Zbrojovka Vsetín

Zbrojovka Vsetín ; ZVI as
legal form	as
founding	1937
Seat	Prague
Branch	Arms for the army and police
Website	zvi.cz/

Zbrojovka Vsetín (Weapons Factory Vsetín) in the city of Vsetín in the Czech Republic was founded in 1937 as the third production facility (závod III) of the armaments company Zbrojovka Brno , then still Československá zbrojovka Brno . Today it operates as ZVI as , which was renamed in 2000 from the subsidiary Zbrojovka Vsetín - INDET as, which was founded in 1993 , and is facing bankruptcy in 2013 after government contracts have been withdrawn; the company is still mostly called "Zbrojovka" in the media to this day.

Other names

In addition to the names mentioned, the company had the following names as a result of regrouping and renaming ordered by the communist regime or as a result of mergers and production outsourcing after 1989:

ZŘR - Závody Říjnové Revoluce, np (národní podnik - state-owned enterprise), with several production sites
Zbrojovka Vsetín, koncernový podnik (group company)
Zbrojovka Vsetín ZTM (ZBROJOVKA TEXTILE MACHINERY)
TRUSTFIN as
IPEK as
ZBROJOVKA ZTM as

history

ZB vz. 37

MG 131

After it was founded in 1937, the plant took over the production of machine guns such as the ZB vz. 37 as well as ammunition for the army and hunters. During the Second World War , production was geared towards the needs of the Wehrmacht (and the Waffen-SS ). The capacity of the works was increased so that an annual production of 4,800 machine guns was soon reached; cannons for the air force, anti-aircraft cannons and other weapons and ammunition were also manufactured. Over 42,800 of the MG 131 machine guns were manufactured in 1944 alone.

After 1945, products from the armaments industry continued to be manufactured: ammunition 12.7 × 108 mm , Gorjunow SG-43 machine gun (SGMT version for tanks), bazookas , cannons for the air force, M53 / 59 Praga anti-aircraft cannons and others Weapons. The company employed over 7,000 people and had its own social facilities such as a residential complex, a cultural center, vocational school with boarding school and the like.

In 1950, Zbrojovka Vsetín , previously a subsidiary of Zbrojovka Brno , was separated from the parent company as an independent company and was given the task of additionally focusing on products for the textile industry. This branch of mechanical engineering became the most important field of activity of the company in the following years, which gradually introduced the production of various knitting machines , pneumatic and hydraulic air-jet looms , etc.; these products have been exported to 60 countries around the world.

After 1989, three subsidiaries were created that were strongly and alternately intertwined:

Zbrojovka Vsetín INDET, with a focus on the manufacture of electric and non-electric detonators
TRUSTFIN, a subsidiary of INDET, for the manufacture of various knitting machines
STIM ZET for the manufacture of cutting machines and equipment as well as drilling tools

The parent company Zbrojovka Vsetín kept the production of weapons and ammunition.

Development after 2000

The further development of the parent company as well as the subsidiaries is confusing and can only be roughly traced. A few smaller companies that were briefly active in the environment of the parent company through spin-offs or spin-offs (such as Zbrojovka Vsetín-ZTM , ZPS ZV , Zbrojovka Vsetín - KM , Zbrojovka Vsetín - Nástroje , etc.) are not included here.