|
1854 is considered to be the first year of casting activity in Cast Iron Foundry and Machine Production Plant located in Drawski Młyn, whose founder was a German Ferdinand Sattler. The plant produced farming machinery and household appliances.
 In 1895 the plant was renamed to "Sattler’s Ironworks" and functioned under this name until 1920. The cast iron foundry’s main production was an extensive range of farming equipment, made only from grey cast iron.
1916 was an important date in the history of the plant, as first successful attempts to produce whiteheart malleable cast iron were made. Two furnaces for annealing malleable castings were added to the plant’s facilities.
In 1923 Ludwik Kembliński, an engineer, purchased the foundry. The plant was officially named "Iron Foundry and Machine Factory in Drawsko Joint Stock Company". In 1934 Kembliński invested in the production of blackheart malleable cast iron, which was then not very popular throughout Europe. He became the first and, at that time, the only producer of this kind of products in Poland. The Foundry in Drawsko received orders from the National Engineering Plant for blackheart malleable cast iron to be used in “Polish Fiat” cars (83 highly complex items weighing from 0.03 to 13.30 kg) and in "Sokół" motorcycles (20 castings weighing from 0.14 to 2.85 kg).
 On February 13th, 1948, the plant was wholly taken over by the state and named Malleable Cast Iron Foundry "Drawski Młyn". With the help of the Cast Iron Institute in Cracow, blackheart malleable cast iron production was resumed in 1951.
In 1996 the foundry was transformed into a sole shareholder company of the State Treasury, named Cast Iron Foundry "Drawski" S.A. in Drawski Młyn. The same year saw the introduction of the enterprise into the program of National Investment Funds, with the 12th NIF "Fortuna" becoming the dominant fund. The company increased its equity by an additional issue of B shares, to be totally taken over by "Impexmetal" S.A. Warszawa, which thus became the owner of 77% of the company’s shares.
In the late nineties, the foundry invested in a German, modern moulding line "HWS". Machinery and equipment were also purchased to produce high-quality spheroidal cast iron, whose share in castings production has been increasing year by year. Separate departments for casting equipment and casting machining were created out of the foundry’s structure. These later formed the basis for establishing subsidiaries of "Drawski" S.A.:
"Modelarnia" sp. z o.o. (Limited Liability Company)"Zakład Obróbki Odlewów" sp. z o.o. (Limited Liability Company)
The latest big-scale investment was a Danish automatic moulding line "Disamatic".
In December 2003 a block of shares of Cast Iron Foundry „Drawski” S.A. belonging to „Impexmetal” was bought back by „DrawInwest” Sp. z o.o. Drawski Młyn, which thus became the foundry’s majority shareholder.
|
