Saurer
Encyclopedia
Arbon
Arbon may refer to:* Arbon, Haute-Garonne, French commune* Arbon, Switzerland* Arbon , in Switzerland* Arbon Valley, Idaho...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
(Swiss), based manufacturer of truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
s and bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
es, under the Saurer and Berna (beginning in 1929) brand names, and active between 1903 and 1982.
Saurer was very well known all around Europe in the years between World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
(1918-1939).
History
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
companies in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
(1906-1959, in the end taken over by Steyr-Daimler-Puch
Steyr-Daimler-Puch
Steyr-Daimler-Puch was a large manufacturing conglomerate based in Steyr, Austria, which was broken up in stages between 1987 and 2001. The component parts and operations continued to exist under separate ownership and new names.-History:...
), France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(1910-1956, taken over by Unic
Unic
Unic was a French car manufacturer firm founded by Georges Richard in 1906 after having left Richard-Brasier. Société anonyme des automobiles UNIC was established in Puteaux with two-cylinder and four-cylinder models. The 1943 cc 12 CV four-cylinder model was extremely successful and...
), the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(1927-1931, taken over by Armstrong Whitworth
Armstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. Headquartered in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth engaged in the construction of armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles, and aircraft.-History:In 1847,...
), and in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(1915-1918, taken over by MAN).
In Italy, Officine Meccaniche (OM)
Officine Meccaniche
Officine Meccaniche or OM was an Italian car and truck manufacturing company, founded in 1899 in Milan as Societa Anonima Officine Meccaniche...
was for many years licensee
Licensee
A licensee is someone who has been granted a licence.- Tort law :The term is used in the USA law of torts to describe a person who is on the property of another, despite the fact that the property is not open to the general public, because the owner of the property has allowed the licensee to enter...
of Saurer engines and other mechanical units, which they used in their own ranges of truck and buses
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the Saurer Motor Truck Company, headed by C.P. Coleman, had the rights to manufacture and sell heavy trucks under the Saurer brand name at its plant in Plainfield, New Jersey
Plainfield, New Jersey
Plainfield is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population increased to a record high of 49,808....
(which commenced operations in November 1911). On September 23, 1911, the Saurer Motor Truck Company merged with the Mack Brothers Motor Car Company of Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the 215th largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and is currently...
, headed by J. M. Mack, to form the International Motor Truck Company (IMTC). IMTC would continue to make and sell trucks using the Saurer name until 1918. In 1922 IMTC would become Mack Trucks, Inc.
Mack Trucks
Mack Trucks is an American truck-manufacturing company and a former manufacturer of buses and trolley buses. A wholly owned subsidiary of Renault Véhicules Industriels since 1990, Mack Trucks is currently a subsidiary of AB Volvo. The company's headquarters are located in Greensboro, North Carolina...
Saurer trucks were developed along the years into four basic ranges:
- A-type (1918)
- B-type (1926)
- C-type (1934)
- D-type (1959)
It was the B-type that established Saurer's international reputation as builder of long-lasting trucks.
In 1929 Saurer acquired its Swiss rival, Motorwagenfabrik Berna AG
Berna
Berna was a Swiss manufacturer of buses, trolleybuses and trucks, which later also specialized in surface metallurgical treatments and components. Until the 1960s it was primarily a vehicle manufacturer, but between 1965 and 1978 vehicle manufacturing was phased out and replaced with other products...
of Olten
Olten
Olten is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name.Olten's railway station is within 30 minutes of Zurich, Bern, Basel, and Lucerne by train, and is a rail hub of Switzerland.-History:...
, but the Berna name was allowed to continue, badging the very same Saurer models.
From 1932 on, trolleybus
Trolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
es were a very significant segment of Saurer production. Typically Saurer, or Berna, trolleybuses featured Brown, Boveri & Cie
Brown, Boveri & Cie
Brown, Boveri & Cie was a Swiss group of electrical engineering companies.It was founded in Baden, Switzerland, in 1891 by Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown and Walter Boveri who worked at the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon. In 1970 BBC took over the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon...
or Société Anonyme des Ateliers de Sécheron (SAAS) electric equipments and Carrosserie Hess
Carrosserie Hess
Carrosserie Hess AG is a bus, trolleybus and commercial vehicle manufacturer based in Bellach , Switzerland. Its products can be found operating across the globe, including the United States and Canada.-History:...
bodies. Saurer trolleybuses operated in most of Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
countries, and still do it in several of them.
At the World War 2 a restructured type BT 4500 and 5 BHw of Saurer trucks was used to gas people in Nazi extermination camp Chelmno .
In 1951 Saurer and its Italian licensee, OM, reached an agreement by which Saurer would market in Switzerland OM's light and medium-weight trucks and buses, using Saurer-OM and Berna-OM badges. This was successful and lasted until Saurer closure.
NAW
Declining sales in the early 1980s saw the two leading Swiss truck makers, Saurer and FBWFranz Brozincevic Wetzikon
Franz Brozincevic & Cie was a Swiss maker of trucks and buses, active between 1922 and 1985 and based in Wetzikon.FBW gained an excellent reputation for the top-level engineering and the long-lasting life of its products, never producing series but instead making individually tailored vehicles...
(Franz Brozincevic & Cie of Wetzikon
Wetzikon
Wetzikon is a municipality in the district of Hinwil in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.-Geography:Wetzikon has an area of . Of this area, 42.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 17.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 27.9% is settled and the remainder is non-productive...
, Switzerland), forming a joint organization called Nutzfahrzeuggesellschaft Arbon & Wetzikon, proceeding with motorbuses and trolleybuses production under the NAW brand, while the last Saurer-badged truck sold in the open market was delivered in 1983. Four years later, in 1987, a model 10DM supplied to the Swiss Army
Military of Switzerland
The Swiss Armed Forces perform the roles of Switzerland's militia and regular army. Under the country's militia system, professional soldiers constitute about 5 percent of military personnel; the rest are male citizen conscripts 19 to 34 years old...
meant the very last Saurer truck produced in history.
In 1982 Daimler-Benz
Daimler-Benz
Daimler-Benz AG was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motor vehicles, and internal combustion engines; founded in 1926. An Agreement of Mutual Interest - which was valid until year 2000 - was signed on 1 May 1924 between Karl Benz's Benz & Cie., and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, which had...
had acquired a major shareholding in NAW and soon took full control; and in a short time dropped Saurer, Berna and FBW brands, while using NAW premises to assemble heavy haulage
Heavy hauler
A heavy hauler is a very large transporter for moving oversize loads which are toolarge to go on a highway without an escort and special permit.-Types of vehicles:...
versions of Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
trucks.
Eventually NAW went into liquidation in early 2003.
The textile and automotive spin-offs
In 1995, Ernst ThomkeErnst Thomke
Dr. Ernst Thomke was born on 21 April 1939 in Biel/Bienne Canton of Berne, on the Franco-German linguistic border. His father was a practicing physician. First a trained mechanic, he acquired the Swiss federal maturity degree and pursued academic studies, while in employment...
, reputed Swiss Manager, took over the leadership of Saurer AG in Arbon as Chairman of the Board. To restructure this conglomerate, he had previously abandoned his position with its then major shareholder: BB Industrie Holding AG (22%). The previous major shareholder, Tito Tettamanti, of the conglomerate, founded in 1853, specialized in textile machinery and "propulsion technology", had acquired the main competitor in each field, Schlafhorst, with a large manufacturing capacity excess and Ghidela .
Thomke led actively Saurer AG until 1996, when he retired to the direction of the Board until 1999. In his years he promulgated transparency at all levels, flexible working hours, optimized the production and refined accounting systems. In 1996, the group Saurer AG went back into financial results showing profits. More than half of the revenues originating from Schlafhorst, upon its positive restructuring.
Oerlikon Textile
Since 2007, the conglomerate Saurer AG, which meanwhile had reached a worldwide leading status in textile machinery, has been integrated into the Oerlikon CorporationOerlikon Corporation
Oerlikon Corporation AG is a company located in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, Uwe Krüger is the CEO.January 2007, the corporation has integrated the Swiss conglomerate Saurer AGNowadays, Oerlikon Corporation has the following 6 Divisions:* Oerlikon Coating...
(see: http://www.oerlikontextile.com/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-3/ Oerlikon Textile )
Oerlikon-Saurer Textile is the world’s leading manufacturer of technologically sophisticated systems for spinning, texturizing, twisting and embroidery. Saurer Textile brings together eight brand names: Allma, Barmag, Melco, Neumag, Saurer Embroidery, Schlafhorst, Volkmann and Zinser. The products and services of each of these companies play a key role in the value creation process within the textile industry. A high level of technological competence in the field of textile machinery is combined with a consistent client orientation providing solutions which offer Saurer customers throughout the world significant advantages in their tough competitive environments.
Oerlikon-Saurer "Graziano Trasmissioni
Also since 2007, the remaining Saurer AG automative part, "Graziano Trasmissioni", a leading manufacturer for sophisticated gear, gear groups and complete transmission systems for agricultural, earth moving and special vehicles as well as for four wheel drive passenger cars and luxury sport cars has also been integrated into the Oerlikon Corporation. (see: http://www.oerlikon.com/ecomaXL/index.php?site=OERLIKON_EN_segments_drivesystems Oerlikon Drive Systems)Sources & References
- http://www.google.com/finance?q=VTX:OERL Oerlikon Google Finances
- http://www.oerlikon.com/ecomaXL/index.php?site=OERLIKON_EN_historical_milestones Oerlikon Milestones / January 2007 : incorporation of Saurer AG
- http://www.hra.sz.ch/cgi-bin/fnrGet.cgi?fnr=0203919027&amt=130&lang=1&hrg_opt=11000&shab=0000000 *Federal Registry of Commerce Switzerland Canton of SchwyzCanton of SchwyzSchwyz is a canton in central Switzerland between the Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne in the east and Lake Zurich in the north, centered around and named after the town of Schwyz....
, Switzerland