User:Eddie891/Sisu

Sisu Auto is is a truck manufacturer based in Raseborg, Finland. Its name comes from the Finnish word sisu meaning guts, grit and determination. Its history dates back to two companies, O/Y Autokoritehdas and O.Y. Autoteollisuus – A.B. Bilindustri, that made bus coaches and lorry cabins in Helsinki during the 1920s and 30s. They were combined in 1931, and the company has since gone through several periods of growth and decline.

O/Y Autokoritehdas
O/Y Autokoritehdas was a bus coach and lorry cabin builder which operated in Helsinki, Finland in 1923–1933.

The main founder of the company was Finnish American Urho Hammer, who returned to his native country to start automotive industry. Autokoritehdas struggled in financially difficult circumstances and therefore it put together its activities with its competitor and neighbour O.Y. Autoteollisuus – A.B. Bilindustri creating O/Y Suomen Autoteollisuus A/B in 1931.

History
The company founder was Urho Hammer, who had got automotive education and gained experience in coachbuilding in Michigan, USA in the 1910s. He returned to Finland in 1921, after which he presumably run some kind of coachbuilding activity before setting up the company Autokoritehdas, "automobile coach factory", in 1923 together with Kalle Kustaa Luoto and Kusti Jalo Hagelin. The company owners were Hammer, who owned 594 shares, Hagelin with four shares and Lauri Nordström, who had two shares. The General Manager was Yrjö Uotila. The company was set up from virtually blank paper, as for the initial start was needed loans for total 160 000 marks. The line of business was officially "automotive industry, building of automobile bodies in particular". Uotila was removed from office in December 1925 and the new manager was appointed Einar Juho Emil Rinne starting from January 1926; in the same March the company got a new chair Lars Wilhelm Åberg.

After a couple of years the company suffered from lack of assets despite of a fairly good order book, and Autokoritehdas got loans from different banks to be able to run its operation. An obligatory insurance for workers was required from January 1928; to be able to pay it the company made a special arrangement, according to which the workers were insured, but in case of an accident the company would have to pay the costs itself. In the same August Autokoritehdas pledged its property in Fleming Street 34. The company activities covered also vehicle reparation. The coachbuilding business was finally got to a good start at the end of 1928. A major setback came in 1930, when one of the main customers Pääkaupungin Auto Oy bankrupted. Autokoritehdas got office furniture as payment for the debts.

The banks, which had been funding the business, pressed Autokoritehdas to negotiate the neighbouring company, O.Y. Autoteollisuus – A.B. Bilindustri, which was suffering of the same problems, about putting together their operations. This took place on 1 April 1931 when Åberg, Karl Arthur Nordgren and Emil Anton Winckelmann left an application to Ministry of Trade and Industry to create a new company O/Y Suomen Autoteollisuus A/B (SAT). Unlike sometimes incorrectly claimed, creation of SAT did not happen through a merger. SAT was set up jointly by Autokoritehdas and Autoteollisuus – Bilindustri and as soon the operations were transferred under SAT, both companies were discontinued; for Autokoritehdas this happened on 21 March 1933.

O.Y. Autoteollisuus – A.B. Bilindustri
O.Y. Autoteollisuus – A.B. Bilindustri was a bus coach and lorry cabin builder which operated in Helsinki, Finland in 1928–1932.

The company was founded by Mauritz Packalén and it built coaches and cabins mainly on Chevrolet and G.M.C. chassis. After falling into financial problems, the funding banks forced the company to put together its operations with the neighbouring competitor O/Y Autokoritehdas; this led to foundation of O/Y Suomen Autoteollisuus A/B.

History
Mauritz Packalén, a Helsinki businessman who had gained experience in automobile business, founded together with Gustaf Wrede, Birger Sourander and Birger Holmström a company called O.Y. Henry-Auto A.B. for automobile trading in 1924. At an early stage Henry-Auto and Metro-Auto Oy founded jointly Munkkisaaren Autotalli ja Konepaja, "Munkkisaari garage and engineering works". The line of business was officially "automobile coach production, automobile repairing and retail". However, it was soon discontinued, as Metro-Auto gave up with the business. Packalén invested the funds which had remained from Munkkisaaren Autotalli ja Konepaja on new company, O.Y. Autoteollisuus – A.B. Bilindustri; the name means "automobile industry" both in Finnish and Swedish. A suitable location was found in Fleming Street in Kallio, Helsinki where were many workshops and also a plenty of skilled workers. The new company continued the operation of its predecessor.

At the initial stage the major owner was Packalén and other shareholders were Birger Holmström and Arne Söderberg. Later Söderberg sold his part and Gustaf Wrede became an owner with a minor share. At the beginning Packalén was both the chair and General Manager; Kosti Nieminen held the manager’s post for some time until Packalén took it again. However, he was not willing to stay on the leadership, but gave it to young engineer Tor Nessling at the end of 1929. Nessling remained the manager until the company was discontinued. Autoteollisuus-Bilindustri built partnership with the Swedish subsidiary of General Motors; the initial plan was building coaches and cabins on Chevrolet and G.M.C. chassis for the Swedish market, but the Swedish operators preferred the domestically produced Scania-Vabis, Tidaholm and Volvo chassis; moreover, there was a strong local coachbuilding industry. Eventually the project lead to producing of vehicles for the Finnish market.

The company started negotiations with the Swedish Volvo about building of lorries in Finland from Volvo parts. Although Nessling’s calculations showed the business to be profitable, the project led only to importing of a few Volvo chassis. Finally there were not capable domestic component suppliers, so Autoteollisuus-Bilindustri had to use more Volvo parts than originally planned. Autoteollisuus-Bilindustri, as well as its neighbouring competitor O/Y Autokoritehdas, had major financial problems. The banks, which were funding both companies, pressed them to put together their operations. This took place in April 1931, when O/Y Suomen Autoteollisuus A/B (SAT) was established by Lars Wilhelm Åberg, Karl Arthur Nordgren and Emil Anton Winckelmann. Unlike often thought, incorrectly, SAT was not created through a merger. It was founded jointly between the two companies and both Autoteollisuus-Bilindustri as well as Autokoritehdas moved their operations gradually under the new organisation thereafter. As soon as the process was completed, both companies were discontinued; for Autoteollisuus-Bilindustri this happened 20 October 1932.

1931 to 1939
The company was established on 1 April 1931 as Oy Suomen Autoteollisuus Ab (SAT). It originated from two neighbouring Helsinki-based automobile coach builders Autokoritehdas and Autoteollisuus-Bilindustri, both of which had fallen into financial troubles by the beginning of the 1930s. The banks, which were funding both companies, pressed them to put together their operations under one company. The founders were Emil Anton Winckelmann, Lars Wilhelm Åberg and Karl Arthur Nordgren. In the first company meeting the company general manager was selected John Hellsten and the technical manager was appointed Tor Nessling.

At first SAT continued the coachbuilding business which it had inherited from its predecessors, but also put into practice the plan of building own vehicles, which was evolved already earlier, when Autoteollisuus-Bilindustri had ordered few Volvo chassis for outfitting. These chassis formed the basis for the first pre-series of vehicles.

As soon as the business was started, SAT started to seek a good brand for its products. At early summer 1932 the company set up a name competition which was advertised on the main newspapers of Helsinki. The competition got a great attention and some 3000-4000 suggestions were received. The jury met up in Hotel Kämp in Helsinki to select the winner in the middle of June 1932. Three candidates were selected: Sisu ("guts; stamina; stubbornness, determination"), Karhu ("bear") and Haukka ("hawk"). Eventually, Sisu became selected. As many people had suggested the successful name, the winner of the 1,000 marks' price was selected by lottery - he was young Veikko Arohonka, actually signed up by his older brother Eino, who later became writer. The first nine Sisu's, models S-321 and S-323, were handed over to the customers in 1932. Six of them were lorries and one was a bus. The first production series, based heavily on Volvo components, were made in 1933.

Beginning of domestic vehicle production led to an odd episode - the Finnish government became concerned about losing toll incomes because of the locally built vehicles. In 1933 Dr. Juho Jännes was assigned to investigate the financial impact of domestically produced automobiles. The outcome was that if 500 of the vehicles annually sold in Finland were produced domestically, the state would lose 700,000 marks because of reduced toll income but the benefit due to employment effect would be between 17-27 million marks.

John Hellsten was replaced by Tor Nessling as General Manager in 1932. Nessling started to develop the business determinedly; the technical challenges caused by weak locally produced parts were resolved by time and the degree of domestic work could be increased. Another, persistent problem was the continuous lack of cash reserves. Nessling tried to lobby the government underlining the positive effect of domestic vehicle production, but he was not listened, and the state reduced the tolls of imported vehicles making competition more intense. The company owners did not believe in the potential of domestic vehicle industry and Nessling could obtain a large part of the shares from the funding banks for relatively cheap, eventually owning 80% of SAT. The continuous pressure and repeating setbacks did not discourage the personnel and management, who did what ever it took to solve out the challenges. Over time the technical quality was reached to a such level that SAT could convince the customers that the relatively high price of Sisu's, compared to imported vehicles, pays off due to their robustness. In 1934 The Volvo-based S-321 and S-341 series were followed by short-lived SO-series, which was already in 1935 replaced by the SH-series, with which SB-series was produced in parallel 1938–1941. The first three-axle lorry was produced in 1935.

The first country where Sisus were exported was Estonia, where SAT sold the first SH-2 chassis in 1936. Due to the contemporary Estonian taxation system, complete vehicles could not be exported there, and therefore the cabins and superstructures were built locally. More units were sold in 1938. Latvia was the first country where complete Sisus were exported. The city of Riga bought a series of forward control buses powered by Hercules diesel engines which were delivered in 1937 and 1938. The complete number of vehicles exported to the Baltic states before the Second World War is not known but the business was regarded successful.

Changes in line of production
When the Winter War broke out, as a strategically important company SAT went under military administration. A part of the production was moved to Järvenpää and Lahti. The company produced for example aerial bombs and transportation devices for them.

Right after the Winter War in spring 1940 SAT started producing an own carburettor type under name Häkä for carbon monoxide fuel. Technically the carburettor was not one of the most successful of its kind. The development work was continued with subsidies of the state until it was finally filed in 1946 as unnecessary due to improved availability of petrol.

SAT started own engine production in 1940 under Hercules licence. This together with tram building and 1942 started axle production led to lack of space in the factory area. The first plans of moving some of the production out from Helsinki were made already before the war. The plan was put into practice due to the war which made the factory located in the capital vulnerable to Soviet air raids. In 1942 the construction of new premises began in Karis, which was out but sufficiently reachable from Helsinki. Coach- and cabin building was transferred first, after which the tram production followed; building of lorries stayed exclusively in Helsinki until 1950.

The 1942 introduced Sisu S-15 bus chassis was the first Sisu entirely built by using domestically produced components.

The scope of production remained diverse until the 1950s partly due to war reparation industry. SAT produced parts for Finnish paper machine builders and other engineering companies.

Yhteissisu
At the same time when SAT built the new factory in Karis, the Finnish Defence Forces reported needing thousands of vehicles in the near future. SAT suggested building the factory larger in order to meet the demand. However, the importers of other makes as well as some politicians suspected that SAT tried to use the war to gain a dominant position in the Finnish market. Eventually, an agreement was reached in 1943 when SAT, the state and a number of Finnish companies set up a separate company Yhteissisu to produce lorries. SAT and Yhteissisu signed a contract about transferring Sisu S-21 lorry production to Yhteissisu. Vanaja municipality next to Hämeenlinna was selected for the factory location.

However, the war was over before Yhteissisu could start serial production at the full scale. Yhteissisu had the right to use the Sisu-brand until June 1948. When this expired the company was renamed Vanajan Autotehdas (VAT) and its products were named Vanaja. VAT became a strong competitor to SAT in the Finnish market which was small but still protected by import restrictions.

According to the contract with Yhteissisu, SAT was not allowed to produce lorries during the five years' period. SAT made Sisu S-15 buses but some of the chassis were fitted with lorry cabin and superstructures.

1945 to 1969: Growth and diversification
In 1949 SAT made a return to lorry production with the Sisu K-23. The first heavy forward control lorries were the 1956 produced B-56 and 1958 introduced B-72, both of them being built on bus chassis. The small forward control lorry Nalle-Sisu KB-24 came to market in 1955. Other notable models introduced in the 1950s are the heavy dumper trucks K-36, the first 6×4 driven Sisu, K-32, and K-44 with a North European specialty, 4×4+2 layout.

SAT started partnership with Leyland Motors Ltd. in 1950. The background originates to friendship between the General Managers of both companies, Tor Nessling and Donald Stokes. For a while the SAT test department investigated for possibilities of producing Leyland engines under licence; trials for better output and torque were made on test bench with turbocharged applications, before Leyland even had taken such into production. As a part of the partnership SAT became representative of Leyland products in Finland. The 1954-1959 produced trams equipped with two-axle bogies featured progressive steel structure technology that Valmet and Tampella later copied for their jointly developed tram type. SAT produced 4×4-driven "rail trucks" for railway maintenance work under assignment of the Finnish State Railways in the 1950s. The first ones, JXB 7, JXB 12 and JXB 13 were equipped with a one-man cabin; later came JA-4 and JA-5 with cabins for three. The mechanical crane was replaced by a hydraulic one in the 1966-1972 produced JA-9SV, JA-12, JA-14 and JA-16. From 1958 SAT produced rail control vehicles which were equipped with coachwork similar to forward control buses. Some of them were produced jointly with Kiitokori and VAT. Also some KB-48 4×4 road-rail lorries were delivered. Altogether SAT delivered 150 rail trucks of various types to the State Railways. In 1963-1970 SAT produced three types of two-axle light diesel locomotives. The Sisu JA-7 were powered by Leyland diesels and the railway company used designations Tka 2 and Tka 3.

SAT sold a number of Hercules-based Sisu AMG engines to Dutch DAF and got as payment total 96 pieces of forward control DAF models K-50, P-50 and A-50 in 1951. The vehicles were delivered without engines, some of them were lacking of gearboxes and electric components. They were equipped with the same Sisu AMG engines and other Sisu parts at the Fleminginkatu factory in Helsinki. The last units were sold in 1954.

In 1951 and 1955–1957 SAT imported total 105 Trojan vans. The first imported vehicles undertook many changes before they met the requirements. Some of them got a Finnish made body. In 1956 SAT built a series of ten DKW Schnellaster's from CKD kits imported from West Germany; they were sold with name Donau-Sisu. Additionally, some modifications were made for SAT-imported Aveling-Barford and Avelin Austin graders and dumper trucks and also Leyland Terrier and BMC Mastiff lorries. In the 1950s Finland was the most important market for Colombian coffee. Finland and Colombia signed a bilateral trade agreement in 1959 and Colombian coffee was paid with Sisu's thereafter. The trading was handled via Banco Cafetero until it changed multilateral in 1968. Colombia grew the most important export destination of Sisu's. SAT had plans of starting local production in Medellín jointly with Leyland Motors but the project was eventually cancelled due to financial risks. In the early 1970s the Andean Community of Nations decided about starting its own lorry production and the successful trading came to end after about 1200 sold units.

The Karis factory grew the main production facility, when the new 157-metre-long assembly hall with nearly 100-metre production line was opened in 1961.

In 1961 SAT produced the ballast tractor K-50SS which is still the largest automobile ever built in Nordic countries. The first European serial built lorry with a hydraulically tiltable forward control cabin, Sisu KB-112, was introduced in 1962. The 1965 introduced Sisu K-148 featured bonnet and wings produced from reinforced plastic. Due to lower costs and better durability the solution was soon applied on the whole conventional cabin model range.

During the 1960s SAT made a number of innovations, experiments and extended to new areas. In 1961 the radial type hydraulic motor Sisu Nemo was patented. The main use was powering of trailer axles but Nemo's were installed also in number of other applications. The 1963 introduced K-138 features another innovation of the same period: vertical ejector exhaust pipe that dilutes exhaust gases. At the early 1960s also wide tyres to substitute double wheels were tested; the experiment done together with Nokia did not, however lead to production.

In 1964 Leyland Motors became minority owner of SAT. The other owners were Tor and his wife Maj Nessling, and Arne Söderberg.

SAT got another significant facility in Hämeenlinna in 1968 when the company was merged with Vanajan Autotehdas. Production of Vanaja lorries was run down and all civil lorry production was concentrated in Karis. Instead, production of bus and mobile crane chassis, terminal tractors and military lorries were transferred to Hämeenlinna.

1970 to 1993: Modernisation and restructuring
The well-proven Vanaja lifting tandem system found its way to new conventional cabin R-series and forward control M-series.

General Manager Tor Nessling resigned in 1970, after leading the company for nearly four decades. He was replaced by Erik Gillberg. Before that, the state had become an owner of the company in the VAT merger first with 17.2 percent share. The state grew its share in the company gradually. In 1976 the state signed the so-called tripartite agreement with British Leyland International and Saab-Scania, which both held 10% share of SAT thereafter.

General Manager Gillberg led SAT through an extensive renewal of the whole product range. The Sisu S-series lorries were a result of this; the first example, light forward control SK 150 was introduced in 1980. The new model series was designed in a such manner, that the same cabin modules could be used for conventional cabins as well as forward control models at different heights. Due to this, the company could offer a comprehensive selection of cabins for different purposes. The development programme had, however, demanded excessive amount of money and the company main owner, the state, removed Gillberg from office at end of 1983. He was replaced by Jorma S. Jerkku who immediately started a heavy reorganisation programme. The company management was cut smaller and moved from Fleminginkatu to Konala in 1985. After some other functions were moved to Karis and Hämeenlinna, the Fleminginkatu premises were sold. Car sales, as well as Iveco representation were discontinued at the end of 1988. In the same year the plastics factory in Mäntyharju was separated under name Simex Oy and sold. Although Jerkku's actions were shocking to many, he by all odds stabilised the company. On the other hand, the new organisation setup led to fragmentation of engineering operations between lorry, terminal tractor and military vehicle segments, and significant loss of synergy.

1994 to 2003: Merger and break-up
In 1993 Jorma S. Jerkku was replaced by the company Vice President Heikki Luostarinen. Already year after that he was followed by Christer Granskog. A period of turmoil started: in April 1994 Sisu-Auto bought from Valmet its Transmec unit and tractor production; as a consequence, Valmet became minority owner in Sisu-Auto with 24.13% share. As also Valmet was state-owned, the state of Finland owned directly and indirectly total 99.01% part of Sisu-Auto. The new company name was Oy Sisu Ab and its business units were Sisu Tractors with 48% share, Sisu Terminal Systems (19%), Sisu Logging (12%), Sisu Trucks (10%), Sisu Defence (4%), Sisu Factory Automation (4%) and Sisu Components (3%). Subsequently, the corporation was subdivided; first Oy Sisu Trucks Ab in November 1994 and at the beginning of the following year Sisu Defence Oy, Sisu Terminal Systems Oy and Fastems Oy; additionally, Sisu Diesel Oy was separated from Sisu Traktorit Oy. In 1995 Fastems was sold to Mercantile. The Hämeenlinna axle factory became Sisu Axles Oy at the end of the year. Sinex was sold in 1996.

In January 1997 the company main owner, the state, agreed about selling main part of Sisu corporation to Partek. This was carried out by gradual shift of the ownership during the year. In the meantime, the state continued the restructuring: Germany based Stama Maschinenbau GmbH was sold to Chiron-Werke GmbH & Co. KG. Sisu Defence went to the state, which later joined it to new defence industry company Patria. Oy Sisu Ab was fully taken over by Partek by end of 1997 and it was not mentioned any more as a company in the Partek annual report.

The November 1994 newly started Oy Sisu Trucks Ab was renamed Oy Sisu Auto Ab already in the same month. At the beginning the company manager was Per-Håkan Lindberg who resigned already in February 1995. He was replaced by Pekka E. Ojanen who held the post until 2001.

The S-series, which had remained technically competitive over the whole 1980s, was finally replaced by the new E-series launched in 1996. In 1997 Sisu Auto signed an agreement of extensive co-operation with Renault V.I.; Sisu started using Renault components and represent Renault in Finland. Consequently, the new cabin model was replaced by such of Renault just one year after its introduction.

After the Partek takeover, which took place in the same year, the relative weight of lorry production became marginal in the corporate figures; it was further reduced when Kone became the owner of Partek after dramatic takeover in 2002. By now the speculations of selling the lorry production increased.