W. Bauermann & Sons
From 1904 to 1976 W. Bauermann & Sons was a manufacturing factory for the manufacture of umbrella fittings for "Tempo" and from 1930 for the pocket umbrellas "boy", "Piccolo" and "Tempo".
From 1922 to 1980 W. Bauermann & Sons manufactured welded precision steel tubes for the bicycle and moped industry; for vacuum cleaner tubes; Saw frame; Pipe bends for sanitary installations; as tubes for furniture frames and tubes for garden furniture and camping sets. The company was located in Hilden Hofstrasse 64. Today the site houses the Hilden start-up center (HGZ) in the south industrial park. The W. Bauermann & Sons logo "WB & S" showed anchors and two stars as trademarks.
History of the factory
Time from 1904: Founding of the umbrella fittings factory
On March 21, 1904, the open trading company W. Bauermann & Söhne OHG for the production of umbrella fittings (umbrella frames) in Hilden by Wilhelm Bauermann (* March 2, 1848, † February 18, 1937 in Düsseldorf), factory owner and businessman to Weyer, was his Sons Cuno Bauermann († September 21, 1916), factory owner and businessman zu Hilden, Richard Bauermann (born February 9, 1881 in Weyer), and his son-in-law Gustav Braun (born November 14, 1864; † June 4, 1930 in Bad Tölz ) , Manufacturer and businessman zu Wald , registered under number 3156 in the commercial register of the Gerresheim district court. Wilhelm Bauermann previously worked at the company Kortenbach & Rauh, which specializes in umbrella fittings and was founded in Weyer in 1855.
On March 12, 1904, Wilhelm Bauermann had submitted a building application for the construction of an umbrella fittings factory on an area of around 2000 m² on a newly acquired 18,328 m² site in Hilden-Süd, Hofstrasse 64. As early as 1914, more than 10,000 m² were built on with shed halls. In 1915 the company moved into a new administration building. The company employed more than 600 people. It exported fittings for umbrellas and parasols to Western European countries as well as to the Middle East and India.
The umbrella fittings, the frames for umbrellas, were punched out of strip steel and shaped with punching.
In 1915 a big fire broke out in the stamping shop.
Richard Bauermann left the company in 1920 and founded his own pipe factory in Düsseldorf .
Period from 1922: Second mainstay: welded tubes for the two-wheeled industry
As a second mainstay, the production of welded tubes for the bicycle and motorcycle industry began in 1922. B. Handlebars and seat posts, rear wheel sets, front wheel sheaths.
During the hyperinflation in Hilden in 1923, the Bauermann & Söhne company issued emergency money in addition to the city's main treasury . Another issue point was the Rheinische Stahlwerke . Wilhelm Braun (born February 2, 1896 in Wald; † March 1, 1952 in Düsseldorf), the only son of the company's founder Gustav Braun, joined the plant management in 1923.
Period from 1929: fashion accessory pocket umbrella frame "boy"
With the inventions of Hermann Zeitschler (sales manager), the production of the pocket umbrella “boy” from 88 individual parts began in 1929. As an innovation to the usual stick umbrellas, the "boy" had telescopic stick and roof pole parts so that the umbrella could be "shortened" and carried in a bag. At the same time, in 1928 Hans Haupt from Solingen invented the collapsible Knirps (umbrella) . W. Bauermann & Söhne has submitted a total of 173 invention reports to the patent offices. 1930 Death of the company founder Gustav Braun.
In 1935 W. Bauermann & Sons registered the name “boy” as a brand name. Affordable luxury was the concept behind the inventor of “boy”.
W. Bauermann & Söhne was the first company in the region of the fashion city of Düsseldorf to integrate design form into production. With the arrival of the designer Schneider, the umbrella was advertised as a fashion accessory with the slogans "We are not here to make better umbrellas, but to make umbrellas better" and "Millions wear it" and in Europe, the Middle East, India, Canada, America and Australia markets. The "boy" presented itself as a courageous innovation, with quality in design for youth who stand in life. The company actively carried out market research.
During the economic crisis in 1936 the number of employees fell to around 360.
After the death of the company founder Wilhelm Bauermann, his grandsons Wilhelm Braun and Werner Bauermann were general partners of W. Bauermann & Sons from 1937.
Time from 1945: end of the war and reconstruction
Towards the end of the Second World War, W. Bauermann & Sons was also bombed in Hilden on March 7, 1945. This led to the shutdown. After the end of the war, the plant was idle until the end of 1945. During this time the workers were busy with repairs. The company was on the Allied dismantling list. 22 automatic welding devices and machines for the production of special tubes were picked up from a sub-factory. On November 30, 1945 they received permission to resume the manufacture of precision tubes by welding steel strips. The first production permit was for the manufacture of pipe saw frames for the wood requirements of the coal mining industry. After the dismantling, better and more rational, self-designed machines were used in the course of the construction.
After Werner Bauermann left the company in 1951, his cousin Wilhelm Braun became the sole owner. The company employed 384 people. Shortly afterwards, Wilhelm Braun died at the age of 56. In 1952 his wife Ilse Braun, b. Hoppe (* March 29, 1904 in Düsseldorf; † October 26, 1981 in Hilden), and their children Karlernst (* March 16, 1932 in Düsseldorf), Sigrid (* December 3, 1934) and Hans-Jürgen Braun (* 11. October 1938 in Düsseldorf). Ilse Braun and Hanns A. Deisenroth (* 1902, † May 18, 1958) became managing directors. Procuration retained: Josef Schröder, Wilhelm Wingartz and Hermann Zeitschler.
After the death of Hanns A. Deisenroth, Karlernst Braun became the new managing director. The split into the production company W. Bauermann & Söhne GmbH and the W. Bauermann & Söhne Society under civil law later proved to be a clever move .
Time from 1953: Tubes for furniture and garden furniture and garden furniture production
Due to increasing competition from umbrellas, a new, growing market was opened up in 1953 with the start of the production of tubular steel furniture, tubes for camping equipment and relaxation swings. All garden furniture could be dismantled and easily transported.
For this purpose, sheet metal parts were punched from strip steel and formed . The parts were descaled, pickled , annealed and rolled into tubes . These were electrically welded , the welds smoothed , to the prescribed length cut . The tubes were then annealed and pickled . To give the pipe parts a gloss and color, they were powder-coated and then quickly dried in an infrared oven .
At the ceremony for the company's 50th anniversary in one of the company halls in 1954, the 440 employees also celebrated the silver anniversary of the “boy” pocket umbrella. The commemorative publication “One anchor and two stars” was published for the anniversary. The author was a friend of the house: the Rhenish poet Heinz Steguweit
Karlernst Braun, a graduate in business administration, joined the management team in 1958 and 1970, when his brother, graduate engineer Hans-Jürgen Braun. The manufacture of the pocket umbrella frames made it necessary to set up a branch in Freilingen / Eifel . On April 25, 1960, 5 workers began to assemble galvanized individual parts made into umbrella frames in Hilden in the hall of the Freilinger restaurant “Im Weiße Röß'l”. After the construction of a 26 × 16 m workshop with an office wing, canteen and living space, which was ready for occupancy on October 15, 1961, production could continue with an initial 50 employees. In 1966, the branch in Freilingen already accounted for two thirds of the company's umbrella production ./>
Period from 1962: expansion
The company expanded in 1962 with the construction of a new production hall. It was one of the largest industrial buildings in Hilden. In it, the parts were in the automatic Galvanostraße nickel , chrome , copper-plated and brass . A boiler system based on heavy fuel oil was installed at the same time as the Galvanostraße to generate the necessary amount of heat. In 1962 the workforce was 430 people.
A further expansion took place in 1971 with the new production hall with a floor area of 4000 m² for the production of garden furniture and furniture parts for the production of special pipes for the radio and photo industry. It was one of the largest industrial buildings in Hilden. The production area was expanded by 25 percent with the new workshop. The hall was designed as a three-aisled steel structure and clad with aerated concrete panels.
The “boy” umbrella became the umbrella for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich because of its good quality and original design.
Ilse Braun left the management in 1973 and transferred her shares to her sons Karlernst and Hans-Jürgen Braun.
Period from 1974: Kortenbach & Rauh; Bremshey; W. Bauermann & Sons
In the mid-1970s, the leading umbrella manufacturers were: Kortenbach & Rauh (K&R) in Solingen with its “Kobold” brand; Bremshey in Solingen and Hilden with its brand “Knirps” and W. Bauermann & Sons (WB&S) in Hilden with its brands “boy” and “Piccolo”.
In 1974, Bremshey opened a "Knirps" factory in Taiwan. The East Asian competition increased. Then in 1976 the company W. Bauermann & Söhne (WB&S) was sold to Kortenbach & Rauh (K&R), which then gave up the umbrella frame production of the “boy” brand in Hilden in 1978 and relocated it to Solingen. 67 employees went to Solingen. At the same time, the production of umbrella fittings in Freilingen was discontinued and the site was sold to the community for use as a building yard. In 1979, just three years later, the Bremshey company was also acquired by Kortenbach & Rauh. With the merger of the three leading umbrella frame manufacturers, the umbrella industry in Germany flourished again. In the 1980s, the import of umbrellas from East Asia became so large that K&R had to give up its production.
The Hilden-based company began specializing in the development and manufacture of precision steel tubes and installable tube parts for the furniture industry from 1978. It processed 800 tons of strip steel per month. At the time of its 75th anniversary in 1979, the company still had around 270 employees. Shortly thereafter, in 1980, pipe production and garden furniture production were discontinued. The production company W. Bauermann & Söhne GmbH stopped all production on March 31, 1980.
Period from 1980: W. Bauermann & Söhne Society under civil law
The W. Bauer & Söhne GbR under the direction of the brothers Karl Ernst and Hans-Jürgen Braun continued Brown. In the meantime from 1980 to 1990 the company premises and the property were leased to Mr. Willi Obst.
Time from 1990: Gewerbepark-Süd - W. Bauermann & Söhne GbR
The former industrial site was converted into a business park in 1990 . For this purpose, 23,000 m² of office and commercial space was developed on 42,000 m². It is rented by W. Bauermann & Söhne GbR under the management of Karlernst Braun and Hans-Jürgen Braun to a wide variety of commercial enterprises.
The Hilden start-up center (HGZ) started in 1998 in a "public-private partnership" with the city of Hilden. The contract has now been extended to 2023. It was opened in 1999 by the then NRW Economics Minister Peer Steinbrück . The company is still family-owned. It is therefore one of the oldest family-owned businesses in Hilde. The managing partners are Karlernst Braun and Hans-Jürgen Braun, the grandchildren of the company founder Gustav Braun. Further shareholders are the children of Karlernst Braun and Hans-Jürgen Braun: Dipl.-Ing. Christian Braun, Dipl.-Ing. Mathias Braun, Dipl.-Ing. Michael Braun and attorney at law Sylvia Braun.
Tenant in the Gewerbepark-Süd, Hilden Hofstr 64
Around 50 companies with a total of around 200 employees have now settled in the South Business Park and start-up center.
The tenants come from the following sectors:
- Real estate: (Real estate brokerage at the GbR, office and property furnishings, interior fittings - furniture construction - furniture trade - windows and doors, industrial service removals);
- Management consulting: (law firm, consulting company development, construction and engineering services in mechanical engineering, trading & consulting);
- Sales: (Wholesale of food and luxury goods, coffee roasting, complete logistic solutions, sporting goods sales, sales of goals, wine trade);
- Craft: (development and testing of adhesives, horticulture, painting, electrical engineering, locksmithing, metal construction, steel construction, sandblasting systems, stainless steel profiles, fastening technology, roofing material, carpentry, set construction, exhibition stand construction, interior construction, weighing technology, dental laboratory, dental laboratory);
- IT technology: (IT service & computer repair, parking systems, barrier systems, traffic monitoring systems, vending machine operators and retailers);
- Aid organization: (aid organization with operations control center, training room and parking spaces for the vehicle park) and
- Food truck for physical well-being.
Art space in the industrial park south
The original plan was to provide the tenants with showrooms for their products. Therefore, from 1996 one room was used as an “exhibition room” and from 1997 as “art space Gewerbepark-Süd”. Today it is a meeting place. The opening concert of the Hilden Jazz Days has traditionally been held here since 2013 . Regular events take place in it:
- Readings and art café, exhibition of regional and international artists with press conference, vernissage, finissage and museum night;
- Hilden Founders Day; Entrepreneurs' day of the Hilden Industry Association;
- Information events on local renewals;
- New Year reception of a party;
- Festivals of Hilden clubs.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 9 ′ 42.6 ″ N , 6 ° 55 ′ 50.1 ″ E
- Stories and myths of umbrella-making
- Telephone address book for the German Reich Hilden 1907
- Our members - Hildener Industrie-Verein eV
- Research company announcements and financial metrics
- Off Architekten - Gewerbepark-Süd - Hilden Extension of a fully glazed staircase and elevator building
- Gewerbepark-Süd Südlich, news from the Gewerbepark-Süd, Hilden, July 2014
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Gewerbepark-Süd in Hilden near Düsseldorf, industrial site with a long history, accessed on September 14, 2018
- ↑ Kortenbach and Rauh, umbrella fittings
- ↑ Wolfgang Wennig: History of Hilden industry. Hilden 1974, p. 48 ff.
- ^ Fifty years of Bauermann & Sons. In: Rheinische Post. September 30, 1954.
- ↑ Great fire on May 31, 1915
- ^ Bauermann & Sons issuing office for emergency money 1923
- ^ A b c Bos Zang: Century Developing Story on boy 1904, Germany. boy, January 12, 2018, accessed September 14, 2018 .
- ^ Heinrich Strangmeier: Hilden Yearbook 1945-1946. Verlag Peters, Hilden 1950, pp. 81, 150.
- ^ Heinrich Strangmeier: Hilden Yearbook 1947–1952. Verlag Peters, Hilden 1953, p. 158.
- ↑ List: Factories in the British zone that go beyond the bizonal industrial level
- ↑ a b Heinz Steguweit: One anchor and two stars. WB & S.- presented by Bauermann & Söhne, Hilden / Rhld. on the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 1954. Verlag Schreiber & Fey, Solingen 1954.
- ↑ Embossed with an anchor and two stars. In: Hildener Zeitung. October 1, 1954.
- ↑ a b pocket umbrellas - branded items from Hilden. In: Hildener Zeitung. November 20, 1962.
- ↑ Albert Luppertz: Freilingen. An Eifel village over the centuries. Freilingen 2002, pp. 82-84.
- ↑ Bauermann significantly expands production. In: Rheinische Post. November 5, 1970, No. 257.
- ↑ 100 years of Kortenbach and Rauh.
- ^ Elf Maaß Weinberg: New job for 67 employees. Rheinische Post. June 7, 1977, no.130.
- ↑ Michael Kremer: New building at the old headquarters, the operator of the industrial park south is investing 300,000 euros in the oldest building. In: Westdeutsche Zeitung. May 13, 2013, accessed September 14, 2018 .