Simson factory Suhl

Signs of the times. 400 litres of oil per day seeped through the factory floor. The plating plant baths to the rear of the factory together with drums of fluid were filled in and tarmaced over to make a road when the factory closed. So much for environmental policy. The plant used so much electricity that appliances in the town of Suhl would not work. Simpson solved the problem by building their own on site generator. Whilst they were at it they built a steam generator so that the on site railway steam engines could be filled with steam rather than produce their own. With the isolation created by the Eastern bloc Simpson had no choice but to make any unavailable machinery and components themselves. They thus ended up by producing everything themselves on site. Little wonder then that this blinkered outlook caught them flatfooted when Communism failed on the 9th to 11th Nov 1989. From full production to shut down came in just 3 months. It was a disaster. Generations of families had walked to the plant from the houses overlooking it and known no other employment. 3000 jobs went with no other local work option.