Zurich brickworks
The Zurich brickworks (also: brick-Aktien-Gesellschaft, Zurich ) was a group of companies, which in Zentennium changed its name between 1912 and 2012 under this name. It emerged from a merger of Zurich brickworks in order to position themselves better on the brick market and was renamed Conzzeta for the company's centenary . With this name one wanted to do justice to the now completely different activity on the consumer goods market.
history
The initiative to found the company, or to be more precise: to merge, came from Jacob Schmidheiny , who in turn inherited a brick factory from his father Jacob in the second generation together with his brother Ernst in 1905 . This own company with its plants in Heerbrugg , Bruggwald near St. Gallen , Istighofen and Oberriet had to struggle with extremely precarious economic conditions during the period of stagnating construction activity. The brothers quickly realized that a recovery of the company could only be achieved in agreement with the competing companies, which had just as suffered from the crisis, and not in a fight with them. There was even talk of a cartelization of the market.
Both had been on the board of directors of the Heurieth steam brickworks since 1906, and the following year it joined forces with the Albishof brick factory to form Albishof-Heurieth . In 1912 this company again merged with the Mechanical Brick Factory Zurich . This large plant with two production sites in the Binz and in the zoo was considered to be the most efficient in Switzerland. The following can be read in the founding minutes:
“Under this company, a stock corporation was founded, which deals with the sale of the products of the Züricher Ziegeleien (Zurich), to which the Albishof, Gießhübel, Binz, Thiergarten, Heuriet and Wettswil plants are affiliated, and Keller & Cie. (Pfungen) dealt with the factories Pfungen, Neftenbach, Dättnau, Hegi and Schloss Teufen, as well as the leased Dynhard factory. The share capital amounts to CHF 500,000, of which 20 percent so far. H. are paid. The administrative board consists of Colonel Keller (Chairman), Ernst Schmidheiny, Hermann Keller-Malzacher, Vogel-Pfungen and Director Vogt. The delegate of the administrative board is Hermann Keller, the director is Mr. Rauber (formerly Zürcher Ziegeleien), who signs with Mr. Müller for the company. The chairman and delegate have individual signatures. "
Ernst Schmidheiny was a delegate and in the presidium from the beginning and was replaced in these functions by his brother Jacob in 1925. Despite the competitive situation - the Schmidheiny family dynasty still had their own brick production - their then President Hermann Keller-Malzacher emphasized at the general assembly, at which Jacob was elected as a delegate, that “Jacob Schmidheiny [is] one of our biggest competitors [but] a very one friendly relationship between the Zurich brickworks and the Schmidheiny company [exists]. ... [He] has a thorough knowledge of the syndicate system , which is very advantageous in later negotiations. " One year later, with the death of Keller-Malzacher, Jacob was his successor and held this office until his death in 1955.
Under Jacobs' direction, the company grew into the largest brick producer in Switzerland and this despite the adversity that the new building that emerged in the 1920s and 30s brought: on the one hand, more and more houses with flat roofs were being built; on the other hand, the “building material of the 20th Century », the concrete , new standards. As a countermeasure, consistent rationalization was carried out, which also included the closure of individual factories or the specialization of other factories. In addition, new products from the brick industry kept coming onto the market, taking into account the adjustment of the market. These products included the Pfeifer ceiling hollow stone (patented as early as 1913) and the Schmidheiny stone or insulating stone (patented 1926). In the 1930s, the porous sawable and nailable cell-clay stones and the steel clay lintel followed.
In the 1930s, the clay stores, the in-house source of raw materials for all brickworks, ran out, which was also due to the fact that more and more settlement space was needed in the Zurich area. Because of this necessity, the Schinznach clay pit was acquired, which at the time was considered “almost inexhaustible”. In addition to the problems during this period, there was the weak economy during the Great Depression and, at the end of the decade, the Second World War .
While Jacob Schmidheiny made his first experiments outside the industry in his own company as early as the mid-1910s with the oil and fat producing Società Anomima Italo-Svizzera in Horn on Lake Constance, and these over the decades with the Safir-Automobil-Werk, a passenger transport company Company for precision mechanics and optics and continued with the majority takeover of the machine and plant manufacturer Escher Wyss AG in 1936 , it was only in the 1980s that the company ventured into foreign industries with the takeover of the Fritz Nauer Group (foam). Further branches are added in quick succession: 1987 paints, 1992 real estate, 1993 ski wax and care products, 1994 mechanical and plant engineering, 2003 packaging and shoes, 2006 automation. The holding structure required for this was founded in 1992, the exit from the brick making business began in 1999 and then in 2012 it was renamed Conzzeta .
literature
- Jakob Bösch: Three Schmidheiny: Jacob Schmidheiny, Ernst Schmidheiny, Jacob Schmidheiny . (Swiss pioneers in business and technology. Volume 61). Association for Economic History Studies, Zurich 1979, esp. Pp. 65–73
- 75 years of Zurich brickworks , ed. from the Zurich brickworks, 1987
Individual evidence
- ↑ dachziegelarchiv.de
- ↑ a b Jakob Bösch: Three Schmidheiny: Jacob Schmidheiny, Ernst Schmidheiny, Jacob Schmidheiny . (Swiss pioneers in business and technology. Volume 61). Association for Economic History Studies, Zurich 1979
- ^ Roof tile archive , ZZ catalog 1955, p. 51
- ^ Roof tile archive , ZZ catalog 1955, p. 25
- ^ Roof tile archive , ZZ catalog 1955, p. 38
