GC364VA SKODA II (Traditional Cache) in Prešovský kraj, Slovakia created by marmor907

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A hundred and fifty. For so many years the Skoda star has been shining within the constellation of the leading Czechoslovak and international engineering companies. The jubilee year, 2009.
Sto padesat. Prave tolik let uz sviti na nebi ceskoslovenskeho a svetoveho prumyslu znacka plzenske Skodovky. Kulate vyroci pripadlo na rok 2009.

The history of the company SKODA HOLDING a.s. started in 1859 when Count Waldstein de¬cided on transferring part of the production from his ironworks and engineering shop in Sedlec to Plzen. It was a clever choice; within a short time, Plzen was connected by railway with other larger communities and its industries started to develop rapidly. The original Waldstein work¬shop, located west of the city centre, manufactured steam engines, distillery, brewery and sugar refinery equipment, agricultural tools and other engineering equipment. The first important turning point in the company development was the year of 1866 when the position of senior engineer was offered to Emil Skoda. This talented young man was born in Plzen, graduated from technical college and gained first experience working for German engineering companies. Skoda was a forward-looking businessman who made correct estimates of the future develop¬ments in industry and could foresee which articles would be in demand on the market for years ahead of time. He systematically sought and strived to win for the company in Plzen experienced people from other companies. He also clearly saw that, to become a strong player in the market, it would be necessary to invest massively into the company, to introduce new product lines and modernise the existing ones. Count Waldstein did not share Skoda's views and enthusiasm and eventually sold the works to him (in 1869).
Historie spolecnosti SKODA HOLDING a.s. se zacala psat v roce 1859, kdy hrabe Vald¬stejn rozhodl o premisteni casti vyroby ze sve sedlecke strojirny a zelezarny do Plzne. Volba to byla velmi prozirava - mesto brzy pote ziskalo zivotne dulezite zeleznicni spojeni a jeho prumysl se zacal rychle rozvijet. Mala strojirna v zapadni casti mesta vyrabela par¬ni stroje, vybaveni pro lihovary, cukrovary, pivovary, zemedelske nastroje a dalsi strojiren¬ska zarizeni. V roce 1866 prisel dulezity meznik ve vyvoji spolecnosti -jako vrchni inzenyr nastoupil do strojirny plzensky rodak Emil Skoda, ktery vystudoval techniku a prvni prakticke zkusenosti ziskal v nemeckych firmach. Skoda byl velmi proziravy podnikatel - dokazal na dlouhou dobu odhadnout, kam se bude ubirat vyvoj ve strojirenstvi a o jaky artikl bude na trhu zajem. Systematicky vyhledaval a lakal do Plzne zkusene odborniky z jinych spolecnosti. Pochopil, ze ma-li se plzenska strojirna stat vyznamnym hracem na tehdejsim trhu, bude treba do podniku mohutne investovat, zavest nove obory a vyrobu zmodernizovat. Hrabe Valdstejn nemel do techto planu chut, a tak svoji tovarnu Skodovi v roce 1869 prodal.

Emil Skoda was successful in his early company development plans. He correctly concluded that the unquiet Europe would need more and more arms, and invested into this product line. In 1884, he started to build a modern steel-making facility, necessary for production of high-quality arms. Two years later, his works started to manufacture the Solvator-Dormus machine guns.
Emil Skoda zacal svoji tovarnu úspesne rozvijet. Spravne odhadl, ze v neklidne Evrope bude stale zajem o zbrane, a vsadil na tento vyrobni program. V roce 1884 zacal stavet moderni ocelarnu, pro vyrobu kvalitnich zbrani nezbytnou. O dva roky pozdeji Skodovka zaradila do sveho vyrobniho programu poprve zbrane - kulomety Solvator-Dormus.

In 1890, Skoda works established an independent arms-manufacturing division. In spite of the many difficulties encountered, Skoda was successful again; his company acquired the status of a sole arms supplier to the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and later even to the Army. Skoda Works was the first to design, in 1895, a field gun with a long barrel recoil. With a new production hall constructed in 1896, the company became one of the biggest arms manufacturers in Europe. In 1899, the family-owned business was changed into a joint-stock company. In the following year, the company founder Emil Skoda died.
V roce 1890 vzniklo zbrojni oddeleni Skodovy strojirny. Navzdory mnoha problemum Skoda uspel. Stal se nejprve monopolnim dodavatelem rakousko-uherskeho namornic¬tva, pozdeji i armady. V roce 1895 Skodovka zkonstruovala prvni polni kanon s dlouhym zakluzem hlavne, o rok pozdeji byla postavena nova zbrojni hala. Tovarna se stala jed¬nim z nejvetsim evropskych vyrobcu zbrani. V roce 1899 se zmenila z rodinneho podniku na akciovou spolecnost. V roce 1900 jeji zakladatel Emil Skoda zemrel.

However, the scope of the company products was wider than just arms. Skoda Works still manufactured steam engines, gas engines, mining equipment, food-processing machines, steel structures and, as a special product line of great renown, large and complex castings for the ship building industry. In 1904, the company management decided to implement another new product line - steam turbines. Three years later, Skoda Works established an independent steam-turbine research facility. World War I brought a lot of business to the company. The Skoda-made arms, in particular heavy guns and Howitzers, proved reliable and efficient at the war fronts. On the other hand, the end of the war in 1918 and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire resulted in a crisis for the company. The demand for arms was low, the traditional markets ceased to exist, the carefully developed and maintained business relationships were shattered. To survive and meet the challenges of the post-war period, the company had to radically change the scope of its products. The French concern Schneider et Cie acquired the company shares and brought financial stabil¬ity to the company business. The new company management sought new product lines to utilise the idle arms-manufacturing capacities.
Plzenska tovarna nebyla ale jen zbrojovkou. Stale vyrabela parni stroje, plynove motory, vybaveni pro doly, potravinarsky prumysl, nejruznejsi konstrukce a take ziska¬la proslulost pri produkci velkych a slozitych odlitku pro lodni stavitelstvi. V roce 1904 rozhodlo vedeni spolecnosti o zavedeni noveho vyrobniho programu - parnich turbin. V roce 1907 zalozila vlastni vyzkumny ústav. Prvni svetova valka prinesla tovarne velkou konjunkturu. Skodovacke zbrane, zvlaste tezka dela a houfnice, se velmi osvedcily na frontach. Konec valky a zanik Rakousko-Uherska vsak znamenal pro spolecnost velkou krizi. 0 zbrane nebyl zajem, rozpadly se tradicni trhy, zpretrhaly dlouho peclive udrzova¬ne obchodni vztahy. Tovarna musela radikalne zmenit svuj vyrobni program, aby prezila. Financni stabilitu ji zajistil vstup francouzskeho koncernu Schneider et Cie. Nove vedeni spolecnosti rychle hledalo nove obory, ktere by zaplnili mezeru po omezene zbrojni vyrobe.

Since 1923, the company products bore the new Skodo trademark: a winged arrow in a circle.
Od roku 1923 oznacovala sve vyrobky novou ochrannou znamkou - okridlenym sipem v kruhu.

Among the many new products were steam locomotives and, since 1927, electric locomotives. In the 1920s, Skoda Works established a new operation in Doudlevce — Electrical Engineering Company. Soon the post-war crisis was successfully overcome, and the Skoda concern was growing again, to become the largest and most important industrial enterprise in Czechoslovakia, and one of the largest of its kind in Europe. Among the acquisitions of that period were engineering and metallurgical works in Smichov, Hradec Krijlove, Hradek u Rokycan, Brno, Komamo and Dubnica nod Vahom, as well as coal mines in the Most and Plzen regions. Skoda concern was also on important shareholder in Avio Praha (aircraft manufacturer), Omnipol (export/import company), Cs. zbrojovka Brno (arms manufacturer) and Koblo Klodno (cable works). In 1925, Skoda concern acquired the car-manufacturing company Laurin and Kle¬ment in Mlada Boleslav.
Skodovka tak zacala vyrabet napriklad parni lokomotivy, v roce 1927 i elektricke, ve dvacatych letech zalozila v Doudlevcich vlastni elektrotechnickou tovarnu. Krizi, do ktere se dostalo po prvni svetove valce, úspesne prekonala a koncen SKODA se stal nejvetsim a nejduIezitejsim prumyslovym podnikem tehdejsiho Ceskoslovenska. Do koncernu se postupne zaclenily zavody v Praze na Smichove, v Hradci Kralove, Hradku u Rokycan, Brne, Komarne, Dubnici nad Vahom, uhelne doly v mostecke a plzenske panvi, vyznam¬ny akciovy podil koupila Skodovka napriklad vAvii Praha, Omnipolu, Cs. zbrojovce Brno nebo Kablu Kladno. V roce 1925 ziskal koncem SKODA automobilku Laurin a Klement v Mlade Boleslavi.

These acquisitions had made the scope of company products extremely wide. Besides the traditional assortment of arms, Skoda Works now manufactured various power engineering equipment and machines, transformers, cars, lorries, tractors, ships, aeroplanes, tanks, bridge constructions, cranes, trolleybuses, traction motors, machine tools, diesel engines, cigarette makers and packaging machines, state-of-the-art steam turbines, and the company engineers constructed power stations, sugar refineries, breweries, distilleries and other plants for customers in Czechoslovakia and abroad.
Vyrobni program byl v tehdejsi dobe velmi rozsahly a stale se rozsiroval. Skodovka vyrabela nejen tradicni zbrane, ale take energeticka zarizeni, transformatory, osobni i nakladni vozidla, traktory, lode, letadla, tanky, mostni konstrukce, jeraby, troleibusy, trakcni motory, obrabeci stroje, dieselove motory, cigaretove a balici stroje, jeji parni turbiny se dostaly na svetovou úroven, stavela doma i v cizine elektrarny, cukrovary, pivovary, lihovary...

World War II had brought another turning point in the Works history. The French company Sch¬neider managed to sell its ownership share in the company to Czechoslovak banks in 1939. After the occupation by the Nazi Germany later in the same year, the Skoda concern including its affiliat¬ed companies were incorporated in the Reichswerke Hermann Gbring concern. Conversion to arms and ammunition manufacturing followed, but the production was predominantly focused on arms of German design. The development work in other product lines was only limited and Skoda Works lost its markets and customers again. In April 1945, the company was badly hit by air raids and a major part of its premises was destroyed. After the war the company was under the control of a national administration body, to become a national enterprise in 1946. Within the restructuring programme for the Czechoslovak industry in the early 1950s, Skoda Works transferred some of its activities to other manufacturers. The company was to develop capabilities in the realm of heavy industry, its scope ofproducts now consisted ofsteam and electric locomotives, power engineering equipment and machines, large machine tools and forming machines, trolleybuses and others. In 1951, Skoda Works manufactured the first of a large series of condensing steam turbines of rated power 50 to 55MW, in 1953 the first main-line DC electric locomotive of the series E 499, as well as large lathes and horizontal machines. In 1961, the company won the biggest export contract in its history: the construction of a metallurgical combine in India. One year later, the production of the successful trolleybus model Skoda 9 Tr started. At the turn of the 7960s and 1970s, Skoda Works became supplier of nuclear power plant equipment.

Druha svetova valka prinesla dalsi zlom v historii spolecnosti. Jeste v roce 1939 prodala spolecnost Schneider svuj podil ceskoslovenskym bankam. Po okupaci byla Skodovka a jeji zavody zaclenena do koncernu Reichswerke Hermann Gõring. Opet se stala hlavne zbrojni a municni tovarnou, ale do vyroby byly zarazovany prevazne nemecke konstrukce. Vyvoj v ostatnich oborech byl omezen, Skodovka znovu prisla o svoje trhy a zakazniky. V dubnu 1945 byla tezce zasazena bombardovanim a z velke casti znicena. V roce 1945 byla zavedena narodni sprava, o rok pozdeji se Skodovka stala narodnim podnikem. V ramci reorganizace ceskoslovenskeho prumyslu na zacatku padesatych let predala spolecnost cast vyrobniho programu jinym tovarnam. Podnik se mel venovat hlavne tezkemu prumyslu - v jeho vyrobnim programu zustaly parni a elektricke lokomotivy, energetika, obrabeci a tvareci stroje, trolejbusy... V roce 1951 vyrobila Skodovka prvni z velke rady kondenzacnich parnich turbin 50-55 MW, v roce 1953 prvni tratovou elektrickou lokomotivu na stejnosmerny proud rady E 499 a take velke soustruhy a horizontky. V roce 1961 ziskala spolecnost nejvetsi exportni kontrakt v historii – vystavbu metalurgickeho kombinatu v Indii. O rok pozdeji byla zahajena vyroba úspesneho trolejbusu Skoda 9 Tr. Na prelomu sedesatych a sedmdesatych let se Skodovka stala generalnim dodavatelem jadernych elektraren.

The company had maintained its position of an important engineering combine, but its products were exported mainly to the countries of the former Comecon block and to the developing countries. After 1989 and the collapse of the East economic block, the company was facing a situation well known to it from before: loss of markets and customers. In direct competition with western companies and in the free-market environ¬ment, the Skoda Works had difficult times to maintain its position. In 1993, the company was privatised - sold to a private Czech company with financial backing by two major Czech banks.

Udrzela si pozici strojirenskeho gigantu, ale jeji vyrobky putovaly hlavne na trhy statu tehdejsiho vychodniho bloku a rozvojovych zemi. Po roce 1989 a rozpadu vychodniho bloku se spolecnost dostala do znamych obtizi – prisla o zavedene trhy. V prime konkurenci se zapadnimi firmami jen tezce hajila sve pozice. V roce 1993 byl koncern Skoda privatizovan a vznikla cela rada dcerinych spolecnosti.

By the courtesy of SKODA.
S laskavym dovolenim SKODA.