Company description
In 1859 Count Wallenstein - Vartenberk founded a foundry and an engineering workshop in Pilsen. The plant with more than one hundred employees produced machines, equipment and facilities for sugar refinaries, breweries, mines, steam engines, boilers, iron bridge frames, equipement for railways and the like. Emil Skoda, engineering specialist and dynamic enterpreneur, bought the plant in 1869.
In a short time period he enlarged his plant and he founded state-of-the-art steel works in the 80´s, which can produce castings of more than dozens of tons weight. Steel castings and later forgings for trucks and ships became an integral part of the Skoda product portfolio.
The continuously growing company established a joint stock company in 1899 and the booming growth of Skoda Works made it the largest armoury in the Austrio-Hungarian empire before the World War I. Skoda Works supplied navy as well as artillery with heavy cannons and ammunition.
One of the achievements worth mentioning is the casting of a branch for the water power plant at Niagara Falls, which is still in operation or the casting of a lock for Suez Channel. Skoda further supplied equipment and facilities for sugar refineries in Turkey, breweries all over Europe and ammunition for cannons to the Far East and South America.
The War War I time period (1914 - 1918) meant a deep production decline to the so called peace-production. Huge funds were allocated to production capacit increase. At this time Skoda Works controlled stock majority in many companies with other than armaments industry oriented production, both at home and abroad. There are 35 ths. employees in Pilsen in 1917.
After the Czechoslovakia - the first state of Czechs and Slovaks - had been established back in 1918, the works suffered under difficult economic conditions in the post-war Europe and started the transformation process from strictly military production oriented works into a group with a wide manufacturing range. The manufacturing programme included beside traditional industries, the whole lot of new industries like steam and later electric locomotives...
...cars and trucks...
...aeroplanes, ships, machine tools, steam turbines, electrotechnic equipment etc.
It was in 1923 that the Skoda trade mark - winged arrow within a ring - was registered in the companies register. In the mid 30´s the arms production started to boom due to the worsening of the political situation in Europe.
The World War 2 and the involuntary integration of the group into the arming policy of the Nazi Germany meant doom for Skoda . Nearly 70% of the whole site was destroyed during an air raid in April 1945 and Skoda lost all major customers in the foreign markets.
Skoda Works were nationalized in 1945 . The whole group started to split. The car plant in Mlada Boleslav, aeroplane plant in Prague, some works in Slovakia and other plants for food equipment industry were separated from Skoda. The main objective was to produce equipment for heavy machinery, investment andf industrial constructions, public municipal transportation and energy sector. The export is focussed predominantly on the then socialistic block.
After 1989 ŠKODA group entered a new period of transformation. The company had to be transformed from a state-owned company into a private-owned company. This period means a search for an optimum manufacturing programme as well as business partner portfolio enlargement. Skoda had to find new customers in new countries, because its former, pre-1989 and socialistic customer portfolio was based on partners from the Eastern block (RVHP). This cooperation between the former Soviet Union and its partners collapsed after 1989.
Skoda was privatized in 1992 in the so-called "Czech way". It started to expand its manufacturing activities (SKODA purchased TATRA and LIAZ truck companies, constructed a plant for alluminium cans for drinks, etc. This expansion made the company finacially instable. The 1999 saw an agreement with the largest creditor banks (standstill agreement) and rustructuring of the whole company started. The financial and legal stability was established. Restructuring of the daughter companies is in full swing at the moment. The main responsibility was taken over by ŠKODA HOLDING a.s. in April 2000, which administrates the 19 daughter companies.