SOLAS, MARPOL amendments entered into force on 1 January 2014

A number of amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL)  and the 1988 Load Lines Protocol  entered into force or took effect from 1 January 2014.

The amendments cover passenger ship safety (in relation to safe return to port after a flooding casualty); the testing of free-fall lifeboats; minimum safe manning levels;  prohibition of blending onboard; the revised MARPOL Annex III; the United States Caribbean Sea Emission Control Area; and the Winter Seasonal Zone off the southern tip of Africa.

2012 May SOLAS amendments
The SOLAS amendments which entered into force on 1 January 2014 include the following:

- amendment to SOLAS regulation II-1/8-1, to introduce a mandatory requirement for new passenger ships for either onboard stability computers or shore-based support, for the purpose of providing operational information to the Master for safe return to port after a flooding casualty;

- amendment to SOLAS regulation III/20.11.2 regarding the testing of free-fall lifeboats, to require that the operational testing of free-fall lifeboat release systems shall be performed either by free-fall launch with only the operating crew on board or by a simulated launching;

- amendment to SOLAS chapter V to add a new regulation V/14 on ships' manning, to require Administrations, for every ship, to establish appropriate minimum safe manning levels following a transparent procedure, taking into account the guidance adopted by IMO (Assembly resolution A.1047(27) on Principles of minimum safe manning); and issue an appropriate minimum safe manning document or equivalent as evidence of the minimum safe manning considered necessary;

- amendment to SOLAS chapter VI to add a new regulation VI/5-2, to prohibit the blending of bulk liquid cargoes during the sea voyage and to prohibit production processes on board ships;

- amendment to SOLAS chapter VII to replace regulation 4 on documents, covering transport information relating to the carriage of dangerous goods in packaged form and the container/vehicle packing certificate; and

- amendment to SOLAS regulation XI-1/2 on enhanced surveys, to make mandatory the International Code on the Enhanced Programme of Inspections during Surveys of Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers, 2011 (2011 ESP Code, resolution A.1049(27)).

2010 October MARPOL amendments
The amendments which entered into force on 1 January 2014 include a revised MARPOL Annex III Regulations for the prevention of pollution by harmful substances carried by sea in packaged form, to include changes to the Annex to coincide with the next update of the mandatory International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code, specifying that goods should be shipped in accordance with relevant provisions.

United States Caribbean ECA now effective
The United States Caribbean Sea Emission Control Area (SOx, NOx and PM) came into effect, under MARPOL Annex VI, on 1 January 2014, bringing in stricter controls on emissions of sulphur oxide (SOx), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter for ships trading in certain waters adjacent to the coasts of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.

The ECA was designated under MARPOL amendments adopted in July 2011. There are now four three designated ECAs in effect globally: the United States Caribbean Sea ECA and the North American ECA; and the sulphur oxide ECAs in the Baltic Sea area and the North Sea area.
(See: MARPOL Annex VI regulation 14)

Coordinates for the Caribbean Sea ECA can be found in Resolution MEPC.202(62).

Winter Seasonal Zone moved south under amendments to LL Protocol
Amendments to regulation 47 of the 1988 Protocol to the International Convention on Load Lines (LL), 1966 to shift the Winter Seasonal Zone off the southern tip of Africa further southward by 50 miles, came into effect on 1 January 2014.
                                                                         
 
                                                                                                                            http://www.imo.org

Western Australian Museum - When some people respect their history

• A steam compound-reversing engine Manufactured in 1914 by Baxter & McKie of Glasgow

SS Perth Steam Engine and Auxiliaries

• A twin cylinder, two stroke, engine was made in Western Australia, under license, by the Perth company, Harris-Scarfe and Sandovers Ltd in 1930.

Chapman Pub Engine

• A compound reversing steam engine model with the boiler in the background.

Model Steam Machinery

• The Seagull Outboard motor. A single cylinder, two-stroke petrol engine with a 2 hp capacity - was built in England around 1943.

Seagull Outboard

• A four cylinder Thornycroft built in 1929.

Thornycroft Inboard

Photos were taken from Western Australian Museum

Nikolaus August Otto

Nikolaus August Otto was the German inventor of the first internal-combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber. Though the concept of four strokes, with the vital compression of the mixture before ignition, had been invented and patented in 1861 by Alphonse Beau de Rochas Otto was the first to make it practical.
Early years
Otto was the son of a farmer: his father also ran the local post office. He served an apprenticeship in commerce and following his apprenticeship worked as a business man in Frankfurt am Main and in Cologne. After relocating to Cologne he quit his office job in order to construct small gas engines, starting out by seeking to improve on the existing design of Étienne Lenoir. Otto met another engineer Eugen Langen in 1864. The technically trained Langen recognized the potential of Otto's development, and one month after the meeting, founded the first engine factory in the world, NA Otto & Cie. At the 1867 Paris World Exhibition their improved engine was awarded the Grand Prize.
The Otto & Langen engine was a free piston atmospheric engine (the explosion of gas was used to create a vacuum and the power came from atmospheric pressure returning the piston). It consumed less than half the gas of the Lenoir and Hugon engines and so was a commercial success. The principle of operation was described by the Italian inventors Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci in their British Patent no 1625 of 1857, though they never produced a marketable example.
For all its commercial success, with the company producing 634 engines a year by 1875, the Otto and Langen engine had hit a technical dead end: it produced only 3 hp (2.2 kW; 3.0 PS), yet required 10–13 ft (3.0–4.0 m) headroom to operate.
Otto later turned his attention to the 4-stroke cycle (as described in a pamphlet by Alphonse Beau de Rochas in 1862. This was largely due to the efforts of Franz Rings and Herman Schumm, brought into the company by Gottlieb Daimler. It is this engine (the Otto Silent Engine), and not the Otto & Langen engine, to which the Otto cycle refers. This was the first commercially successful engine to use in-cylinder compression (as patented by William Barnett in 1838). The Rings-Schumm engine appeared in autumn 1876 and was immediately successful.
Otto married Anna Gossi and the couple produced seven recorded children. His son Gustav Otto grew up to become an aircraft builder.

The Otto cycle

The Otto engine was designed as a stationary engine and in the action of the engine, the stroke is an upward or downward movement of a piston in a cylinder. Used later in an adapted form as an automobile engine, four strokes are involved: (1) downward intake stroke—coal-gas and air enter the piston chamber, (2) upward compression stroke—the piston compresses the mixture, (3) downward power stroke—ignites the fuel mixture by electric spark, and (4) upward exhaust stroke—releases exhaust gas from the piston chamber. Otto only sold his engine as a stationary motor.

Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel

Early life

Diesel was born in Paris, France in 1858 the second of three children of Elise (born Strobel) and Theodor Diesel. His parents were Bavarian immigrants living in Paris Theodor Diesel, abookbinder by trade, left his home town of Augsburg, Bavaria, in 1848. He met his wife, a daughter of a Nuremberg merchant, in Paris in 1855 and became a leather goods manufacturer there.

Rudolf Diesel spent his early childhood in France, but as a result of the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, his family (as were many other Germans) was forced to leave. They settled in London. Before the war's end in 1874, however, Diesel's mother sent 12-year-old Rudolf to Augsburg to live with his aunt and uncle, Barbara and Christoph Barnickel, to become fluent in German and to visit the Königliche Kreis-Gewerbsschule (Royal County Trade School), where his uncle taught mathematics.

At age 14, Rudolf wrote a letter to his parents stating that he wanted to become an engineer. After finishing his basic education at the top of his class in 1873, he enrolled at the newly-founded Industrial School of Augsburg. Two years later, he received a merit scholarship from the Royal Bavarian Polytechnic of Munich, which he accepted against the wishes of his parents, who would rather have seen him start to work.

One of his professors in Munich was Carl von Linde. Diesel was unable to be graduated with his class in July 1879 because he fell ill with typhoid. While waiting for the next examination date, he gained practical engineering experience at the Gebrüder Sulzer Maschinenfabrik (Sulzer Brothers Machine Works) in Winterthur, Switzerland. Diesel was graduated in January 1880 with highest academic honours and returned to Paris, where he assisted his former Munich professor, Carl von Linde, with the design and construction of a modern refrigeration and ice plant. Diesel became the director of the plant one year later.

In 1883, Diesel married Martha Flasche, and continued to work for Linde, gaining numerous patents in both Germany and France.

In early 1890, Diesel moved to Berlin with his wife and children, Rudolf Jr, Heddy, and Eugen, to assume management of Linde's corporate research and development department and to join several other corporate boards there. As he was not allowed to use the patents he developed while an employee of Linde's for his own purposes, he expanded beyond the field of refrigeration. He first worked with steam, his research into thermal efficiency and fuel efficiency leading him to build a steam engine using ammonia vapour. During tests, however, the engine exploded and almost killed him. He spent many months in a hospital, followed by health and eyesight problems. He then began designing an engine based on the Carnot cycle, and in 1893, soon after Karl Benz was granted a patent for his invention of the motor car in 1886, Diesel published a treatise entitled Theorie und Konstruktion eines rationellen Wärmemotors zum Ersatz der Dampfmaschine und der heute bekannten Verbrennungsmotoren [Theory and Construction of a Rational Heat-engine to Replace the Steam Engine and Combustion Engines Known Today] and formed the basis for his work on and invention of the Diesel engine.

Diesel understood thermodynamics and the theoretical and practical constraints on fuel efficiency. He knew that as much as 90% of the energy available in the fuel is wasted in a steam engine. His work in engine design was driven by the goal of much higher efficiency ratios. After experimenting with a Carnot Cycle engine, he developed his own approach. Eventually, he obtained a patent for his design for a compression-ignition engine. In his engine, fuel was injected at the end of compression and the fuel was ignited by the high temperature resulting from compression. From 1893 to 1897, Heinrich von Buz, director of MAN AG in Augsburg, gave Rudolf Diesel the opportunity to test and develop his ideas. Rudolf Diesel obtained patents for his design in Germany and other countries, including the USA.

Disappearance

In the evening of 29 September 1913, Diesel boarded the post office steamer Dresden in Antwerp on his way to a meeting of the Consolidated Diesel Manufacturing company in London. He took dinner on board the ship and then retired to his cabin at about 10 p.m., leaving word to be called the next morning at 6:15 a.m. His cabin was found empty during a roll call, and he was never seen alive again. A search of his cabin revealed that Diesel's bed had not been slept in, although his nightshirt was neatly laid out and his watch had been left where he could see it from the bed. His hat and overcoat were discovered neatly folded beneath the afterdeck railing.Ten days later, the crew of the Dutch boatCoertsen came upon the corpse of a man floating in the ocean of the North Sea near Norway. The body was in such an advanced state of decomposition that it was unrecognizable, and they did not bring it aboard. Instead, the crew retrieved personal items (pill case, wallet, ID card, pocket knife, eyeglass case) from the clothing of the dead man, and returned the body to the sea. On 13 October, these items were identified by Rudolf's son, Eugen Diesel, as belonging to his father.

There are various theories to explain Diesel's death. His biographers, such as Grosser (1978) present a case for suicide, and clearly consider it most likely. Conspiracy theories suggest that various people's business or military interests may have provided motives for homicide, however. Evidence is limited for all explanations.

Shortly after Diesel's disappearance, his wife Martha opened a bag that her husband had given to her just before his ill-fated voyage, with directions that it should not be opened until the following week. She discovered 200,000 Germanmarks in cash and a number of financial statements indicating that their bank accounts were virtually empty.

Legacy 

Rudolf Diesel
(1858–1913)

After Diesel's death, the Diesel engine underwent much development and became a very important replacement for the steam piston engine in many applications. Because the diesel engine required a heavier, more robust construction than a gasoline engine, it was not widely used in aviation. The Diesel engine became widespread in many other applications, however, such as stationary engines, submarines, ships, and much later, locomotives, trucks, and in modern automobiles. Diesel engines are most often found in applications where a high torque requirement and low RPM requirement exist. Because of their generally more robust construction and high torque, Diesel engines have also become the workhorses of the trucking industry. Recently, diesel engines that have overcome their weight penalty have been designed, certified, and flown in light aircraft. These engines are designed to run on either Diesel fuel or more commonly jet fuel.

The Diesel engine has the benefit of running more fuel-efficiently than gasoline engines due to much higher compression ratios and longer duration of combustion, which means the temperature rises more slowly, allowing more heat to be converted to mechanical work. Diesel was interested in using coal dust or vegetable oil as fuel, and in fact, his engine was run on peanut oil. Although these fuels were not immediately popular, during 2008 rises in fuel prices, coupled with concerns about oil reserves, have led to more widespread use of vegetable oil and biodiesel. The primary source of fuel remains what became known as Diesel fuel, an oil byproduct derived from refinement of petroleum.

Patent dispute with Herbert Akroyd Stuart

Akroyd-Stuart's compression ignition engine (as opposed to spark-ignition) was patented two years earlier than Diesel's similar engine; Diesel's patentable idea was to increase the pressure. Due to the lower pressures used, the hot bulb engine, with an internal pressure of about 600 kilopascals (87 psi), as opposed to the Diesel engine's c. 3,500 kilopascals (508 psi), had only about a 12% thermal efficiency versus more than 50% for some large Diesels. Details of the claim that a patent submitted by Herbert Akroyd Stuart has pre-dated that of Rudolf Diesel may be found under the name of that inventor.

The high compression and thermal efficiency is what distinguishes the patent granted to Diesel from a hot bulb engine patent.

Source: wikipedia

The history of Wärtsilä

1834 Wärtsilä is established when the governor of the county of Karelia approves the construction of a sawmill by a rapids in the municipality of Tohmajärvi on 12th April. Some years later the sawmill becomes the property of N. L. Arppe.
1851 The Wärtsilä iron mill is built in place of the sawmill.
1898 The sawmill changes hands and consequently the sawmill and iron works company is renamed Wärtsilä Ab, which becomes a new company called Ab Wärtsilä Oy in 1907.
1908 The power station by Saario rapids starts operating. Wärtsilä has become a modern smelting plant and steel mill running on electricity generated by the rapids it owns.
1926 Wilhelm Wahlforss becomes President of Wärtsilä.
1930 Wärtsilä’s galvanization factory manufacturing magnetically galvanized wire is completed.
1931 Wärtsilä is on the brink of bankruptcy. Workers agree to a 25% cut in wages.
But already in next year Wärtsilä pays a dividend to its shareholders for the first time in a decade.
1935 Wärtsilä acquires a majority holding in Kone- ja Siltarakennus Oy (Machine and Bridge Construction Ltd), gaining also control of the Hietalahti shipyard (est’d 1865) in Helsinki and the Crichton-Vulcan shipyard (est’d 1741) in Turku. Kone- ja Siltarakennus Oy manufactures for example paper machines and Abloy locks. Soon Wärtsilä's headquarters move from Karelia to Helsinki.
1936 Wärtsilä acquires the Onkilahti engineering workshop in Vaasa and the next year the Pietarsaari workshop in the town of Pietarsaari.
1938 Kone ja Silta (Machine and Bridge) group is merged with Wärtsilä, along with the iron mill Taalintehdas (est’d 1686) just acquired, and the Turku, Pietarsaari and Vaasa subsidiaries.
After that Wärtsilä-Yhtymä O/Y (Wärtsilä Group Ltd) is established under chief executive Wilhelm Wahlforss.
1938 The diesel engine era begins when Wärtsilä signs a licence agreement with Friedrich Krupp Germania Werft AG in Germany. The first diesel engine sees the light of day in Turku in November 1942.
1947 Wärtsilä acquires most of the ceramics factory Arabia Ab’s share capital and later the entire company.
1950 Wärtsilä acquires the Nuutajärvi glass factory.
1961 Inauguration of the Wärtsilä Technical College in Joensuu, donated by Wärtsilä.
1961 Bertel Långhjelm is appointed CEO of the group after Wilhelm Wahlforss.
1965 The company is renamed Oy Wärtsilä Ab. The next year the Crichton-Vulcan shipyard is renamed the Turku Shipyard and the Hietalahti shipyard becomes Helsinki Shipyard.
1968 Joensuun Lukkotehdas (The Joensuu Lock Factory) is completed and the manufacturing of Abloy locks is transferred there from Helsinki Factory (former Kone ja Silta Oy).
1970 Tankmar Horn becomes chief executive officer.
1970 Wärtsilä's new Järvenpää factory is completed where e.g. paper machine production moves there from the Helsinki factory.
1971 Sanitary ware production of Arabia is moved to the new factory in Tammisaari.
1974 Wärtsilä begins to build a new shipyard to Perno, Turku, where the whole Turku Shipyard will move by 1983.
1978 Wärtsilä’s head office is moved to Pitkänsillanranta 1 in Helsinki, a property gained by the company when it acquired the John Stenberg engineering workshop in 1975.
1978 Tor Stolpe becomes chief executive officer.
1978 Acquisition of 51% of the NOHAB diesel business from Bofors in Sweden, marking the beginning of Wärtsilä’s international manufacturing operations. The remaining shares are acquired in 1984.
1978 Wärtsilä acquires Björkboda lock factory.
1979 As a result of structural rationalization Taalintehdas is merged with Ovako Oy of which Wärtsilä has the biggest hold.
1979 A new organization is introduced based on six business groups: shipyard, diesel, mechanical engineering, technical porcelain, locks, and consumer goods.
1983 Wärtsilä floats a share series on the Stockholm stock exchange.
1984 Wärtsilä floats its second share issue for international investors and is the first Finnish company to be quoted on the London stock exchange.
1986 A crisis in the global marine industry that had lasted several years leads Wärtsilä to pool its marine resources with Valmet, resulting in the establishment of Wärtsilä Marine Oy. Valmet’s shipbuilding activities are joined with Wärtsilä’s while Wärtsilä’s paper machines are transferred to Valmet.
1986 Wärtsilä Cimtec is formed when Wärtsilä acquires two factory automation companies: GCA Corporation's Industrial Systems division in USA and Oy W. Rosenlew Ab's Automation division in Finland.
1988 A company is set up in India and floated on the Bombay stock exchange. The diesel engine assembly plant in Khopoli is built.
1989 Pekka Laine is named President and CEO in June.
1989 Wärtsilä Marine Oy is filed for bankruptcy in October.
1989 Wärtsilä Diesel acquires the French SACM, a manufacturer of high-speed engines.
Wärtsilä acquires a majority holding in the Dutch company Stork Werkspoor B.V., which makes medium-speed engines. This company is renamed Stork-Wärtsilä Diesel B.V.
1989 Klaus Grönbärj appointed President of Wärtsilä.
1989 Wärtsilä and Lohja sign a merger agreement. Lohja becomes a major shareholder in Wärtsilä after a privileged share issue.
1990 Wärtsilä extraordinary shareholders’ meeting approves the merger plan according to which Wärtsilä will be merged into Lohja, and Wärtsilä shareholders receive as a merger consideration cash and shares of the company formed as a result of the merger.
1990 Wärtsilä sells the majority of Oy Arabia Ab and Rörstrand-Gustavsberg AB to Oy Hackman Ab.

2001

    Wärtsilä sells its 46.7% holding in Sanitec to Pool Acquisition Helsinki.
    Wärtsilä takes ownership of Swedish service company Ciserv Ab.
    Wärtsilä sells 20 million shares in Assa Abloy
    Wärtsilä expands into biopower and acquires Finnish company Sermet Oy, which specialises in small and medium-sized boiler plants running on biofuels, oil and gas.
   

2002

    Ciserv group expands with offices in Singapore, Denmark and Canada.
    Wärtsilä acquires a leading global supplier of marine propulsion systems, John Crane Lips, which will operate within Wärtsilä under the name Wärtsilä Propulsion.
    Wärtsilä increases its holding of Wärtsilä India Ltd. to 88.3%.
    Wärtsilä sells 10 million shares in Assa Abloy.

2003

    Wärtsilä increases its holding of Wärtsilä India Ltd. to 89.69%.
    Wärtsilä acquires Dutch marine service company Caltax Marine Diesel BV. Caltax will become part of the Ciserv group and will be named Ciserv Netherlands BV.
    Styria Group to buy Imatra Steel's Spring Works
    Wärtsilä sells its holding in Polar
    Wärtsilä to start propeller manufacture in China, Joint Venture with CME - Part of shipbuilding group CSSC

2004

    Wärtsilä announces to discontinue the production in Turku
    Lars Hellberg, BSc (Eng.) appointed new Group Vice President and Head of Engine division
    Cooperation agreement with maritime training academy AB Utbildning Sydväst Maritime in Turku, Finland
    Wärtsilä's Chinese propeller company starts production
    Group Vice President, CTO Matti Kleimola elected President of CIMAC
    Wärtsilä signs global IT service agreements with Accenture and HP
    Wärtsilä launches a new engine, the Wärtsilä 46F, at the SMM marine fair in Hamburg
    Auxpac generating sets enter the market. These take care of electricity supply on a vessel.
    Wärtsilä extraordinary shareholders' meeting approves extra dividend and bonus issue. Wärtsilä's order intake continues to grow in October - November.
    Mr Raimo Lind and Mr Mikael Mäkinen appointed Executive Vice Presidents of Wärtsilä from 1 January 2005. Mr Lind also acts as deputy to the President and CEO.

2005

    Order book reached all-time high
    Acquisition of DEUTZ marine service
    Acquisition of automation company Gerhardt Holding Co. Inc, USA
    First global operations and maintenance contract in maritime industry with Reederei Blue Star GmbH, Germany
    Wärtsilä’s subsidiary Imatra Steel became a part of the new Ovako company, Wärtsilä’s ownership 26.5%
    Heerlen unit in the Netherlands sold to Smelt Heerlen Beheer B.V.
    Wärtsilä Land and Sea Academy opened a new training centre in Subic Bay in the Philippines
    Jaakko Eskola, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Power Plants, appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of WADE, World Alliance for Decentralized Energy
    Wärtsilä’s first wholly-owned production venture in China inaugurated in Wuxi

2006

    License agreement with Brazilian company Nuclebras Equipamentos Pesados SA
    Acquisition of Kvaerner Power and Automation Systems AS (AKPAS)
    Acquisition of business of Singaporean Total Automation Ltd
    Changes in Board of Management: Jaakko Eskola Group Vice President, Ship Power and Christoph Vitzthum Group Vice President, Power Plants
    Alliance between Wärtsilä Automation Norway and Emerson Process Management for the floating oil production market in automation
    Assembly and testing capacity to be increased in Vaasa and Trieste
    Wärtsilä Qiyao generating set factory inaugurated in China
    Wärtsilä, SKF and Rautaruukki sold Ovako
    Wärtsilä, China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in joint manufacturing of low-speed engines in China
    Investments in the Steerable Thrusters manufacturing in China and the Netherlands
    Acquisition of German ship design company Schiffko

2007

    Wärtsilä India Ltd was de-listed from the Bombay Stock Exchange on 18 June 2007
    Wärtsilä and Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd (HHI) signed an agreement to set up a 50/50-owned joint venture in Korea to manufacture dual-fuel engines for LNG (liquefied natural gas) carriers
    Acquisition of the Swedish company Senitec AB. The company specializes in environmental technology products for separating waste, such as oily water and sludge, in power plants, harbours and ships
    Acquisition of the entire business of Marine Propeller (Pty) Ltd in Cape Town, South Africa. Marine Propeller (Pty) Ltd focuses mainly on repairing propellers
    Aquisition of UK-based propeller repair company McCall Propellers Ltd
    Aquisition of the marine business of Railko Ltd. in the UK, a company specializing in stern tube bearing technology
    Acquisition of the Scottish company, Electrical Power Engineering (Scotland) Ltd. The company specializes in electrical power engineering solutions for the marine, offshore, industrial and utilities segments
    Opening of a service workshop and an office in Vietnam to serve the growing Vietnamese shipping, shipbuilding and power industries
    Opening of a new training centre in South Korea, the world’s largest shipbuilding country, to provide training for customers’ engineers
    Wärtsilä and Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin) signed a licence agreement for the manufacture and sale of Wärtsilä low-speed marine engines in Vietnam
    Wärtsilä and Bryansk Engineering Works (BMZ), signed a licence agreement for the manufacture of Wärtsilä low-speed marine diesel engines in Russia
    Wärtsilä and V.Ships, a company specialising in ship management, agreed to cooperate on the provision of a broad spectrum of marine technical services in the marine market
    Wärtsilä Ship Power was reorganised into five Ship Power customer segments: Merchant, Offshore, Cruise&Ferry, Navy and Special vessels. The aim is to better respond to market requirements and technology development, as well as to be prepared for market fluctuations

2008

    Atte Palomäki appointed Group Vice President, Corporate Communications and a member of Board of Management
    Acquisition of the Norwegian company Maritime Service AS specialising in ship service and mechanical and reconditioning services.
    Acquisition of the Danish company International Combustion Engineering A/S (I.C.E.) specialising in project engineering and the service and repair of steam boilers and ancillary burner systems.
    Acquisition of the German company Claus D. Christophel Mess- und Regeltechnik GmbH (CDC), specialising in the design, delivery and service of automation systems for ship owners and yards.
    Expansion of global offshore alliance with Emerson Process Management.
    Acquisition of the global ship design group Vik-Sandvik, a leading independent group providing design and engineering services to ship owners and the ship building industry worldwide.
    Joint venture with Manara Consortium called Manara Wärtsilä Power Ltd (MWP), which aims to become the leading developer of decentralised independent power producer (IPP) projects in Islamic countries.
    Acquisition of Navelec SAS, a French company specialising in marine navigation and communication systems, electrical marine services, and control and automation services.
    Acquisition of Conan Wu & Associates Pte Ltd (CWA), a leading naval architecture and ship design company in Singapore. The deal also includes partnership agreements regarding CWA’s businesses in Malaysia and China.
    Joint venture with Metso combining Metso’s Heat & Power business and Wärtsilä’s Biopower business. Metso owns 60% and Wärtsilä 40% of the joint venture.
    Wärtsilä Services opened and expanded offices and workshops in Namibia, Chile, Brazil, Madagascar, Azerbaijan, China, Turkey and Dubai.
    A decision was made to centralize spare parts logistics by building a new spare parts distribution centre in the Netherlands.
    The senior management of Wärtsilä Ship Power relocated to Shanghai to be closer to the main shipbuilding markets.

2009

    Wärtsilä among 100 most sustainable corporations in the world.
    EU approval for HERCULES-Beta Project to Wärtsilä and MAN Diesel. The project is a major international cooperative effort to maximise fuel efficiency combined with ultra-low emissions and to develop future generations of optimally efficient and clean marine diesel engines.
    Ownership of Italian company Wärtsilä Navim Diesel increased to 100 per cent.
    Ship Power business adjusted to reflect global marine market situation. 400-450 jobs to be reduced globally.
    Changes in Board of Management: Tage Blomberg, Group Vice President, Services, retired; Christoph Vitzthum appointed Group Vice President, Services and Vesa Riihimäki appointed Group Vice President, Power Plants.
    Global Manufacturing Technology Centre opened in Vaasa, Finland, to develop and share manufacturing knowledge.
    CEVA Logistics to manage and Swisslog to design and construct Wärtsilä's Central Distribution Centre in the Netherlands. Construction of the new centre begins.
    Wärtsilä joins UN Global Compact, the world's largest corporate responsibility initiative, and thus further consolidates its commitment to sustainable business practices, and to the compact’s underlying principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.
    Service Centre opened in Murmansk, Russia and workshop in Stockholm, Sweden.

2010

    Majority of the propeller production and auxiliary engine production was moved to China, close to the main marine markets. The propeller manufacturing in Drunen, and the component manufacturing DTS in Zwolle, both in the Netherlands, were closed. The Wärtsilä 20 generating set production in Vaasa Finland was moved to China.
    Wärtsilä supports Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG) mission and commits to three environmental promises
    Annual report 2009 published in electronic format for the first time
    Cooperation agreement to develop environmentally sound gas-fuelled ships signed with Samsung Heavy Industries
    Africa’s largest gas engine power plant to be supplied to Cameroon. The power plant will be located in Kribi, a sea port lying on the Gulf of Guinea coast in the Republic of Cameroon.
    Wärtsilä to deliver its largest power plant project ever - close to EUR 200 million order from Brazil. This project represents the largest power plant ever built by Wärtsilä anywhere in the world.
    Fuel cell unit installed on a vessel - unique SOFC technology provides power to Wallenius' car-carrier 'Undine'. This unique power unit is the first of its kind in the world, and will during the test period provide auxiliary power to the vessel while producing close to zero emissions.
    Wärtsilä enters rail market through joint venture with Transmashholding to manufacture modern and multipurpose diesel engines in Russia. The engines, including a new and technically advanced version of the Wärtsilä 20 -engine, will be used in shunter locomotives and for various marine and power applications.
    The World Bank -led Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership (GGFR) welcomed Wärtsilä as the first associated partner to join the global effort to reduce the flaring or burning of natural gas associated to oil production.
    New offices and a workshop opened in Panama
    Shipping Scenarios 2030 were published. They describe what shipping could look like in twenty years. Scenarios help companies, governments and shipping linked organisations in long-term strategic thinking in a fast changing world. The Shipping Scenario work yielded three alternative futures, which are Rough Seas, Yellow River and Open Oceans.
    Wärtsilä received an order to supply the world’s largest gas engine for Turkish power plant. The Aksa Samsun plant will be extended to incorporate the latest addition to Wärtsilä’s gas engine portfolio, the Wärtsilä 18V50SG engine.
    Wärtsilä published a plan to reduce 400 jobs in its support functions globally.
    Wärtsilä and MAN Diesel & Turbo to continue comprehensive HERCULES Research Project
    Wärtsilä joins global Sustainable Shipping Initiative, a taskforce to shape the future of shipping
    A new more powerful version of Wärtsilä 32 engine introduced

2011

Technical achievements:

• Wärtsilä's engine portfolio was extended with 62- and 72-bore electronically controlled low speed engines.
• New low-speed gas engine technology was successfully tested. The tests demonstrated that the engine performance fully complies with the upcoming IMO Tier III nitrogen oxide limits, setting a new benchmark for low-speed engines running on gas. The new 2-stroke test engine is part of Wärtsilä’s 2-stroke dual-fuel gas engine technology development programme.

Acquisitions and joint ventures:

• Wärtsilä acquired Swedish company Cedervall, one of the leading manufacturers of shaft seal and bearing systems for the marine industry.
• Wärtsilä and Jiangsu CuiXing Marine Offshore Engineering Co. Ltd. agreed to establish a joint venture for manufacturing Wärtsilä 26 and Wärtsilä 32 medium-speed marine engines in China.
• Wärtsilä announced recommended cash offer for Hamworthy plc, a UK listed engineering company focussed on the marine and oil and gas sectors.

Major Power Plants contracts:

• Elering AS, the Estonian transmission system operator, ordered two major dynamic grid reserve power plants from Wärtsilä.
• Wärtsilä was awarded two contracts to supply power plants to the Dominican Republic. The plants have separate owners, but they will be constructed on the same site as a single unit. This will be the largest power plant in the world delivered by Wärtsilä with total output of 430 MW.
• Wärtsilä was contracted to supply five power plants to Bangladesh. The total overall output of these plants will be over 450 MW.

Major Ship Power contracts:

• A contract was signed with STX Finland Oy to supply the propulsion machinery for a new passenger ferry to be built for Viking Line, a Finnish ship owner. The vessel will be the largest passenger ferry to operate on liquefied natural gas (LNG), making it the most environmentally sound and energy efficient large passenger vessel in the industry.
• A co-operative agreement was signed with Shell to promote use of LNG as a marine fuel.

Major Services contracts:

• Wärtsilä signed a major long-term maintenance support agreement with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd
• Wärtsilä was awarded a Dynamic Maintenance Planning contract with the Greek company Ceres LNG Services Ltd.

Corporate announcements:

• Björn Rosengren was appointed President and CEO as of 1 September 2011 when the former President and CEO Ole Johansson retired.
• Two appointments were made in the Board of Management: Kari Hietanen was appointed Group Vice President, Corporate Relations and Legal and Päivi Castrén Group Vice President Human Resources.
• Wärtsilä entered into cooperation with Crisis Management Initiative as Lead Partner. CMI is an independent Finnish non-profit organisation working to resolve conflicts and to build sustainable peace.
• European Investment Bank granted a loan of EUR 150 million to Wärtsilä for R&D activities.
• A new Central Distribution Centre was opened in the Netherlands.
• New workshops were opened in Gdansk, Poland and Helsinki, Finland.
• Wärtsilä CME Zhenjiang Propeller Co Ltd inaugurated its new state-of-the-art Controllable Pitch Propeller factory in China.  

2012

Technical achievements:

• The new P-63 Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel featuring Wärtsilä 50DF dual-fuel engines successfully completed all the required full 100% load tests.
• Wärtsilä's AQUARIUS®UV Ballast Water Management System received type approval in accordance with requirements of the 2004 IMO Convention for the control and management of ships ballast water and sediments.
• Wärtsilä's leadership in gas engine technology was enhanced with the milestone of more than 2000 gas engines sold and 7 million running hours accumulated in both land-based and marine applications.
• The offering in the low-speed X-generation engine series was extended with the new Wärtsilä X92 engine, which will serve the market for large and ultra-large container vessels.

Acquisitions and joint ventures:

• The British-headquartered, global engineering company Hamworthy plc. was acquired. 
• Wärtsilä and Yuchai Marine Power signed an agreement to establish a 50/50 joint venture for manufacturing medium-speed marine engines in China. The focus will be on the assembly and testing of Wärtsilä 20, Wärtsilä 26 and Wärtsilä 32 engines.
• Wärtsilä acquired the assets and business of MMI Boiler Management Pte Ltd., the Singapore-based company specialising in the service and maintenance of boilers for marine and industrial applications.
• Wärtsilä sold its 40 per cent share in the joint venture MW Power Oy to the other joint venture party Metso.

Major Power Plant contracts:

• Wärtsilä-led consortium signed a contract to supply the world’s largest tri-fuel power plant to Jordan.
• A contract was signed to supply a major gas fuelled power plant to Mozambique. It will be the biggest gas power plant ever installed in the country and second largest power plant running exclusively on gas engines to be installed on the African continent.
• A turnkey contract was signed to supply a major dual-fuel power plant to Mauritania in West Africa.
• A 384 MW gas power plant order was received from Azerbaijan.

Major Ship Power contracts:

• Harvey Gulf International Marine awarded Wärtsilä another contract to supply an integrated gas propulsion system for a new offshore support vessel. This is the fifth order for Wärtsilä from Harvey Gulf for gas fuelled propulsion solutions.
• Wärtsilä was awarded the contract to supply main generating engines and thrusters for six new deep water drill shipsto be built in Brazil.
• Algoma Central Corporation chose Wärtsilä to supply complete propulsion systems with fresh water integrated scrubbers for six vessels to transport bulk commodities in North America's Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.

Major Services agreements:

• Long-term service agreements were signed for world’s largest tri-fuel power plant to be delivered to Jordan by a Wärtsilä-led consortium.
• Africa’s largest purely gas fuelled combustion engine power plant in Sasolburg, South Africa will be serviced by Wärtsilä. The power plant was handed over to the customer in December ahead of schedule.
• A three-year Operation & Maintenance agreement was signed with Suape II power plant in Brazil. It covers seventeen Wärtsilä 46F engines.
• The global cruise operator Princess Cruise Lines Ltd awarded a long-term service contract to Wärtsilä. The contract covers seven Princess Cruise Lines vessels powered by Wärtsilä 46 engines representing 270 MW of power.
• A five-year service agreement was signed with the US-based Prestige Cruise Holdings, the parent company of Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. The agreement covers six vessels, a total of 27 Wärtsilä engines.

Corporate announcements:

• Paolo Tonon was appointed Vice President, Research & Development in Wärtsilä

Source: http://www.wartsila.com

Burmeister & Wain

Burmeister & Wain was a large established Danish shipyard and leading diesel engine producer headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded by two Danes and an Englishman, its earliest roots stretch back to 1846. Over its 150-year history, it grew successfully into a strong company through the end of the 1960s. In the 1970s, global competitive pressures, particularly from the far east, began to take their toll. In 1980, B&W became MAN B&W Diesel A/S, part of MAN B&W Diesel Group, a subsidiary of the German corporation MAN AG, with operations worldwide. The company still maintains operations at three main sites in Denmark for manufacturing, servicing, and licensing of its two-stroke engines and complete propulsion systems.

Foundation

Baumgarten & Burmeister foundry at Christianshavn about 1850

Hans Heinrich Baumgarten (1806–1875) was from the town of Halstenbek near Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, an area of Germany that was then part of Denmark. He was apprenticed as a coffin maker by a farmer whose livestock he cared for. Later he was a carpenter before becoming a machine minder at the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende, whose printing office he later worked for in Berlin.
After trying to start a business with different partners, while in Berlin he was allowed an audience, on the subject of establishing a business in Copenhagen, with Crown Prince Christian of Denmark who was visiting. Shortly thereafter, in 1843 he was granted a Danish Royal Charter and what would later become Burmeister & Wain was launched with the opening of a mechanical workshop in Copenhagen.

Carl Christian Burmeister and William Wain

Earliest years

Carl Christian Burmeister (1821–1898) was born into poverty. The son of a cook and restaurant keeper, he studied at the Polytechnical Institute in Copenhagen from 1836–1846, now the Technical University of Denmark. He had been awarded a scholarship abroad after recommendation following an assistantship to Hans Christian Ørsted who was director there at the time. Burmeister joined the H.H. Baumgarten Company in 1846, which became a partnership with the opening of its engineering works, and was renamed B&B.
Soon came the establishment of the B&B foundry in 1847, the delivery of its first steam engine in 1848, the renting of the Jacob Holm Shipyard at the 'Englishman's Place' in 1851, and the delivery of their first ship S/S Hermod in 1854, before Baumgarten retired from regular duties in 1861. With Baumgarten as a co-owner, in 1865, William Wain (1819–1882) joined what then became B&W. In 1872 the company became A/S B&W (Aktieselskabet Burmeister & Wain), a limited liability corporation. That same year saw the founding of the Refshale Island shipyard. At this point, Baumgarten, as the first founder, became a director of the board of what he would see become Burmeister & Wain Maskin- og Skibsbyggeri (Engineering and Shipbuilding) in 1880.
Wain, from Bolton, England had apprenticed as an engineer in his youth and come up through the trades. He had worked for the Royal Danish Navy and the Royal Dutch dockyards. He came to have several designs to his credit within the company and his ingenuity was seen as "instrumental" in establishing its reputation.

Growth and development

Burmeister & Wain in 1885

Production of stationary paraffin engines began in 1890. Then, in 1898, a year after introducing it to the world, Rudolf Diesel granted Burmeister & Wain A/S exclusive Danish manufacturing rights for the diesel engine. A test engine was built that same year. The 1903-1904 year saw delivery of their first diesel engine to the N. Larsen Carriage Factory. 1911-1912 saw the world's first ever ocean-going diesel-powered ship, M/S Selandia, start her maiden voyage from Copenhagen to Bangkok with two B&W four-stroke main engines (furnishing a total of 2,500 hp).
The larger Teglholmen iron foundry was established in the 1920-1921 year to provide capacity for growth in the coming years of business acquisition. The first B&W two-stroke diesel engine set off to sea in 1930 and the world's largest diesel engine at the time was delivered in 1933 to H. C. Ørsted Power Station. Steady progress and consolidation continued through the period of World War II and the subsequent period of reinvigorated prosperity. The first turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine was commissioned in 1952 with larger and more innovative designs to follow.
By this point, the company's engines and licensed designs were used worldwide throughout the industry. Meanwhile, post-war east Asian economies began to emerge as an industrial force.

Recent adjustment and recovery

In 1971, the shipyard and the engineering works were split into two independent companies. A more challenging period ensued until the 1979-1980 year when B&W Diesel A/S was established, and its shares were sold to MAN, of Germany. Though engine production at Christianshavn was later discontinued in 1987, successful engine programs were rolled out. At Teglholmen in 1988 a spare parts and key components production factory was established as was an R&D Centre at the same site in 1992. Though all Copenhagen operations were consolidated at Tegleholmen in 1994 and the last volume production unit at the B&W Shipyard was delivered in 1996. in 2000 MAN B&W Diesel two-stroke diesel engines had over 70% market share, with a substantial number of MC-line engines on order.
The electronically controlled line of ME diesel two-stroke engines was added in 2002 with a maximum cylinder bore of 108 cm. MAN B&W Diesel, Denmark, employed approximately 2,200 at the end of 2003 and had 100 million kW, or more than 8000 MC engines, in service or on order by 2004.

source: wikipedia

Sulzer - Sustainably Successful Since 1834

Sulzer is a global industry leader with reliable and sustainable solutions for performance-critical applications. From its beginnings in Winterthur, Switzerland back in 1834, Sulzer has developed to become a leading player in its key markets.

Information

2011

Acquisition of Cardo’s Flow Business, a full-line supplier of pumps and related equipment: with this acquisition Sulzer enters the attractive water and wastewater market. The water and wastewater market becomes a key market of Sulzer. It offers growth potential in both mature and emerging markets, driven by long-term trends such as population growth, increasing water consumption, urbanization, and environmental protection.

Acquisition of C.L. Engenharia in Brazil, a specialist in tower field service: with this acquisition, Sulzer enhances the competitiveness of its tower field service activities in Brazil and further expands its presence in the emerging markets.

Growth and good prospects

2010	Acquisition of Dowding & Mills, a leading service provider for generators and motors: integrated in Sulzer Turbo Services, this acquisition creates a leading independent provider of maintenance and repair services for turbomachinery, generators, and motors with a broad geographical presence.
	Sulzer Metco complements its portfolio for thin-film coatings with the acquisition of Bekaert’s diamond-like carbon coatings.
	Sulzer expands its presence in the emerging markets with the opening of a new, state-of-the-art production facility in China.
2009	Sulzer celebrates its 175th anniversary with the motto Experience Sulzer. The sites around the world organize events for employees, customers and other interested parties, emphasizing today’s products, services and solutions.
	Definition of the three core values of Sulzer: Customer Partnership, Operational Excellence and Committed People. They are the principles and standards upon which Sulzer builds its future.
	Sulzer Chemtech acquires several tower field service companies in Australia, Thailand, India, and Germany.
2008	The Sustainability Summary 2008 is audited externally and receives the highest Global Reporting Initiative G3 application level A+.
	Sulzer Turbo Services expands its business in South America with the acquisition of the turbomachinery service-provider Capime.
2007	Sulzer Chemtech acquires the separation business of KnitMesh Ltd.
	Sulzer initiates a health and safety awareness program to ensure adequate safetybehavior on all levels. The corporation has set the long-term goal of reducing the number of occupational accidents and illnesses to zero. In the midterm, Sulzer aims to reduce the 2006 accident frequency rate by half by 2010.
2006	In February, Sulzer Pumps divests its Paco pumping activities to Grundfos.
	In December, the corporation acquires Mixpac, Werfo, and Mold. The companies are integrated into the new business unit Sulzer Mixpac Systems in 2007.
2005	Sulzer Chemtech acquires Cana-Tex in Houston, Texas, USA and thus becomes a leading field-service supplier for separation columns.
	Shortly before year-end, the Hexis fuel-cell activities are sold to a Swiss foundation.
2004	Sulzer publishes its first biannual “Sustainability Summary”, which is well received among experts.
	In the course of the year, Sulzer strengthens the market positions of its divisions: Sulzer Metco acquires the Ambeon division of Westaim in Canada as well as OSU Machine Construction in Germany. Sulzer Pumps takes over the Johnston, Crown, and Paco pump activities from Precision Castparts Corp. (PCC), located in Houston, Texas, USA, and in Wuxi, China.
2003	Sulzer Pumps initiates a global program to double margins by 2006.
	Sulzer launches a program for corporate culture to achieve operational excellence in all units.

Reorganization and new beginnings

2002	With the sale of Sulzer Burckhardt to its management, the divestiture program that was started in 2000 is closed. Sulzer now comprises four divisions: Sulzer Pumps, Sulzer Metco, Sulzer Chemtech, and Sulzer Turbo Services.
2001	Incentive Capital initiates a hostile takeover bid for Sulzer. In response, Sulzer advises shareholders to reject this offer and launches a defensive campaign. At the 87th Annual General Meeting, all board proposals are approved, including the Sulzer Medica spin-off, while Incentive’s proposals are clearly rejected. As a result, Incentive cancels its bid.
	Sulzer Infra is divested to Groupe Fabricom.
	The Sulzer Medica spin-off is finalized on July 10, 2001.
	Sulzer Textile is sold to the Promatech Group, Italy.
2000	Sulzer Pumps takes over Ahlstrom Pumps (Finland).
	In September, plans are made public that Sulzer wants to divest several divisions, and to reintegrate Sulzer Medica. However, the reintegration plan is cancelled a few weeks later; the industrial and the medical technology parts are to develop more independently.
	In December, Sulzer Turbo is sold to the MAN group.
1999	Corporate restructuring is carried out. Like Sulzer Medica, Sulzer Industries is established as an independent sector with its own CEO.
	Sulzer Pumps strengthens its position on the Chinese market by founding a joint venture with Dalian Pumps.
	Sulzer sells the Sulzer Hydro water turbine and pump business to the technology company VA Tech (Austria).
	Sulzer Medica consolidates biotechnology activities in the new division, Sulzer Biologics, headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA.
1998	Sulzer Medica takes over the American company Spine-Tech, active in the spinal market segment. With this acquisition, Sulzer strengthens its range of opportunity in the field of orthopedics.
	The engineering sector of SLM (Swiss Locomotive and Machine Factory) is sold to Adtranz Switzerland.
1997	In the summer, Sulzer Medica goes public. The corporation decides to pursue a dual strategy: medical technology and industrial business.
	Sulzer Thermtec (power plant valves and apparatuses) is sold to the British company IMI.
1996	The inauguration of the Sulzer Orthopedics Technology Center takes place on May 21 in Oberwinterthur.
	The flourishing-but-too-small Sulzer Chemtech environmental technology business is sold to Austrian Energy and Environment.
	ELMA Electronic becomes independent and goes public in the same year.

Crisis and restructuring

1993	Closure of the Oberwinterthur foundry.
1992	Non-Swiss shareholders are permitted for the first time.
1990	Sulzer stops production at the Winterthur factory. Its various departments are reassigned to the product divisions (“verticalization”) in an attempt to streamline the product areas. The historical Winterthur site is cleared, and work started on reutilization plans. For the first time in Sulzer’s history, the number of Sulzer employees abroad exceeds the number in Switzerland. The diesel engine business is divested to the new Sulzer diesel company, in which Sulzer holds only a minor participation.
1988	Corporate reorganization measures lead to restructuring of the product portfolio. The medical technology business expands intensively (including acquisition of the Intermedics Group, USA). A hostile takeover bid is averted.
1985	Sulzer takes control of Plasma Technik AG with four facilities in Switzerland, USA, England, and Singapore. The materials and surface technology business is an excellent fit for Sulzer and in line with its research and development activities.
1984	Sulzer’s 150th jubilee celebrations coincide with extensive restructuring activities. For the first time in many years, the corporation records a net loss and does not pay out a dividend to its stockholders.
1982	Sulzer acquires the Rüti machine factory; a strong expansion of the weaving-machinery business follows.
1970 onwards	The oil crisis of the 1970s leads to an end of the economic boom which had lasted for about twenty five years. The strong Swiss franc has a negative effect on Sulzer’s exports. To master the resulting difficulties, the Sulzer Corporation is reorganized into a presidential system with responsibilities on a decentralized basis.

Growth

1968	Sulzer establishes a corporate structure, whereby the four-member corporate executive management assumes overall business responsibility according to the collective responsibility principle.
	Material technology activities are intensified and form the basis for medical technology products. The fundamental change from a machine-building company to a technology corporation starts to become apparent.
1966	Sulzer acquires a 53 percent share in Escher Wyss AG, Zurich, and takes over the company completely in 1969. As a result of this integration, employee figures rise to more than thirty thousand.
1961	Sulzer acquires the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Factory (SLM), Winterthur.
	Beginning of the boom in the large diesel-engine business.
1945 onwards	After the Second World War, a new growth phase starts that brings great prosperity and strong expansion of business activities abroad. In order to meet steadily rising production demands, increasing numbers of employees are recruited, especially from southern Europe.
	Due to ongoing construction activities at the Oberwinterthur site, manufacturing facilities are tripled within twenty-five years. The product range expands, particularly in the boiler-construction and textile machinery.
	Construction of housing increases steadily in Winterthur suburbs and surrounding regions.
	Employees benefit from better working conditions and social welfare. Female labor is promoted for light factory work.

The crisis of the 1930s 

1937	With the rise of political totalitarianism in Europe and after a narrowly avoided strike at Sulzer, an industrial peace agreement is signed. Employers and employees of the Swiss machine industry thereby agree to negotiate in good faith instead of taking militant action.
1930 to 1937	Due to the global slump, production declines to less than 40 percent and many employees lose their jobs.

Foundation and growth 

1919	Sulzer initiates Switzerland’s first regularly published in-house magazine. At the same time, the technical customer magazine “Technische Rundschau Sulzer” (today “Sulzer Technical Review”) is launched.
1914	The family firm is transformed into three joint-stock companies, one of which is the  holding company.
1909	Sulzer starts to build compressors.
1898	Cooperation with Rudolf Diesel leads to the development of the first Sulzer diesel  engine. This engine gradually replaces the then-dominant steam engine.
1890	The first workers’ council in Switzerland is founded.
1881	Sulzer opens a subsidiary in Ludwigshafen on the Rhine (Germany). It flourishes, as  does the parent company in Winterthur.
	During the years following, sales offices are opened in Milan, Paris, Cairo,  London, Moscow, Bucharest, and, in 1914, in Kobe (Japan).
1880	A new growth period begins: Sulzer experiences international success especially with  steam engines. Employee figures continued to rise, reaching three thousand by the  turn of the century.
	Sulzer starts to build refrigerating machines.
1872	During the initial phase of Winterthur’s first large-scale social housing plan,  twenty-four low-cost employee rental apartments are constructed in  Veltheim, Winterthur. The “Society for Affordable Housing Construction”  soon adds further apartment buildings and the first private homes for employees  in other parts of Winterthur. (In 1989, the city of Winterthur receives the Wakker Prize—an award for cultural heritage—for its outstandingly maintained  employee housing estates).
1870	To ensure an adequate supply of qualified young craftsmen, Sulzer opens the  first in-house training school in Switzerland, including an apprentice workshop.
1867	Sulzer enjoys great successes at the World Exhibition in Paris and six years later  in Vienna.
	For the first time in its history, Sulzer employs over one thousand workers.
	Extensive building activities are carried out at the original site in Winterthur.
Around 1860	The first sales office abroad is opened in Turin, Italy.
1859	The first trading-company agreement between the Sulzer brothers is made, whereby company activities are divided into divisions. Entrepreneurial thinking and the willingness to take a risk lead to the introduction of new products  (such as steam engines and, later, steamboats) with more efficient industrial production methods.
1845	A “Sickness-Benefit Association for Factory Workers” is founded. This is the first step towards a health insurance plan for the company.
1839	A new foundry is constructed, and the original building becomes a machine shop.
	The first steam engine installed in Winterthur creates a sensation.
1836	Still largely a workshop establishment, the business then employs forty journeymen, laborers, and apprentices, some of whom receive room and board with the family.  Though patriarchal in accordance with the times, the company takes the first stepstowards a division of labor.
1834	Through an exchange with the city of Winterthur, Johann Jakob Sulzer-Neuffert acquires a 5000 m2 site on Zürcherstrasse, and lays the foundation stone of “Sulzer Brothers Foundry, Winterthur”, known today as “the 1834 building”.  His two sons, Johann Jakob and Salomon, start producing cast iron. They also  manufacture firefighting and other pumps as well as textile machinery and later set up a heating installation business.                      Source: http://www.sulzer.com