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    Achieving Technical Milestones: Continuity and Change During 175 Years of Sulzer

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    Reza Kurniawan
    Sulzer was founded in 1834 by Johann Jakob Sulzer-Hirzel and Salomon Sulzer-Sulzer as a foundry in Winterthur, Switzerland. It grew rapidly due to innovations like Charles Brown's steam engines in 1851. By 1870 it had over 1,000 employees and had become a major industrial firm. Sulzer pioneered diesel engines in the late 19th century and they became a major success. Over time, Sulzer expanded into many industries but now focuses on pumps, surface technologies, process technologies, and services through its four divisions. Sulzer has adapted to changes over 175 years while maintaining reliability, innovation and global operations.

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    Achieving Technical Milestones: Continuity and Change During 175 Years of Sulzer

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    Reza Kurniawan
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    Sulzer was founded in 1834 by Johann Jakob Sulzer-Hirzel and Salomon Sulzer-Sulzer as a foundry in Winterthur, Switzerland. It grew rapidly due to innovations like Charles Brown's steam engines in 1851. By 1870 it had over 1,000 employees and had become a major industrial firm. Sulzer pioneered diesel engines in the late 19th century and they became a major success. Over time, Sulzer expanded into many industries but now focuses on pumps, surface technologies, process technologies, and services through its four divisions. Sulzer has adapted to changes over 175 years while maintaining reliability, innovation and global operations.

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    Sulzer was founded in 1834 by Johann Jakob Sulzer-Hirzel and Salomon Sulzer-Sulzer as a foundry in Winterthur, Switzerland. It grew rapidly due to innovations like Charles Brown's steam engines in 1851. By 1870 it had over 1,000 employees and had become a major industrial firm. Sulzer pioneered diesel engines in the late 19th century and they became a major success. Over time, Sulzer expanded into many industries but now focuses on pumps, surface technologies, process technologies, and services through its four divisions. Sulzer has adapted to changes over 175 years while maintaining reliability, innovation and global operations.

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    50 views3 pages

    Achieving Technical Milestones: Continuity and Change During 175 Years of Sulzer

    Uploaded by

    Reza Kurniawan
    Sulzer was founded in 1834 by Johann Jakob Sulzer-Hirzel and Salomon Sulzer-Sulzer as a foundry in Winterthur, Switzerland. It grew rapidly due to innovations like Charles Brown's steam engines in 1851. By 1870 it had over 1,000 employees and had become a major industrial firm. Sulzer pioneered diesel engines in the late 19th century and they became a major success. Over time, Sulzer expanded into many industries but now focuses on pumps, surface technologies, process technologies, and services through its four divisions. Sulzer has adapted to changes over 175 years while maintaining reliability, innovation and global operations.

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    ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

    Continuity and change during 175 years of Sulzer

    Achieving technical milestones


    Sulzer has made a number of important contributions to technical progress over the last 175 years. The company became known globally for its steam engines and diesel engines. While the nature of its activities has changed over the years, qualities such as reliability, innovation, and a global perspective still form the basis of its success today.

    The founders of the company, Johann Jakob Sulzer-Hirzel (18061883) and Salomon Sulzer-Sulzer (18091869).

    ulzer was founded in 1834 by the brothers Johann Jakob SulzerHirzel (18061883) and Salomon Sulzer-Sulzer (18091869), as well as their father Johann Jakob Sulzer-Neuffert (17821853). The company began as a cast iron foundry on the outskirts of Winterthur, which was still a small town at the time. The workshop initially employed two skilled craftsmen and two day laborers. While the father continued to focus on traditional brass casting, the sons turned their attention to the manufacturing of cast iron using progressive techniques that they had learned during their apprenticeships abroad. Pumps, presses, and various forms of machinery used in the textile industry were among their first products. From the outset, quality was assigned the highest priority at Sulzer. The company was soon able to capitalize on the growth of the textile and machine industry in the Canton of Zurich, as well as in Eastern Switzerland and the neighboring regions. While the expensive brass casting business dwin-

    dled, the demand for cast iron products soared and enabled the newly established company to expand rapidly.

    Steam engine drives growth


    Sulzer reached an important turning point in 1851. At the time, the company already had around 100 employees working in well-equipped iron and boiler foundries but it had not yet developed into an engineering works. Running the company was consuming so much of the Sulzer brother's time that it was hampering the development of new products. The hiring of the talented young English design engineer Charles Brownwhose son later went on to establish Brown Boveri (now ABB)proved fortuitous for the company. Brown developed groundbreaking new steam engines for Sulzer that were of decisive importance for the advancement of the company. He was a brilliant designer who was always full of new ideas but had little interest in the financial success of his work. Johann Jakob Sulzer-Hirzel's talents as an entrepreneur and salesman and Charles

    Brown's expertise as an inventor and engineer thus proved a winning combination over a period of two decades. The first Sulzer steam engine left the workshop in 1854. This successful product was followed by the first-ever horizontal valve-fitted steam engine in 1867. During the same year, Sulzer began to manufacture passenger ships. It also continued to develop its traditional manufacturing lines such as pumps and presses, steam heating systems, and equipment and machinery for the textile industry.

    From a small company of craftsmen to an industrial firm


    From 1851 to 1870, the number of employees increased tenfold to 1 000 and Sulzer finally made the transition from a small company of craftsmen to an industrial firm. It also increasingly ventured into foreign markets. In 1881, Sulzer opened its first foreign branch in Ludwigshafen in Germany and further expanded its global presence through licenses, its own sales offices, and independent agencies.

    32 | Sulzer Technical Review 2+3/2009

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    175 YEARS OF SULZER

    The Sulzer brothers also played a pioneering role as responsible employers. Sulzer has always recognized that highly qualified employees are the company's most valuable asset. Considerable importance was therefore assigned to internal and external training from an early stage. In addition, the company lent its support to the foundation of the first Swiss technical school in Winterthur in 1874. Commencing in the 1870s, Sulzer also began to build houses in order to provide affordable homes for its employees.

    Sulzer diesel engine takes its place in world history


    The steam engine was the driving force behind the industrial revolution. However, it had reached its limits by the late 19th century in view of its substantial maintenance costs and its less than 10% efficiency. The inventor Rudolf Diesel (18581913) therefore began designing a new combustion engine as an alternative to the steam engine, and it was patented in 1892. The following year, Sulzer obtained the license for Switzerland and,

    in 1903, obtained the rights to build and sell this new type of engine outside of Switzerland. Led by Johann Jakob Sulzer-Imhoof (18551922), the son of its founder Salomon Sulzer-Sulzer, the company focused intensively on developing the new type of engine for practical applications. In 1897, the first 20 hp four-stroke diesel engine underwent testing at Sulzer and the company produced its first diesel engines in 1903. With an efficiency of over 25%, this diesel engine was superior to all other thermal engines available at the time. This breakthrough marked the beginning of a period of constant technical advancement that would translate into a major success story. The range of uses of the diesel engine rapidly expanded from stationary equipment for the generation of electricity to inland water vessels. The maiden voyage of the Monte Penedo part of the Hamburg Sd shipping line on the route from Hamburg to Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil in 1912 represented another milestone. This cargo ship, which was fitted with two two-stroke

    An early Sulzer diesel engine with 120 hp, fabricated for the cement factory Walenstadt in 1904.

    diesel engines, was the forerunner of all of today's ocean liners.

    Continuity and change


    The broad range of activities that Sulzer was engaged in during the 19th century increased even more significantly during the 20th century. Thanks to its own innovative strength in the field of technology, as well as a number of acquisitions, Sulzer positioned itself as a leading man-

    The groundbreaking Sulzer steam engine in a sales brochure from 1880.

    Sulzer Technical Review 2+3/2009 | 33

    ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

    Casting, since 1834 Hydroelectric power, 18402000 Heating and building services, 18412001 Steam boilers, 18411993 Steam engines, 18541952 Centrifugal pumps, since 1857 Steamships, 18671934 Refrigeration, 18772001 Piping and vessels, 18771994 Reciprocating compressors, 18782002 Diesel engines, 18971989 Steam turbines, 19031963 Locomotives, 19061998 Turbocompressors, 19061998 Heat pumps, 19382001 Waste combustion plants, 19411994 Gas turbines, 19472001 Projectile weaving and other textile machines, 19522002 Nuclear technology/valves for nuclear power plants, 19531997 Vacuum columns, since 1959 Medtech, 19622001 Paper machines and Nipco rolls 1968-1997 Static mixers, since 1972 Surface technology, since 1985 Turbomachinery service, since 1990 Fuel cell systems, 19972005 Mixing and cartridge technology since 2006 Mist eliminators since 2006 Process technology since 2009 1830 1850 1870 1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990 2009

    Key activities of Sulzer since 1834.

    ufacturer of locomotives, compressors, textile machines, and numerous other products. However, the company streamlined its activities towards the end of the 20th century. Several fields of business were discontinued entirely but most were merged with the operations of other companies and still exist today outside Sulzer .

    The company currently consists of four divisions: Sulzer Pumps, Sulzer Metco, Sulzer Chemtech, and Sulzer Turbo Services. Sulzer has been developing and producing centrifugal pumps since 1857 and is thus one of the world's oldest pump manufacturers. It knew how to help shape technical developments and to

    continuously find new applications for its pumpsranging from irrigation plants in the 19th century to pumps for the extraction, transportation, and refinement of oil and gas that dominate the product range of Sulzer Pumps today. At the end of the 1950s, Sulzer began producing internal components for separation columns. Static mixers, separation technology, and process technology are now part of the broad range of offerings supplied by Sulzer Chemtechparticularly for the hydrocarbon processing industry. Commencing in 1985, Sulzer made a series of acquisitions that enabled Sulzer Metco to secure a leading position in the surface technology sector. Sulzer Turbo Services, which is today one of the largest independent providers of maintenance and repair services for thermal turbo machinery, originated from Sulzer's former turbine construction business.

    Ready for the future


    From the industrial revolution of the 19th century to the modern knowledge-based society of the 21st century, the nature of technological challenges has altered dramatically. Sulzer has always succeeded in adapting to changing market conditions by continuously creating innovative, high-quality products that reflect the company's reputation for excellence.
    Bernhard Ruetz Director of the Verein fr wirtschaftshistorische Studien, which conducts research into economic history Publisher of Schweizer Pioniere der Wirtschaft und Technik (Swiss Pioneers of Business and Technology) Vogelsangstrasse 52 8006 Zrich Switzerland

    Since 1857 Sulzer develops and produces centrifugal pumps.

    The history of the founding of Sulzer is the topic of Volume 40 of the Schweizer Pioniere der Wirtschaft und Technik (Swiss Pioneers of Business and Technology) series, which was published in 2000. Volume 40 can be ordered at no charge at news@sulzer.com (only available in German).

    34 | Sulzer Technical Review 2+3/2009

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