Oerlikon Schlafhorst Express - Oerlikon Schlafhorst - Oerlikon Textile

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Oerlikon Schlafhorst Express News
125 years of Oerlikon Schlafhorst
Conscious of tradition, yet geared to the future
For Oerlikon Schlafhorst, 2009 is a special year featuring a major anniversary: we can look back on 125 years of successful business in
textile machinery manufacturing. These 125 years of experience, know-how, tradition and innovative creativity offer a superb platform for
mastering the challenges of the global textile industry successfully with great self-assurance.
Beginnings
It all started in 1884 when Wilhelm Schlafhorst,
a former textile industrialist, founded the
company in Mönchengladbach under the
name of W. Schlafhorst. At the start, the
company focused on the production and
marketing of spare parts and requisites for
spinning and weaving machines, which
were imported mainly from England at the
time. The boom in the textile industry in the
second half of the 19th century led to a
steady increase in the demand for spinning
and weaving machines, however, also in
Mönchengladbach and the Lower Rhine
region. Schlafhorst took advantage of this
excellent opportunity to establish its textile
machinery production close to the customers.
The arrival in the company of the
young engineer Wilhelm Reiners and his
assumption of the managerial role in the
technical sphere turned out to be a real stroke
of luck and had far-reaching significance for
the company’s subsequent history. The path
now taken led towards the development of
complete textile machines, with the emphasis
on weaving preparation. With his technical
expertise, Wilhelm Reiners contributed
substantially to turning Schlafhorst into a hotbed
of ideas for the textile industry, as underlined
by large numbers of patent applications.
Economic upswing, the war years and
the boom in textile machinery
Under the name W. Schlafhorst & Co., the
company with its warping installations, weft
winding, plied ring yarn and package winding
machines became the world market leader
in machinery for weaving preparation. Even
the First World War and the global financial
crisis had very little disruptive impact on the
firm. In 1939, Schlafhorst’s workforce of 650
was manufacturing 20 different standard
machines. The Second World War inflicted
deeper wounds, almost completely destroying
production. After 1947, however, the goahead
was given for the manufacture of
spare parts and a little later for the production
of textile machines. By 1950 the company
had approx. 1,000 employees and new product
generations were developed. Stefan Fürst,
the chief designer, played an important role.
At ITMA in Milan in 1959, the Autoconer
embarked on its triumphal advance, helping
Schlafhorst to achieve a huge international
upswing. In addition to the weaving preparation
machines, the Autocoro product line was
launched in 1978 – the second product line,
which has been extremely successful up to
the present day.
Outside views of the old buildings
and production sites around 1910
in Mönchengladbach.
Dr Wilhelm Reiners influenced the company’s
history and product development
in a revolutionary manner.
Wilhelm Schlafhorst recognised the
opportunities for establishing the
company successfully.