Voith

The Voith Group () is a global technology company. With its broad portfolio of systems, products, services and digital applications, Voith trades in the markets of energy, paper, raw materials and transport. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 22,000 employees, sales of € 5.2 billion and locations in over 60 countries worldwide and thus is one of the larger family-owned companies in Europe.

Company history

Years of foundation In 1825, Johann Matthäus Voith took over his father's locksmith's workshop in Heidenheim with five employees, mainly carrying out repairs to water wheels and paper mills.Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co., Beck, München 2003, S. 26, Anm. 11., Ausschnitte in Google Bücher.

By around 1830 in Heidenheim, there were about 600 people working in 15 factories, mostly textile factories that had been established by wealthy merchants and publishers. The necessary maintenance and repair of the expensive machinery offered a source of income to several workshops, particularly the locksmiths and metalworkers in what was still a small town at the time. In 1830, Johann Matthäus Voith and his workshop were involved in the construction of a paper machine developed by Johann Jakob Widmann from Heilbronn.

Voith developed the first wood grinders based on the patented design of Friedrich Gottlob Keller. In doing so, he laid the cornerstone for the industrial enterprise Voith. As the company got bigger, so too did the private wealth of its owners. According to town council records dated September 28, 1849, the assets of Johann Matthäus Voith in 1849 amounted to more than 7,000 fl., and eight years later grew to an estimated 15,000  fl. In 1850, Johann Matthäus Voith was summoned to serve on the town council and, in 1855, along with nine other Heidenheim entrepreneurs, he received a grant to attend the international exhibition in Paris.Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co., Beck, München 2003, S. 25–27.

+ No. of employeesYear No. of employees 1825 5Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co., Beck, München 2003, S. 25.1853 7Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co., Beck, München 2003, S. 26 Anm. 11.1867 approx. 35Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co., Beck, München 2003, S. 30. Eine andere Quelle spricht fürs Jahr 1867 von 25 Arbeitern. Siehe dazu S. 56 Anm. 11.

After 1850, the company which, like other Heidenheim-based metal workshops, had specialized in repairs, began to replicate various machines imported from England. The workshop produced whatever the customers ordered. The transition from a small metalworking shop to a machine factory was completed when contracts were signed for the fabrication of machines for paper manufacturer Heinrich Voelter. Since 1856, these machines had consisted of mechanical wood grinders (based on a patent originally sold in 1846 by Friedrich Gottlob Keller to Voelter's father that Friedrich Voith improved upon and re-registered himself in 1868). From 1861, the machines were wood pulp refiners for crushing coarse wood chips. The result of this development was that the company started to specialize in machines for paper and pulp production. In 1863, a new metalworking shop was added and fitted with one of the few steam engines in Heidenheim. Until the development of cast steel, the machines were built from cast iron. It was difficult to transport cast iron, so the company built its own foundry. No figures have been preserved on the company's sales and profits at the time, but the physical expansion of the company is taken as proof of its good economic performance.Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co., Beck, München 2003, S. 32–33. In 1863, Friedrich Voith bought a share in a bark mill, where he set up the first research center for the production of wood pulp.

After Voelter's paper mill was destroyed by a fire in 1864, Voith received its first major order for the fabrication of eight hollander beaters, which required building another machine hall. The company's name was changed from Mechanicus Voith to Mechanische Werkstätte und Eisengießerei (Mechanical Workshops and Foundry).Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co., Beck, München 2003, S. 26–30.

Rise to the industrial enterprise

The official founding date of the company J. M. Voith is January 1, 1867. At this point, the company employed around 35 people. On January 1, 1867, the only son of 63-year-old Johann Matthäus Voith, the 26-year-old Friedrich Voith, took over the business as the sole owner. Under his leadership, his father's workshop became a larger company and specialized in paper machines and the construction of water wheels and turbines. In 1869, Voith was granted the first patent for a wood grinder with a toothed loading rack. On November 18, 1869, the company applied for official registration in the Commercial Register and changed its name to Maschinenfabrik und Eisengießerei von J. M. Voith in Heidenheim.Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. C. H. Beck, München 2003, S. 29–30.

In 1871, the eight-year-old foundry was expanded. At that time, it had an annual production of 240 tons and employed an average of 19 workers, putting it roughly in the middle of all the foundries in Württemberg. By 1880, it was producing 380 tons with 34 workers on average; in 1890, 1,401 tons with 106 workers; and in 1900, 3,098 tons with 220 workers. At the turn of the century, the foundry had climbed from the mid-field to become the second largest foundry in Württemberg.Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. C. H. Beck, München 2003, S. 33.

Voith added another business segment to its existing product lines of paper machines and stock preparation technology – with the construction of a 100-HP Henschel-Jonval turbine. The sources available provide differing information on the relevant figures.Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. C. H. Beck, München 2003, S. 28, Anm. 20 The reason for this new turbine production segment was likely because the Heidenheim businesses were suffering from a lack of motive power due to the low supplies of iron ore and coal in the Württemberg region, and that well into the 19th century their largest energy source was hydropower from the River Brenz. During his studies, Friedrich Voith had examined producing hydropower energy. From 1873, the company was selling improved Francis turbines to industrial companies in Heidenheim in collaboration with Wilhelm von Kankelwitz (1831–1892), Professor of Mechanical Engineering at what was then the Stuttgart Polytechnikum (Institute of Technology).

At the 1873 World Exhibition in Vienna, Friedrich Voith and Heinrich Voelter exhibited the Voith wood grinder and received the "Progress Medal" for their development.Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. C. H. Beck, München 2003, S. 32, Anm. 41. In 1879  the first automatic speed regulator for turbinesAnne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. C. H. Beck, München 2003, S. 32, Anm. 40. was built based on the designs of Voith engineer Adolf Pfarr. The first turbines were originally intended for the mechanical drive systems of machines. As electrification increased, water turbines served to produce electricity.

In 1881, Voith fabricated the first complete Voith paper machine PM1, with a wire width of 2.35 m, for Raithelhuber, Bezner & Cie. in Gemmrigheim. The first administration building was built in 1886. This was followed by a staff canteen in 1887 and another large assembly hall in 1889 that enlarged the factory grounds from 5,090 m2 to 9,590 m2. In 1896, a new machine hall was established for turbine construction. This was the first building to be located on the right bank of the River Brenz.

In 1890, Voith began to supply high-pressure Pelton turbines (also known as impulse-type turbines). In the same year, Friedrich Voith was appointed by Karl I., the King of Württemberg, to his Council of Commercial Advisor.Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. C. H. Beck, München 2003, S. 57. In 1892, Wilhem II., the last King of Württemberg, visited the private home of Friedrich Voith. At the time, Voith's mechanical engineering factory was the second largest company in Heidenheim. The king visited a total of four companies in Heidenheim. In 1892, the company had a workforce of 330 people, making it one of the largest companies in the Kingdom of Württemberg.

In other centers of industrialization during this period, there were numerous social conflicts between companies and workers. Historians have proposed several reasons to explain why this was not the case among the large Heidenheim companies, including the traditionally close reciprocal relationships between commerce and farming and the fact that Heidenheim was still a small town.Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. C. H. Beck, München 2003, S. 35. It is assumed that the large proportion of women and children working in the textile industry could also have been a factor to explain why social democracy and trade unions were slow to become established in Heidenheim.Michael Krüger: Heidenheim. Die Stadt und ihre Industrie im 19. Jahrhundert. Heidenheim 1984, S. 138. The workers did begin to organize themselves, and in 1890, an office of the German Metal Workers Union was opened and a local branch of the SPD (Social Democratic Party) established. For 1904, the number of union members was estimated at 80 to 100. In the same year, a trade union "commission" was established to link the various trade unions that had been created for printers, woodworkers, construction workers and factory workers.

Starting in 1893, J. M. Voith began building Pelton turbines. For Friedrich Voith, the fabrication of the impulse-type turbines was further progress from both an economic and technical perspective. He regarded contact with the research and development community as essential. In 1903, Voith received an order to build the largest turbines in the world: 12 Francis turbines each with 12,000 HP for power plants at Niagara Falls in the US and Canada.Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. C. H. Beck, München 2003, S. 30–32. The turbine segment at Voith expanded as more electric power plants were built.

In 1904, the 50th paper machine left the Heidenheim plant. By 1913, 150 had been delivered. Another successful product was the vibrating screen, which separated the coarse shavings produced by the grinding machine. This was replaced in 1902 by a new centrifugal process.Anne Nieberding: Unternehmenskultur im Kaiserreich. Die Gießerei J. M. Voith und die Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. C. H. Beck, München 2003, S. 32.