SKET timeline
SKET’s origins date back to the mid-19th century. Our home city of Magdeburg is considered the birthplace of Germany’s mechanical engineering industry. Big names such as Gruson and Krupp have played a part in our company’s history. We are proud of this tradition.2022
SKET GmbH celebrates its 25th anniversary.
2019
SKET opens a new conservation center on the northern area of the SKET Industrial Park. The production hall has two separate flow lines, ten processing cabins, modern, semi-automated plant and transport technology and large-scale storage capacities
2017
SKET GmbH celebrates its 20th anniversary by throwing open its doors and welcoming a good three thousand visitors.
2016
SKET specialises even further in the machining of large and heavy components, and expands its machine fleet for this purpose to include the necessary drilling/milling machines and vertical turning and boring machines.
2015
SKET celebrates the 160th anniversary of its foundation with a permanent exhibition on its history entitled ‘Zeitreise’ (‘A journey through time’).
2014
SKET restructures its manufacturing processes in the fields of ‘prismatic machining’ (Prisma), the ‘machining of rotationally symmetrical parts’ (Rota) and ‘preservation’.
2011
17 March 2011 sees the commissioning of the Schiess Vertimaster VMG 6-PS CNC gantry-type milling and boring centre for the CNC machining of especially large and heavy components.
2010
Commissioning of the 1,400 m2 vocational training centre (BAZ), where apprentices are already being given practical instruction in the use of CNC machining centres in the second year of their course. On 1 October 2010, the company is renamed ‘SKET GmbH’.
2009
Commissioning of the new steel and preservation line for large cast components for wind power plants, which are machined at SKET.
2008
SKET invests heavily in new machinery, including CNC processing centres, and thus in additional options for the high-precision machining of large-scale components.
2007
Introduction of flow-line assembly for components for wind power plants.
2005
A special exhibition is held at Magdeburg Museum of Technology to mark the 150th anniversary of the company.
2003
As well as mechanical engineering in general, the manufacture and assembly of wind power plant components is a mainstay of SKET. Heinz Buse and Aloys Wobben transfer their shares to the ENERCON Group (Aurich).
2000
SKET positions itself as an industrial service provider in the field of manufacture and assembly, and invests in value chain processes with the objective of becoming a market leader in Germany as a service provider for the mechanical engineering sector.
1998
Successful privatisation of SKET Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH, or SKET for short, by investors Aloys Wobben (ENERCON, Aurich) and Heinz Buse (Logaer Maschinenbau, Leer).
1997
On 3 January 1997, the following hive-off vehicles are founded: SKET Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH, SKET Maschinenbau-EDV GmbH (today: SKET EDV GmbH), SKET Ölmaschinen GmbH (today: Cimbria SKET GmbH), SKET Verseilmaschinenbau GmbH, and SKET Walzwerktechnik GmbH.
1996
The privatisation fails, and on 15 October 1996 an application is filed for insolvency proceedings.
1993
The trust sells the majority rights to Dr. Carsten Oestmann and Helmut Borchert (owners of the SMAG company in Salzgitter).
1990
Founding of SKET Handel GmbH on 14 February 1990; another eight former combine enterprises are spun off on 13 June 1990 as limited liability companies, one of which is SKET Schwermaschinenbau Magdeburg GmbH. They all belong to the combine’s legal successor, namely SKET Maschinen- und Anlagenbau AG.
1989
The SKET combine comprises eighteen companies with a total workforce of about 30,000 people.
1969
On 1 January 1969, VEB Schwermaschinenbau-Kombinat ‘Ernst Thälmann’ (abbreviated to SKET) is established.
1954
On 1 January 1954, the company is transformed into VEB Schwermaschinenbau ‘Ernst Thälmann’, Magdeburg-Buckau.
1951
On 1 May 1951, the company is transformed into the Staatliche AG für Maschinenbau, Zweigniederlassung in Deutschland, Schwermaschinenbau ‘Ernst Thälmann’ Magdeburg.
1946
On 1 November 1946, the company is renamed Maschinenfabrik Krupp-Gruson der Sowjetischen Maschinenbau AG (SMAG).
1945
By the end of the Second World War, 80 percent of the factory has been destroyed; the Soviet Union is the occupying force, and the company is stripped of almost 50 percent of its plant and works documents.
1923
On 27 June 1923, the company is renamed Fried. Krupp Grusonwerk AG Magdeburg.
1903
On 30 June 1903, the company is renamed Fried. Krupp AG Grusonwerk.
1895 to 1945
Krupp takes over the production programme of Gruson and expands it to include treatment technology, rolling mill technology, hydraulic steel structures, lifting gear, cement works and edible oil extraction plants.
1893
Grusonwerk is integrated into the Krupp Group in Essen on 1 May 1893 and is henceforth known as Fried. Krupp Grusonwerk.
1891
Hermann Gruson, the inventor of chilled cast iron among other things, retires from the board of Grusonwerk.
1886
On 10 June 1886, the company is renamed Aktiengesellschaft Grusonwerk.
1855
Engineer and inventor Hermann Gruson founds the H. Gruson machine works, iron foundry and shipyard in Buckau near Magdeburg on 1 June 1855.
1838
Heavy mechanical engineering is established in Magdeburg when the statutes of the ‘Magdeburger Dampfschiffahrts-Compagnie’ are registered.