Company description
HISTORY
Production of agricultural machines in Jicín has a history more than one hundred years old. In 1888, the tradesman František Knotek along with his two brothers established a factory for production of agricultural machines and tools. The production assortment included besides others the ploughs, seeders, weeding machines, hay turners and hay rakes and later also threshers. In 1895, the production of grass and corn reapers was launched and in 1904 after seven-year-old development the factory introduced the production of reaper binders. The quality products were sold well both on the Czech markets and markets of Austria – Hungary and also on the markets of the tzarist Russia. With the growing interest in the goods produced, the factory extended. At that time more than a hundred employees used to work in this factory. In 1913, the forging foundry was built and ten years later the production of steel frogs/clips and inserts to forged and cast fingers of cutter bars was launched. The above-mentioned products were imported from Germany until then.
The world economic depression in the thirtieth showed in the company Knotek a spol. (Knotek and company) in cutting the production down and dismissal of employees. The economy was not recovered until 1936, when the largest boom of the company started. The number of employees increased up to 800 people. Then the production was reduced again during the Second World War and the number of employees in the year 1945 was 426.
The factory was put under the state control after the Second World War and it became the part of the group of enterprises of Agrostroj. The supporting products were binders, grass machines and potato diggers. The name of the factory was changed to Agrostroj Jicín, national enterprise in 1950. The production started to concentrate to machines for harvest of the corn, fodder plants and root crops.
In 1965, Agrostroj Jicín became the part of VHJ Zbrojovka Brno, into which the crucial producers of the agricultural technology were concentrated with the target to connect the scientific research bases with the developmental bases.
In the end of 1964, the reconstruction of the part of foundry was commenced into the machining shop of rolls inserted for internal-combustion motors. Gradually the melting shop equipped with the electric induction furnaces was built as well as the casting house. The machining lines were installed, too. The operation was commenced in the end of the year 1966.
The technical standard of the company significantly increased by introducing the production of inserted rolls. The production achieved up to 1 million of inserted rolls in a year. The main customers include the companies such as Zetor Brno, Liaz Jablonec nad Nisou, Avie Praha and ZTS Martin.
Agrostroj as the company with the monopoly position in production of the beet machines and minor agricultural mechanization achieved a massive expansion within the frame of countries of RVHP (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance = CMEA) in the seventieth and eightieth. The number of employees rose up to even 3 thousand.
With respect to the beet machines, the company was successful in production of the type of the six-row-self-running cutter with the trade description 6-OCS. The construction of the assembly shop was completed in 1978 for assembly of these large harvesters and in 1982 the central material warehouse was completed.
In the area of the minor agricultural mechanization, the manufacture under the license of the company Gutbroad was launched - motor reaper MF 70 and modular machine Terra. The products under the license were gradually replaced with the products of the own production of the company with marking VARI system in the year 1986, which was produced in the branch plant in Libice nad Cidlinou, as well as UNI system in the year1990.
The enterprise was strongly focused on the markets of CMEA and so the change of the political system in 1989 entailed the loss of the market, which formed more than 90% of sales at that time.
The enterprise singled out from VHJ Zbrojovka, later named as Agrozet in 1990 and on 1 January 1991 it became the joint-stock company. On 1 January 1990 the branch plant in Libice nad Cidlinou became independent. The privatization of the enterprise was commenced with the coupon method. The enterprise was ranked into the 2nd wave of the coupon privatization, which proceeded in the second half of the year 1994.
The 1st General Meeting of the stockholders took place on 9 May 1995. This milestone meant the beginning of the private joint-stock company without involvement of the foreign capital. The control block of shares was gained by the company SECO, a.s.Turnov. In 1996, the business name was changed as AGS Jicín a.s.
New owners made a decision on keeping the existing production orientation and they started a difficult way of the company restructuring.
In 2001, the joint-stock companies AGS, SECO, Seco Trans, Seco GROUP and Eligius merged. The legitimate merge was registered in the Business register on 4 February 2002 and it meant a termination of above-mentioned joint-stock companies via their consolidation with a succession company Seco GROUP.
The trademark AGS was maintained.
The company is a legal entity established in compliance with a Czech Law for an indefinite period.
The current production assortment was stabilized in the ninetieth especially by introduction of the production of small tractors for arrangement of grass areas, implementation of new melting furnaces along with transfer to production of the ductile cast iron for the automobile industry and in the area of inserted rolls in particular by commencement of deliveries for an important Finnish producer of SISU Diesel motors.
To increase the competitive ability of own products on the market, the company gained the majority share in two foreign companies. One company is AGS-Haizhu in China focused in inserted rolls and the second one is the company TMD-AGS in Bosna and Herzegovina focused in minor agricultural mechanization.