A Brief History of the Manufacture of Bearings in Czechoslovakia
The
manufacture of bearings started in Perstejn nad Ohrí, very close to the
present site of the Klásterec factory in western Czechoslovakia
near the border of Germany.
The owner of the factory was Dr. Günter Sachs of Fichtl and Sachs, which
was founded in 1895 and is still active today in the automotive component
business as a producer of clutches and shock absorbers. In 1930 this
factory was purchased by SKF who operated the factory until 1948.
In 1953 bearing
production was started in Klásterec nad Ohrí under the ZKL name, and in
1969 all the production was transferred to this plant from Perstejn which
was then closed.
In 1980 Klásterec
joined the so-called ZVL Concern, headquartered in Povazská Bystrica
together with the other 10 bearing factories in Czechoslovakia.
Many of the other factories,
such as ZVL Kysucké Nové Mesto, were started in 1948.
At the end of 1990
most of the factories became independent, state-owned, joint-stock
companies, and today most of the factories are privatized.
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