorry state. The buildings were partially dilapidated, the machinery for the most part did not meet the requirements of a modern company.
At that time, glass fiber fleeces and superfine glass fibers were produced in Steinach - items that only partially fit into the “Vitrulan” product range. In contrast, Haselbach specialized in the production of glass rods and glass tubes. Business contacts to Haselbach already existed, because in the GDR era, “Vitrulan” had obtained a small part of the glass rods for Marktschorgast from there. In 1992, after a long and tough struggle with the Treuhandanstalt and Glasring Holding , Cordts bought the glassworks in Haselbach, Thuringia.
For the 100th anniversary of the “Haselbach Glassworks”, all renovation measures were completed in 1996. At that time, glass rods and tubes made of clear and colored glass, glass staple fiber fuses, glass staple fiber yarn and twist, bitumen glass fabric and glass mesh were produced in Haselbach.
today
In 2008, the current group structure of the Vitrulan Group was implemented: Founding of Vitrulan Technical Textiles GmbH based in Haselbach, incorporating the reinforcement and reinforcement products from Vitrulan Textilglas GmbH, Marktschorgast. Vitrulan International GmbH took over the management of the Vitrulan Group as a holding company and continued the tradition as a family company. In December 2016, Vitrulan International was replaced by Vitrulan Holding GmbH.
Product groups
- Fiberglass wallpaper
- Glass fleece
- Smooth fleece
- Glass mesh
- Clutch
literature
- Vitrulan yesterday and today, a company with tradition and innovation; ISBN 978-3-937276-43-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Federal Gazette : Consolidated financial statements for the financial year from 01/01/2014 to 12/31/2014
- ↑ The Vitrulan company history