Embark on a journey through time...

At the beginning

In the years 1929-1933, the city of Vsetín was struck by an economic crisis and thousands of workers and trained staff became jobless. Thonet bentwood furniture factory, Reichel's glassworks, and Sousedik's factory were closing down. The city government struggled with masses of workers demonstrating for better social conditions and the rescue of the Wallachian people. Trades too began to decline as there was no demand for their services and so the city government approached emergency work and alternative industry.

Quite paradoxically, this crisis period was also the period of a big boom for the city of Vsetín: the local grammar school, spa, public pool, business school, firehouse, new roads, ducts, and sewers were built, the local hospital was reconstructed, etc.

The citizens of Vsetín can be justly proud of their mayors. It is a city which today still is demonstrating growth dynamics, and in the period of the great crisis, the city government was intensively seeking to acquire tobacco production, they negotiated with Bata factories for transferring a part of the production from Zlín, with the Nestlé company for establishing a dairy (it was not established due to the large distance from Prague and a missing road – what a parallel with today) and dozens of other enterprises in order to combat the unemployment of its population.

At that time, the growing threat to the Republic was becoming clear, and Vsetín, Povážská Bystrica, Uherský Brod, Slavičín, Dubnica nad Váhom, and other cities were selected as candidates for housing the new arms production. The city government lobbied and respectfully requested for the arms production to be placed in their land register. The city was asking for at least a military garrison or the placement of the railway troops, but thanks to personal contacts and the special offer of the Czechoslovak arms company Čs. Zbrojovka Brno, the city of Vsetín has today still the honor to thank everyone who had fought for the placement of the large arms production plant in Vsetín.

Under construction

On 11 June 1936, a letter by the Directorate of the Czechoslovak munition company Čs. Zbrojovka Brno was sent to the municipal office in Vsetín, informing them that based on the consideration of the application of the city of Vsetín it had been decided to build a larger scale factory complex in the land register of Vsetín.

Thus, owing to the Vsetín city government, the foundation stone was laid to an unprecedented boom in the city and its surroundings. The city received a new look and the population doubled in size. The gigantic Zbrojovka complex was expected to swallow 453 million crowns and employ more than 2,000 people.

The hardening plant no. 11 was from the beginning a hardening, sand and grinding plant. Hundreds of workers and clerks have passed through it. Hundreds of tons of materials and types of products have passed through the hands of the hardeners. In the war and post-war years, the plant was producing infantry and air arms, mortars and sights, drills and tools, textile machinery, milking machines, sewing machines, but mainly ammunition and machine guns. This proud tradition is nowadays continued on the premises by the company ZVI a.s.

During the war

During the war years of 1939-1945, the Zbrojovka complex was completed and joined to the largest German armament giant in Europe, which included subdivisions of the company Zbrojovka Brno (Povážská Bystrica, Vsetín, Kuřim, Praha, Přerov, Kroměříž, Rokycany, and Rakovník) but also munition factories from Beograd, Podbrezová, Dolné Hamre and Bucharest. Furthermore, Zbrojovka had a part in other companies such as the Skoda Works and dozens of others. In that period Zbrojovka was producing famous weapons that ingloriously marked the war history – the machine gun ZB model 27, the large-caliber aircraft machine gun MG 131 and the anti-tank rifle.

Revival

In early May 1945, the German army destroyed a part of the Zbrojovka complex. Building no. 11 was not damaged and after the liberation of Vsetín by the Red Army, a gradual post-war reconstruction started. It should be mentioned that thanks to the egregious Klement Gottwald looting by the Soviet dismantling troops were prevented and therefore Zbrojovka did not suffer any major damage. The total war damage was estimated at 485,125,615.99 CZK. After the well-known process of settling up with collaborators and diversionists, the company was finally ready to devote itself to work.

The after-war substitute peace plan was not easy. Weapons were no longer required and people needed to work. Production was starting up slowly and it was fully established no sooner than in the years 1946 and 1947. Zbrojovka was producing car accessories, parts for brakes, ignition plugs, knitting machines, sewing machines, drawing tables, hot water tanks, presses, welders and communal tools.

Along with the overall situation in the country and the growing labour movement, the situation in Zbrojovka politicized. The greatest success of this period can be seen in the licensing agreement for the production of the weaving looms Hrdina. These were fully automatic weaving looms designed by the entrepreneur Rudolf Hrdina from Týniště nad Orlicí.

Golden era

And so in the year 1946, a new era of Zbrojovka began. It focused on the production of textile machines of world quality, the machine gun model 59, which is still in use today, and detonators produced nowadays on our premises by the world-leading company Austin Detonátor. In the socialist era, the production in Zbrojovka developed and expanded intensively. In the best of times, Zbrojovka had some 7000 workers and also its own housing estate, cultural centre, forests and forest management, road transport, power engineering and boarding vocational school.

Long way

The hardening plant, the building no. 11, runs through this whole era like a red thread. After all, there is hardly a product of the Zbrojovka production that has not passed through here. And modern hardening technology is today still essential for most areas of industry. Who would thus not know GALVAMET, the successor of the tradition of the building no. 11?

But the sad truth is that the building no. 11 and the hardening plant were not in the centre of focus during the period of the planned economy. It will take many more years for the whole complex of the former Zbrojovka to recover from the era of the new post-1989 capitalism. Our company GALVAMET was founded in the year 1999 and its mission is the same as in all the previous 70 years: to provide quality customer service for all areas of industry in order to achieve the fulfillment of our work.