The company Gebrüder Sulzer, Foundry in Winterthur was founded in 1834 by Johann Jacob Sulzer. His sons, Johann Jakob and Salomon produced cast iron and built fire extinguishers, pumps and apparatus for the textile industry; later, they also started installing heaters. In 1836 the workforce grew to some forty journeymen, subworkers and apprentices. In 1839, a foundry was added, a mechanical workshop was set up, and the first steam engine was built and installed in Winterthur (1841). In 1845, the company's own "Sick Support Association for Factory Workers" was founded. This later became the Sulzer Health Insurance Fund; this was renamed Provita in 1997 and now operates as an independent health insurance fund as part of the SWICA insurance company. In 1851, English engineer Charles Brown joined Sulzer. With the development of new steam engines, he was instrumental for the early success and growth of the company. In 1859, the first "partnership agreement" between the Sulzer brothers was signed. New products were introduced, first steam engines, later also ships, a new organization and production methods. In approximately 1860, Sulzer opened its first foreign sales office in Turin, and the company participated in the world exhibition in Paris in 1867. The workforce had grown by then to more than 1,000 workers.
In 1870, Switzerland's first company-owned vocational school with training workshops was founded. In 1872, 24 workers' dwellings were built in Winterthur by the “Gesellschaft für Erstellung billiger Wohnhäuser” (Society for Affordable Housing Construction). Further apartment buildings in addition to private homes followed in other parts of Winterthur.
From 1880, steam engines particularly contributed to the growth of Sulzer to around 2,000 employees. In 1881 a branch was founded in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany. In 1898, the first Sulzer diesel engine was developed in cooperation with Rudolf Diesel. By approximately 1900, the company had over 3,000 employees and sales offices in Milan, Paris, Cairo, London, Moscow and Bucharest, as well as the Japanese city of Kobe from 1914.
As a family business, the company had grown over the years in the form of a general partnership, and in June 1914 it was converted into two stock corporations with registered offices in Winterthur and Ludwigshafen am Rhein, both of which were renamed Gebrüder Sulzer Aktiengesellschaft. In 1917, both companies were bundled in a holding structure under the name Sulzer-Unternehmungen AG and subsequently the foreign sales offices were also transferred to independent companies. Sulzer initiates Switzerland’s first regularly published in-house magazine in 1919. At the same time, the technical customer magazine “Technische Rundschau Sulzer” (later “Sulzer Technical Review”) was launched.
During the 1930s, production fell by two thirds as a result of the global economic crisis, and personnel was massively reduced.
World War II
Out of political and personal considerations, Sulzer decided to sell its subsidiaries in Germany by the beginning of the war.[6]
Sulzer was blacklisted by the Allies during World War II due to an increase in trade with Axis countries. Sulzer refused to sign an agreement to limit the future sale of marine diesel engines to the Axis countries, and was blacklisted by the Allies as a result.
Postwar period
From 1945, a growth phase began with a flourishing economy and strong expansion of foreign activities. In the 1950s, increasing production was carried out by guest workers, mainly from southern Europe. New divisions for energy, plant engineering and textile machinery were created, accompanied by better working conditions, expansion of social benefits, women's work for "lighter factory work" and housing subsidies in surrounding communities.
During the second heyday after the Second World War, the Sulzer Tower was built in the early 1960s - the company's new headquarters, a landmark of Winterthur and at 99.7 meters the tallest building in Switzerland at the time. It served as Sulzer’s headquarters until 1999, and again from 2012.
In 1961, Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM) in Winterthur was acquired, and the large diesel engine became Sulzer's flagship product worldwide. In 1966, Sulzer acquired a 53 percent stake in Escher Wyss & Cie. in Zurich, reaching an all-time high of over 30,000 employees. In 1969, Escher Wyss AG was taken over in full.
Crisis in the 1970s and 1980s
In the 1970s, the oil crisis announced a new orientation towards the technology group and the development of materials technologies. Sulzer reacted to the global decline in capital goods in the 1970s after losses in the second half of the 1980s. In 1982, the weaving machine business was expanded.
In 1984, the year of its 150th anniversary, Sulzer recorded losses and underwent massive restructuring.
Medical technology was expanded by the purchase of the American Intermedics Group for one billion Swiss francs in 1988. The Winterthur machine factory was closed in 1990 and the founding site in Winterthur was vacated. For the first time, Sulzer employed more people abroad than in Switzerland. On 14 May 1993 Gebrüder Sulzer, Aktiengesellschaft was renamed Sulzer Ltd. In 1996, a technology center was built in the Oberwinterthur Industrial Park.
Acquisitions and divestitures around the turn of the millennium
In 1997, Sulzer Medica went public, and Sulzer Thermtec (equipment and valves for power plants) was sold to the British IMI.
In 1999, another reorganization took place and Sulzer Industries became independent with its own CEO. The pumps business in China was strengthened by founding a joint venture with Dalian Pumps. The company sold its water turbine business (Sulzer Hydra) to the Austrian technology company VA Tech.
In 2000, Sulzer acquired the Finnish company Ahlstrom Pumps. In the middle of the year, the steam locomotive and machine factory DLM became independent, the remains of the former SLM became Winpro AG in 2001 through a management buyout.
In 2001, patients experienced problems with contaminated hip joint implants from Sulzer Medica in the USA, leading to class action lawsuits. In 2002, Sulzer Medica agreed on a settlement with the US plaintiffs and Sulzer paid 75 million US dollars for the settlement, which caused a massive drop in its share price.
In 2001, Sulzer sold its textile business (Sulzer Textile) to the Italian Promatech Group. Sulzer Medica was separated from the Sulzer company through a spin-off in 2001, renamed to Centerpulse and sold to the US medical company Zimmer in 2003,[7] where it is still managed as a successful business unit. With the sale of the compressor business Burckhardt to its management in 2002, the divestiture program was finished.
A new start
The time since 2003 is called a new beginning. Since then, the Group has been smaller but more profitable and has recorded strong growth. Sulzer increased operating income and net income by more than 50 percent.
In the years to come, Sulzer strengthened the market positions of its divisions by several acquisitions. The company’s Metco business acquired the Canadian Ambeon division of Westaim and German OSU Machine Construction in 2004. The same year, Sulzer Pumps took over the Johnston, Crown, and Paco pump activities from Precision Castparts Corp. (PCC), located in Houston, Texas, USA, and in Wuxi, China. Sulzer Chemtech acquired US Cana-Tex in 2005, strengthening its field services for separation columns, Swiss companies Mixpac, Werfo and Mold in 2006 to expand static mixing activities, followed by the separation business of UK-based KnitMesh Ltd in 2007 and several tower field service companies in Australia, Thailand, India, Germany in 2009 and Canada in 2011. Sulzer’s service business (Turbo Services) expanded its business in South America in 2008 with the acquisition of Capime.
In 2005, a Swiss-government sponsored historical study authored by historian Peter Hug revealed that Sulzer helped provide the means to enrich fissile material in the 1970s for the South African nuclear weapons program.[8] Following discussions with the Division of Trade of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Sulzer said to only supply important parts for uranium enrichment plants to South Africa on condition that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would be allowed to surveil South Africa. Otherwise, the company would only deliver non-sensitive equipment. Meanwhile, the Swiss Federation of Commerce and Industry intervened in the debate and indirectly exerted pressure in favor of admitting the deal. Later, when it became known that compressors had been supplied to an enrichment plant in South Africa, Sulzer claimed its South African subsidiary, over which it did not exert any control legally, might have supplied such compressors and that Sulzer had not been informed about that.
