100 Years of Schmalz: Fire and Reconstruction (1920-1930)

28.02.2010

When the hardening shop burnt to the ground in 1918, this could have easily meant the end of the company. But Johannes Schmalz refused to be discouraged. He rebuilt his razor blade factory to be bigger and better than ever before.

Production resumed remarkably soon after the fire. As early as April 1918, the company was able to deliver 75,000 razor blades to one of its larger customers. The company was hit just as hard by the years following the First World War. Due to the hyperinflation in 1922 and 1923, reduced working hours became the norm at Schmalz and some employees had to be laid off.

In the 1920s Johannes Schmalz strove to expand beyond the German-speaking world. He made contacts in Istanbul and Russia. He even used print ads to try and build up a successful export business. In 1926, the company succeeded in exporting a large quantity of razor blades to China. Purchases in the 1920s, such as an automatic wrapping machine for razor blades (which was able to process up to 70 blades per minute) helped to promote the growth of the company. In 1929, Johannes Schmalz purchased a curing oven for over 4,000 reichsmarks. With this, it was possible to process the raw blades and lower the manufacturing cost. This is only one example of the entrepreneur’s constant capacity for innovation.

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