The complete history of the development of The - The Linde Group

1973 1974
OPEC restricts supply and triggers
international oil crisis.
N o 2251 Process and device
for the cooling of objects or materials.
Discussion of future direction
Starting in the mid-1960s the Executive Board of the Linde Company
engaged in a highly controversial strategy debate whose
outcome was unknown. Indications of economic problems,
above all in the refrigeration division and at Güldner, and the
general sense of an increasing “technological gap” compared
with the United States led to uncertainty and strategic considerations
in the company which would soon change both the leadership
structure and the corporate culture.
First the Executive Board decided on a few somewhat
cosmetic changes: The now old-fashioned sounding name
“Gesellschaft für Linde’s Eismaschinen” was changed to the short,
concise Linde AG in 1965. The plant groups were named after
their geographical location – Munich, Sürth, Aschaffenburg and –
breaking from the pattern – refrigerated buildings; the production
lines were now called divisions: low temperature engineering
and process technology; technical gases; welding technology;
refrigerated buildings; compressors, expansion turbines,
compressed air tools; refrigeration and air conditioning; refrigeration
and freezer units; hydraulics; diesel engines; tractors and
industrial trucks.
With the weak economy and the early globalization starting
in the second half of the 1960s, the strategic discussions in
the Linde AG Executive Board intensified. Dr. Hans Meinhardt
primarily set the tone. He joined the company in 1955, was
promoted to the top management of Güldner in Aschaffenburg
in 1963 and beginning in May 1965 also acted as assistant to
the deputy chairman of the Executive Board and head of central
administration, Dr. Johannes Simon.
From this position, Meinhardt introduced the structural
changes which he purposefully completed as speaker of the
Executive Board beginning in 1976.
The Watergate scandal leads to the resignation
of US President Richard Nixon.
Höllriegelskreuth in the ethylene plant boom: Armin Dorner (center) explains
a model of the Scholven, Germany ethylene plant to a delegation.
The finished Scholven ethylene plant in the late 1960s.