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Thyssen Krupp Precision Forge history
Thyssen Krupp Precision Forge company history timeline
Friedrich Krupp establishes a company on November 20, 1811 for the manufacture of cast steel in accordance with the English quality standards and the products manufactured from it.
When the steelmaking experiments of the two partners--and later of a third, Friedrich Nicolai--proved unsuccessful, Friedrich Krupp ran the factory on his own from 1816 onwards and developed a process for making high-quality cast steel on a factory scale.
In 1817 the Imperial Mint in Düsseldorf confirms the quality of Krupp cast steel.
In 1818 Krupp supplies his first coining die to the Prussian mint head office in Berlin.
When in 1830 Alfred Krupp started to manufacture finished products, he was able to endorse these with his personal guarantee of quality.
In 1830 Krupp begins to supply finish-machined rolls instead of his earlier unfinished rolls as these frequently crack due to incorrect machining by customers.
Only after 1834 did the firm experience vigorous expansion.
In addition, the purchase of the first steam engine in 1835 lowers production costs.
The general economic malaise which set in around 1846-47 hit the cast steel works badly.
In April 1848 Alfred Krupp, now sole owner, could only save it from ruin by selling off personal assets and then by winning a major order from Russia for cutlery machinery.
Around 1850 business started to pick up again.
From 1856 hostels are built for unmarried workers.
In 1859 the breakthrough into cannon-making was achieved with an order from Prussia for 300 cast-steel cannon-barrel ingots.
The order from the Prussian military authorities in 1859 is a breakthrough in the development of the company's second major production segment.
The year 1861 saw the construction of the first company dwellings for foremen.
In 1862 Alfred Krupp established a corporate body of management bearing joint responsibility for the affairs of the firm.
In 1862 Krupp builds the first Bessemer steel plant on the European continent, paving the way for the mass production of rails and steel sheet.
With the swift expansion of the company--in 1865 the workforce totaled 8,248 and sales 15.7 million marks--it became necessary to delegate managerial tasks.
In 1865 he acquires the Sayner iron and steel mill near Koblenz from the Prussian treasury, followed over the next few years by other iron and steel mills on the Rhine along with numerous ore mines on the Lahn and in the Westerwald region.
In 1867 August Thyssen invests in a company being set up in Duisburg by the Walloon industrialist family Bicheroux - his youngest sister had married into the family.
In addition, in 1869 Krupp commissions the first open-hearth furnace in Germany.
In 1870 a company hospital was established.
In 1870 the company acquires its own hospital.
Also in 1871, August Thyssen establishes the firm Thyssen & Company, which is initially an iron strip rolling mill, together with his father in Mülheim/Ruhr.
On October 2, 1871 the company produces its first hoop iron.
In 1871, the year of Germany's first unification, he set up his own business at Mulheim in the Ruhr area with 35,000 talers and a paternal grant of the same sum.
1871 is not considered to be the year in which the subsequent Thyssen Group was founded.
In the years up to 1873 the firm continued to expand strongly.
To transport the Spanish ore he establishes his own shipping company in Rotterdam in 1873.
However, in the economic slump of 1874 it almost suffered financial collapse because Krupp had raised large bank loans without arranging adequate security.
In 1875 Alfred Krupp decides that the three tires placed one above the other should become his company logo, which then becomes world-famous.
The technical manager of the Hoerder Mining and Metallurgy Association in Dortmund, Joseph Massenez, acquires the patents for the Thomas process in Germany in 1878.
Together with the Rheinische Stahlwerke, the Hoerder Association succeeds in 1879 in introducing this steel production process in Germany.
To counter the lack of housing, which made it difficult to attract labor to the as yet underdeveloped western Ruhr area, in 1880 Gewerkschaft Deutscher Kaiser for the first time sees the necessity to build housing.
In 1886 the company had already acquired the Annen steel mill near Witten.
When Alfred Krupp died in 1887, the firm's employees numbered 20,200 and sales for 1887-88 amounted to 47.5 million marks.
Following the death of his father in 1887, Friedrich Alfred Krupp expands the enterprise into a horizontally diversified concern.
In 1889 he decided to build the steel plant at Bruckhausen, installing six furnaces using the modern Siemens-Martin technique, and a rolling mill with five trains for the first step.
In 1889 he takes over as chairman of the board.
In 1889 Krupp acquires a majority stake in the Ver.
In 1891 August Thyssen announces that he is in possession of all shares of the Gewerkschaft Deutscher Kaiser trade union in Bruckhausen near (Duisburg-)Hamborn.
The first steel is tapped from the open-hearth furnace on December 17, 1891.
1891 – Formation of the Thyssen Group
These two events in the year 1891 are later considered to be the date of the foundation of the Thyssen Group.
Entry into the production of armor plate at the behest of the Imperial Navy led in 1892-93 to the acquisition of the strongest competitor in this field, the Gruson works in Magdeburg.
1892 – Development into a horizontally structured Group
The incorporation of the Gruson Works in Magdeburg in 1892 lays the foundation stone for Krupp plant construction.
The merger that formed Vereinigte Deutsche Metallwerke AG was initiated by Metallgesellschaft (now GEA Group AG), the controlling shareholder of the Heddernheimer Kupferwerk company since 1893 and which also acquired a majority stake in the company group.
August also wanted to control his own crude steel supplies, building a plant in 1895 in Bruckhausen, which started operations two years later.
In 1895 August Thyssen takes the final step in setting up an integrated iron and steel mill when Gewerkschaft Deutscher Kaiser in Hamborn near Duisburg builds its own blast furnace plant.
The takeover of the Germania shipyard in Kiel in 1896 opens up access to shipbuilding.
To add to its manufacturing capacities, in 1896 Gewerkschaft Deutscher Kaiser decides to build a baling hoop rolling mill.
New research has proven, however, that it was not he who initiated the program of naval expansion started in 1897-98.
With the integrated metallurgical plant in Rheinhausen, the pig iron and steel base of the Group is expanded in 1897.
For comparison: The first blast furnace which went into operation in 1897 at Thyssen had a daily production of 250 tons.
The plant was leased that year, and acquired in 1902.
When Friedrich Alfred Krupp dies suddenly in 1902 at the early age of 48 his elder daughter Bertha Krupp inherits the company.
1903 - start of construction of the Schwelgern port
In 1906 Bertha Krupp marries the counselor of legation Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach, who is granted the right by royal Prussian decree to bear the name Krupp as a prefix to his own family surname.
At the end of 1906 he is appointed vice chairman of the supervisory board of Fried.
After the Schwelgern port goes into operation, in 1906 Thyssen founds Transportkontor Vulkan GmbH, [Duisburg-]Bruckhausen, with a branch in Rotterdam, in particular to ship ore arriving in Rotterdam up the Rhine.
1907 – Hoesch acquires the plant in Hohenlimburg
In 1908 electric steelmaking was introduced at the Essen works.
In 1908 Krupp begins production of electrical steel.
1910 sees the establishment of N. V. Handels- en Transport Maatschappij Vulcaan, Rotterdam, an ocean shipping company aimed at making the Thyssen group independent of the international freight market.
In 1910 a new steel mill is built in Hagendingen / Lorraine, this time near to minette ore deposits rather than coal.
1912 – Development of stainless, acid-resistant steels
From 1912 a number of company-owned branch establishments are set up in the Mediterranean area.
The Thyssen AG steel mill in Hagendingen starts production in 1912.
In 1913 Thyssen turns its attention to Latin America, founding Deutsch-Überseeische Handelsgesellschaft (German Overseas Trading Company) in [Duisburg-]Hamborn with a branch in Buenos Aires.
In order to fulfill government contracts, munitions output was doubled in the first year of the war and by the third year it had reached more than five times its pre-1914 level.
1914 – First World War
August's shrunken business empire only became profitable again in late 1924.
Not having the equipment to exploit this material on an industrial scale, Osram sells the license to Krupp at the end of 1925.
A few weeks after August Thyssen’s death (April 4, 1926), his son Fritz and his nephew Hans agree to the incorporation of their Thyssen companies into the Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG.
In 1926 Krupp introduced Widia sintered carbide, a product which, by virtue of exceptional hardness and wear resistance, brought a major breakthrough in tool engineering.
1926 – WIDIA is launched onto the market
Helene and Amalie in Essen (acquired 1927) and Ver.
In 1928 the residence is transferred to the August Thyssen Foundation Schloss Landsberg.
The Renn process introduced by Krupp in 1929 permitted these inferior ores to be reduced economically.
The Great Depression, which first hit the world economy in 1929, brought this revival to an abrupt halt.
The idea of two cabs traveling in one shaft was patented back in 1930 but doesn’t become reality until more than seventy years later, heralding a new era in elevator technology.
On May 1, 1933 he joins the NSDAP with great hopes of organizing the party's economic policy along corporatist lines.
After 1933 Germany experienced an economic upturn during which corporate policy at Krupp became closely entwined with the economic policy of the National Socialists.
In 1933/34 Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG is decentralized to improve its management function.
Vst was decentralized in 1934; five steel mills in the western part of the Ruhr district were grouped into the August Thyssen-Hütte AG based in Duisburg.
In 1937 Europe's first fully automated wide strip rolling mill is installed in Dinslaken; after the end of World War Two it is dismantled on allied orders and transported to the Soviet Union.
In 1938, following the death of proprietor Arthur Krupp, son of Hermann Krupp, the Berndorf works near Vienna was incorporated in the concern.
Krupp also expanded its shipbuilding activities by acquiring a majority shareholding in Deutsche Schiff-und Maschinenbau Aktiengesellschaft "Deschimag" in 1940--41.
The 80 cm railgun "Dora", completed by Krupp in 1942, is the largest gun ever built, but is militarily outdated in view of the means of aerial warfare.
At the end of 1943 the firm was reconverted into a sole proprietorship and transferred to Gustav's eldest son Alfried.
Nevertheless, Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach was put under arrest by the American occupying troops in Essen on April 11, 1945.
The victorious Allies allowed limited repairs at ATH's factories, and the first steel mills at Thyssen-Hütte, the main works of ATH, began operating again in October 1945 but only temporarily.
On October 16, 1947 it is officially announced that the Thyssenhütte mill is also to be dismantled as part of the Allied policy to reduce Germany's industrial potential and compensate the countries particularly affected by the Second World War.
In February 1948 the Allies decided to dismantle Thyssen-Hütte as part of their war reparations from Germany.
In April 1948 the British dismantling office in Hamborn commissions the first German firms to undertake dismantling work.
Of the other charges of the indictment, criminal spoliation in occupied countries and promotion of slave labor, they were found guilty on July 31, 1948.
The destruction of the Thyssen-Hütte and other works of Vst was only halted in November 1949 with the Petersberg Treaty, an agreement signed between the Allies and the new government of the Federal Republic of Germany.
In 1950 the reconstruction work on the Thyssen-Hütte begins.
In 1951 their prison terms were cut short and they were released.
In 1951 Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach had declared that he would never again produce weapons.
The first blast furnace is fired up in 1951, with a Siemens-Martin plant also starting up again.
As part of the breakup of the West German coal, iron and steel industry, the Thyssen-Hütte is removed from the Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG Group and (re-)established in 1953 as August Thyssen-Hütte AG.
Together with Berthold Beitz, whom he had appointed as his chief executive at the end of 1953, Krupp contributed personally to this effort by making numerous order-winning trips abroad.
1955 – First hot strip mill in the Federal Republic of Germany
The company broadens its product range in 1956 by combining with Niederrheinische Hütte AG, a producer of wire rod and bar with considerable wire processing interests.
1957 – First Sendzimir rolling mill goes into operation
The acquisition of a majority stake in Deutsche Edelstahlwerke AG (1957), the largest stainless steel producer of the time, adds stainless and quality steels to the range.
The company invested some DM 700 million up to 1958 and spent DM 800 million alone on a new Beeckerwerth plant.
In 1958 sales, including the coal and steel operations still subject to the divestment order, amounted to DM 3.3 billion, generated by a workforce of 105,200.
1958 Thyssen acquires a stake in Rasselstein
Both drive forward the rebuilding of the Krupp Group, which in 1958 is for a short time once again the German company with the highest revenue.
Krupp is the first German company still in production to agree a voluntary payment of DM10 million with the Jewish Claims Conference in 1959 to former Jewish concentration camp prisoners who performed forced labor.
In 1961 the company opened a plant in Brazil to make drop forgings for internal combustion engines and vehicles.
The hot strip mill begins work in April 1964, with the cold rolling mill beginning its production two months later.
In 1964 Krupp acquired a majority shareholding in Atlas-Werke AG, Bremen, including MaK Maschinenbau GmbH, Kiel.
1965 – Acquisition of the Bochum Association for cast steel fabrication
The financial crisis into which the company plunged in 1967 was largely triggered by the high level of supplier credits that had to be granted in the strongly expanding export business.
1967 sees the death of Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, the last personal sole owner of the Krupp company.
Nevertheless, until withdrawn in 1968, the divestment order prevented the company from developing a comprehensive long-term policy of corporate restructuring and investment.
Thyssen also forged alliances with other large German steel producers to make production more cost-effective, signing an agreement with Mannesmann in 1970 on steel pipe and rolled steel manufacturing.
The Beeckerwerth factory is awarded the gold medal at the “Industry in the Landscape” national competition in 1971 because the Technical Director Alfred Michel had placed particular emphasis on the external and architectural design of the plant directly on the River Rhine.
In 1972, the melting shop for nickel alloys and special alloys opened its doors in Unna, where it still operates today.
The oil price rise of 1973 delivered another blow to the industry as costs soared and demand shrank.
1973 – Expansion of Thyssen to form a conglomerate
1973 – Black giant in Duisburg
The acquisition of Rheinstahl AG in 1973 broadens the business base and at the same time reduces dependency on the cyclical steel sector.
In 1973 a new large-scale production site is built in Neuhausen an der Fildern near Stuttgart.
Thyssen's steel production peaked at 17 million tons in 1974, the same year that the first major steel crisis hit world manufacturers.
In 1974 the state of Iran acquired a 25.04 percent interest in the stock capital of the steel subsidiary Fried.
In 1976 Iran also acquired a 25.01 percent stake in Fried.
Krupp GmbH, whose capital stock was increased to DM 700 million by the summer of 1978.
In an effort to expand the business base and reduce the dependency on steel The Budd Company (USA) is acquired in 1978.
Following the Iranian Revolution of 1979, these ownership interests were held by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The steel crisis continued, however, forcing the creation of Thyssen Stahl AG in 1982 as an independent steel group, in a bid to find partners to help reduce costs.
1983 – First Thyssen tailored blanks at Audi
Wilfried Prange, Head of the Research Department for Application Technology, is considered to be the “inventor” of the tailored blanks, which were first used in 1983 in the Audi 100.
After closure of the operation in 1985, the blast furnace plant is converted into a landscape park under the IBA Emscherpark project and private initiatives.
An improvement in the world economy prompted Thyssen to restart dividend payments at five marks a share, though losses at Thyssen Stahl continued until 1987.
The steelmaking sector reduced its output of tonnage steel and in 1987--88 the plan to close the iron and steel works in Rheinhausen was met by a campaign of protest from the workforce.
In 1988/89, the then Krupp Stahl AG took over first one third of VDM Nickel-Technologie AG and later a 100% stake in the company.
The history of titanium production at Thyssen and Krupp started with dedicated companies at both groups together with Klöckner Schmiedewerke (forging mills), all of which were merged into Deutsche Titan in 1988.
In 1989 Gerhard Cromme became chairman and chief executive of Krupp.
The takeover of VDM Nickeltechnologie AG in 1989 expands the group's range of high-alloy stainless steels.
By 1990 the company, having successfully completed the restructuring, was back in the black and paid its first dividend in 16 years.
The joint venture Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann GmbH Duisburg, established in 1990 by Krupp Stahl AG and Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG - in which each hold equal shares - supplies both parent companies with semi-finished products for the manufacture of flat steel products and tubes.
Thyssen therefore imposed a tough program of cuts, with a reduction to the 1991 level of 11 million tons capacity from 16 million tons.
Taking over Spethmann's chief executive post in 1991 was Heinz Kriwet, who presided over some of the company's darkest days.
Completed Hostile Takeover of Hoesch in 1992
1992 – Merger of Fried.
The steel activities of Krupp Stahl and Hoesch Stahl are combined in Krupp Hoesch Stahl effective January 1, 1993.
A radical measure in the following years: The closure of the almost 100-year-old Rheinhausen plant in 1993.
Two years of heavy losses followed before Krupp posted a modest net profit of DM 40 million (US$29.2 million) for 1994.
In 1995 these result in joint ventures in the fields of tinplate (Rasselstein Hoesch GmbH), electrical steel (EBG Elektroblech Bochum GmbH) and stainless flat products (Krupp Thyssen Nirosta GmbH).
In March 1996 Kriwet took over as chairman of Thyssen, while Dieter Vogel, who had headed up the group's trading and services division, stepped into the chief executive slot.
In August 1996 Vogel was arrested--along with nine other Thyssen executives--as part of an investigation into whether Thyssen executives had mishandled DM 73 million (US$49 million) in funds connected to the privatization of a former East German metals trading company.
For the year ending in September 1996, Thyssen reported a 36 percent decline in pretax profits.
In response to these struggles, the company announced a major restructuring in late 1996 aiming for the withdrawal from or scaling back of activities in noncore areas, including long steel products, defense equipment, and coal and oil trading.
In March 1997 Krupp launched a DM 13.6 billion (US$8 billion) hostile takeover bid of the larger Thyssen.
August Thyssen-Hütte, which is shortened to Thyssen Aktiengesellschaft in 1997.
In 1997 Thyssen acquired United States-based Copper and Brass Sales Inc., a leading trading and service center for nonferrous metals in North America.
1997 – Merger of the quality steel flat business areas of Krupp and Thyssen to form Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG
In 1998 Thyssen purchases the elevator business of Dover Elevators (USA), the market leader for hydraulic elevators in North America.
After overcoming numerous hurdles, the companies consummated their union in March 1999 with the formation of Thyssen Krupp AG. Vogel, Thyssen's chief executive, still had the criminal charges hanging over him, and lost a battle to run the new company.
The official registration of Thyssen Krupp AG on March 17, 1999 marks the beginning of a new chapter in Germany's industrial history.
Sales: DM 70 billion (US$39 billion) (1999 est.)
During the course of the steel merger, the two companies agree to examine further fields in which they can work together (see 1999).
1999 – Milestone in flat steel development: Casting rolling line
Until 2001 ThyssenKrupp AG contributes around DM152.3 million to the compensation fund.
Right on schedule on New Year’s Eve in 2002 the Transrapid departs the terminal in Shanghai for the first time.
It links Pudong airport with Shanghai and begins permanent operation in 2004.
thyssenkrupp launches the “Discovering future technology” initiative in 2004 against the background of an increasing shortage of young people in technical professions.
In 2007, blast furnace 8 is put into operation in Duisburg.
The global financial and economic crisis which began in 2007 also hits ThyssenKrupp hard.
In 2007, the companies were renamed to form ThyssenKrupp Titanium.
For the first time since the merger of Thyssen and Krupp the Group ends the 2008/09 fiscal year with a loss.
To counter the crisis, the company adopts an extensive program of measures which reduces costs by significantly more than €1 billion in fiscal 2008/09 alone.
That changed as of 1 October 2009, when ThyssenKrupp VDM took over the activities of ThyssenKrupp Titanium.
On November 20, 2011, the 200th anniversary of Krupp is marked by a ceremony at Villa Hügel.
The 2012 Ideas Park is officially opened by North Rhine-Westphalian State Premier Hannelore Kraft, Mayor of Essen Reinhard Paß and Doctor Heinrich Hiesinger, CEO of thyssenkrupp AG.
The sale of ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks to Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation (WISCO) was completed in 2013.
2013 – Company daycare center for children at ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe starts operation in Duisburg
In accordance with its statutes the foundation has the task of using the funds it receives to serve "directly charitable purposes". Until his death in 2013 the Chairman of the foundation´s Board of Trustees is Berthold Beitz.
On 1 August 2015, after approval of the supervisory boards and the responsible antitrust authorities, private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg LLC, New York, in Central Europe represented by Lindsay Goldberg Vogel GmbH, acquired the VDM group from ThyssenKrupp.
In March 2020, the VDM Metals Group was acquired by Acerinox S.A., Spain.
With the successful closing on July 31, 2020, another important milestone in the initiated transformation of the company into a powerful “Group of Companies” is accomplished.
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