History

The history of SZW begins in 1940 in the building of a bankrupt porcelain factory, as Xavier Vorbrüggen (founder of VOFA) decided to move the production from Düsseldorf to Gehren. At this time the rope and bowden cables were not only produced for the automobile, but also for the aircraft industry. Already in 1946 a part of the production was moved back to Düsseldorf again, in the meantime the business in Gehren was continued from a manager appointed by the VOFA.

In 1952 the SED government began with the nationalization of private companies which caused the separation from the company in Düsseldorf. From now on the company was part of the VEB Maschinenfabrik Großbreitenbach and was called VEB Maschinenfabrik Großbreitenbach Werk II from 1952-1964. In 1964 the company supplied as VEB all important two-wheeler, car and utility vehicle producer in the former GDR – including the Zweiradwerk Simson in Suhl, MZ in Zschopau, Wartburg in Eisenach as well as Trabant in Zwickau, the utility vehicle producer Multicar in Waltershausen (today Hako GmbH) and the VEB IFA Automobilwerke Ludwigsfelde for the production of the W50, L60 and the H3A.
From 1980-1990 the business as Werk11 belonged to the VEB Fahrzeug- und Jagdwaffenwerk “Ernst Thälmann” in Suhl. After beeing out of this business for a short period of time Seilzugwerk Thüringen GmbH was founded in 1990.
Afterwards the company positioned itself succesfully in the market. To further ensure the competitiveness the certification DIN ISO 9001 was conducted in 2001. However the company´s biggest change was experienced when the family owned company MPM took over thebusiness in the year 2003. By continuing the long history of technical innovations, the owner family named ´Prophet´ expanded the company in the following years to build up an internationally competitive automotive supplier. Important milestones in the process were the rebuild of the tool shop and the implementation of the DIN ISO/TS 16949 in the year 2009. After the volume of sales was tripled in the year 2011 in comparison to the year 2003, it was obvious that the production capacity had to be expanded too. This took place in 2013 with the commissioning of the 1600m² VEGA hall, which not only provides more space, but also shows the economic handling of the natural resources through its photovoltaic system.