Germany / Bavaria / Vohenstrauß:
[1] : Porzellanfabrik Johann Seltmann, Vohenstrauß (1901 until 1975)
Johann Seltmann was a land owner born 1856 in the town of Schlottenhof where he then spent many years watching his father working in his small decoration studio before following his own profession and finally moving to Waldau, completely losing interest in the business until it was roused again when his younger brother Karl Seltmann took over a factory in their home town in 1897 and named it Keramik- und Porzellanfabrik Karl Seltmann.
In 1901 Johann was approached by his youngest brother Christian Wilhelm Seltmann who at the time was the factory manager at the porcelain factory in Arzberg. Christian disliked the way he had to work there and so the brothers decided to open their own factory in 1901 with Christian as factory manager and after employing a group of specialists from Thuringia that would be able to instruct the unlearned workers, the new company started off with three kilns.
The location in Altenstadt (a part of the city of Vohenstrauß) was ideal as it not only offered cheap workers but also provided access to a railway connection that had been established between Vohenstrauß and Waidhaus. Next to being a perfect distribution method it also allowed the delivery of raw materials; at first the raw materials came from the Upper Palatinate area but it was planned to later use the better raw materials from Bohemia. Luckily the initial plans worked out fine and the facility soon became the largest source of employment for the whole area.
During the year 1909 Johann Seltmann wanted to change the business into a stock corporation and this resulted in constant discussions with his brother who believed that the business should stay in family hands. Unable to convince his brother Christian Wilhelm Seltmann finally founded the well-known factory Porzellanfabrik Christian Seltmann G.m.b.H. in the city of Weiden in 1910. The relationship between the two brothers never was the same, even if Johann Seltmann canceled his plans and kept the business as a family-owned business.
Even after Christian left, business constantly increased and the factory employed around 500 workers in 1914; one third of the products were intended for export. By the time of its 25th anniversary, the family-owned business employed a workforce of 600 people. Sadly the anniversary could not be witnessed by the founder as Johann Seltmann died in 1921 at the age of 65, leaving the factory in the hands of his sons Robert and Christian who continued to expand business. During WWII the factory still employed over 600 people (records from 1938 and 1940), mainly producing cheap stapleware but also manufacturing items important for the war effort like insulators as well as other electrotechnical items.
It should be mentioned that in 1941 the company was 'asked' to take in some partners; the company was put under state supervision and for a short time carried the company addition 'G.m.b.H.'; this 'partnership' was a method used to control vital companies from the inside. The buildings were critically damaged during the war and therefore the business was temporary closed directly after the war until the worst damage had been repaired but completely in family hands again and supported by many returning former workers the factory slowly restarted production.
In 1949 'Seltmann Vohenstrauss' already employed 556 people and one of the last modernization steps was supervized by Robert Seltmann himself shortly before he died in 1956: the replacement of the eight normal kilns by two modern gas-fired tunnel kilns. At the same time the company set up a second production line, the often underrated 'Eberthal' brand. This subbrand had the cheaper market segments as target but in fact was not much different than the regular fully marked Seltmann products - only the decorations were sometimes a little different. The company successfully navigated through the following years until the early 1970's when business in Germany started to decline and the board of managers decided that partners were needed to ensure survival even if this would mean changing the registration form into a limited company (hence the addition 'G.m.b.H.').
[2] : Porzellanfabrik Johann Seltmann G.m.b.H., Vohenstrauß (1975 until 1993)
The change in company structure was made for an obvious reason: more and more cheaper goods from other countries swamped the market and slowly but surely threatened the German manufacturers in this sector. Around 1977 the Seltmann factory still employed around 370 to 400 workers but the situation became more and more critical in the middle of the 80s, resulting in layoffs and closures of porcelain facilities all over Germany. As we know now it was just the beginning of a permanent decline which was further sped up by German reunification. The West German manufacturers saw themselves confronted with competition they had ignored for nearly fourty years - the former East German companies with such well-known names like Wallendorf, Lichte, Scheibe-Alsbach and Sitzendorf, just to name a few.
So a declining market suddenly also had to be shared with many other companies - but to make it worse a new trend had started to sweep through reunited Germany, the so-called 'Ostalgie'. Based on the arrangements of the reunification process, former West German facilities could only watch in silence as one by one the competitors were included in the Treuhandanstalt program, not only guaranteeing the companies an 'upgrade' in modern market politics, but also securing them a large amount of money supplied by the German state which was invested in reconstruction and modernization.
The impact not only in the porcelain business was disastrous, and the former West German companies were forced to act either by finding new partners or taking over a modernized facility, trying to increase their own potential. So in 1993, the three medium-sized West German manufacturing companies 'Schirnding A.G.' (Schirnding), 'J. Kronester G.m.b.H.' (Schwarzenbach) and 'Johann Seltmann G.m.b.H.' (Vohenstrauß) merged under the name 'SKV-Porzellan-Union G.m.b.H.' in the hope to increase their chances.
[3] : SKV-Porzellan-Union G.m.b.H., Werk Vohenstrauß (1993 until 1995)
For the facility in Vohenstrauß the merger was only a short relief as on October 27th 1995 the 'SKV-Porzellan-Union G.m.b.H.' declared the closure of the facility for economic reasons - the decision was final. While the remaining part of the SKV was able to continue, other manufacturers were also forced to regroup and the well-known factory and 'Arzberg' trademark which belonged to the 'Hutschenreuther A.G.' (Selb) was sold off to the 'Winterling A.G.' (Kirchenlamitz) in 1997.
But the whole Winterling group drifted into financial problems and the 'SKV-Porzellan-Union G.m.b.H.' made an offer to take over the Arzberg trademark and assets which was accepted in August 2000. This resulted in a name change of the group to 'SKV-Arzberg-Porzellan G.m.b.H.' with its main office in Arzberg; three months later the whole Winterling group collapsed and had to file for bankruptcy in November 2000. Arzberg had been saved by the SKV; ironically the amount of money spent on the deal was exactly what the SKV had saved by closing the Vohenstrauß factory.
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