Sulzer (manufacturer)

The company "Gebrüder Sulzer, Foundry in Winterthur" was founded in 1834 by Johann Jacob Sulzer. His sons, Johann Jakob and Solomon produced cast iron, built fire extinguishers, pumps, and apparatus for the textile industry; later they also started installing heaters. In 1836 the workforce grew to around forty journeymen, subworkers and apprentices. In 1839 a foundry was added, a mechanical workshop was set up and the first steam engine was built in Winterthur. In 1859, the first "partnership agreement" between the Sulzer brothers was signed. New products were introduced, first steam engines, later also ships, new organization, and production methods. Around 1860 Sulzer opened his first foreign sales office in Turin, and in 1867 the company participated in the world exhibition in Paris. The workforce had grown to more than 1,000 workers.

From 1880, steam engines, in particular, contributed to the growth to around 2,000 employees. In 1881 a branch was founded in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. In 1898, the first Sulzer diesel engine was developed in cooperation with Rudolf Diesel. Around 1900 the company had over 3,000 employees and sales offices in Milan, Paris, Cairo, London, Moscow and Bucharest, from 1914 also in the Japanese Kobe.

As a family business, the company had grown over the years in the form of a general partnership, and in June 1914 it was converted into two stock corporations with registered offices in Winterthur and Ludwigshafen am Rhein, both of which were renamed Gebrüder Sulzer Aktiengesellschaft. In 1917, both companies were bundled in a holding structure under the name Sulzer-Unternehmungen AG and subsequently the foreign sales offices were also transferred to independent companies. During the 1930s, production fell by two thirds as a result of the global economic crisis, and personnel was massively reduced.

Out of political and personal considerations, Sulzer decided to sell its subsidiaries in Germany by the beginning of the war.[4]

Sulzer was blacklisted by the Allies during World War II due to an increase in trade with Axis countries. Sulzer refused to sign an agreement to limit the future sale of marine diesel engines to the Axis countries, and was blacklisted by the Allies as a result.

From 1945, a growth phase began with a flourishing economy and strong expansion of foreign activities. In the 1950s, increasing production was carried out by guest workers, mainly from southern Europe. New divisions for energy, plant engineering and textile machinery were created, accompanied by better working conditions, expansion of social benefits, women's work for "lighter factory work" and housing subsidies in surrounding communities.

During the second heyday after the Second World War, the Sulzer Tower was built in the early 1960s - the company's new headquarters, a landmark of Winterthur and the tallest building in Switzerland at the time.

In 1961, Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM) in Winterthur was acquired, and the large diesel engine became Sulzer's flagship product worldwide. In 1966, Sulzer acquired a 53 percent stake in Escher Wyss & Cie. in Zurich, reaching an all-time high of over 30,000 employees. In 1969, Escher Wyss AG was taken over in full.

In the 1970s, the oil crisis announced a new orientation towards the technology group and the development of materials technologies. Sulzer reacted to the global decline in capital goods in the 1970s after losses in the second half of the 1980s. In 1982, the weaving machine business was expanded.

In 1984, Sulzer recorded losses and underwent massive restructuring.

Medical technology was expanded by the purchase of the American Intermedics Group for one billion Swiss francs. The Winterthur machine factory was closed in 1990 and the founding site in Winterthur was vacated. For the first time, Sulzer employed more people abroad than in Switzerland. On May 14, 1993, Gebrüder Sulzer, Aktiengesellschaft was renamed Sulzer Ltd. In 1996, a technology centre was built in the Oberwinterthur Industrial Park.

In 2000, Sulzer acquired the Finnish company Ahlstrom Pumps. In the middle of the year, the steam locomotive and machine factory DLM became independent, the remains of the former SLM became Winpro AG in 2001 through a management buyout.

Sulzer in Gillette, Wyoming

The time since 2003 is called a new beginning. Since then, the Group has been smaller but more profitable and has recorded strong growth. Sulzer increased operating income and net income by more than 50 percent.

In 2005, a Swiss-government sponsored historical study revealed that Sulzer provided fissile material in the 1970s for the South African nuclear weapons program. [5]

In 2010, the British Dowding & Mills, a leading provider of maintenance and repair services for generators and engines, was acquired. This strengthened the Sulzer Turbo Services division and expanded its field of activity. This step also served to strengthen the service business, away from the cyclical new business.

In spring 2011, Sulzer announced the acquisition of the Cardo Flow Solutions pump division of the Swedish company Assa Abloy for CHF 858 million, thus strengthening the Sulzer Pumps division in the promising water and wastewater market. The deal added the ABS and Scanpumps brands to Sulzer's workforce with 1,800 new employees.

Sulzer added a fourth division to its reporting structure at the beginning of 2017. Since then, the Sulzer Mixpac Systems unit, which has been manufacturing applicators for industrial adhesives since 2006, has formed the new Applicator Systems Division together with the businesses acquired from Geka and PC Cox in 2016.

Sulzer belongs on also on the “List of companies involved in the Holocaust” Hitler’s advocate brand.