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Competition and rationalisation: the 1920’s.

On February 23rd 1921, the company was converted into an “Aktiengesellschaft”. Technical directors at this point in time were Franz Trinks (who obtained a Dr.-Ing. E.h. degree from the Technische Hochschule Braunschweig in 1922) and the successor to Rolf Solf, Dr.-Ing. Hermann Hoffmeister.

On April 1st 1922, “GNC” took over the “Braunschweiger Rechenmaschinenfabrik Rema m.b.H.”. After the death of Max-Müller-Schöll in 1925, the commercial direction of “Brunsviga” was transferred to Karl Runte. Trinks retired from the direction of the factory on April 1st 1926, and instead obtained a seat in the board of directors.

By the decision of the general assembly on May 2nd 1927, the company was renamed to “Brunsviga-Maschinenwerke, Grimme, Natalis und Co., AG”. Proxy holder became not only to the commercial representatives Franz Billep, Wilhelm Sack and Ernst Benecke, but also to the former Rema associate and executive Dipl.-Ing. Richard Haase, who started at “Brunsviga” as a constructing engineer.

In the 1920’s measures were taken to rationalize the production of BRUNSVIGA calculators, after the demand had increased, and work duration had been reduced. In 1921, as a temporary measure, “GNC” sold the FACIT calculator, made by Alex Wibel in Sweden, under the BRUNSVIGA name, due to difficulties with timely delivery. The reform in the production methods should have been directed by Dipl.-Ing Solf, who however quit the company for family reasons. Dr. Hoffmeister took his place. The introduction of flow production with the use of standardized exchangeable parts took longer than anticipated, and in addition was very costly.

In the beginning of 1925, normalized fabrication with exchangeable parts was started in a rather unsuitable space. The large number of BRUNSVIGA machine types was reduced and the production of the BRUNSVIGA Nova series was started with normalized parts.

At the start of 1927, piece by piece the building of new factories started, and in 1928, part of a new building with 1500 sq. m. of working space could be inaugurated, and an additional diesel generator plant with two Junkers two-stroke engines could be installed.

 

 

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