by Margret Amedick and Ulf Hashagen
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Heinz Nixdorf’s first customer was the energy supply company RWE in Essen. They ordered an electronic calculator and provided Nixdorf with funds and a workroom for his developments. This calculator was meant to be connected to a Remington Rand tabulating machine for the calculation of electricity prices.
The
enormous commercial success of the "Logotronic“ allowed him to
buy out the "Wanderer-Werke“ in 1968,
which until then was nearly his only customer. In the same year
he renamed his company to Nixdorf Computer AG (NCAG) and relocated it
to his hometown Paderborn.
The
efficent distribution network of the former "Wanderer“ company,
which was systematically expanded in the following, allowed Heinz
Nixdorf the marketing of his products under his own name. His most
successful products of the 1970`s was the "Nixdorf 820“, which
was an improved development of the "Logotronic“ and its
follower the "Nixdorf 8870“, which, with its special
peripherals was very successfully marketed for banks and cash register
systems. With the "820“ system,
NCAG had created a mini-computer which
At
the time of the "Wanderer“ companies takeover in 1968 the NCAG
had 1.800 employees and an annual turnover of 105 Million DM. With
annual increases in turnover of more than 20 %, the NCAG became the
fifth-largest computer manufacturer of Europe by the middle of the
1980’s.
As
Heinz Nixdorf died in 1986, the company had production plants in 7
locations, in Germany, Ireland, Spain, the United States and Singapore
and owned subsidiary companies in 44 countries all over the world.
With 26.000 employees worldwide the NCAG achieved a turnover of 4.5
Billion DM.
References: 1985.
Gee, Jack, "Over here or over there, Nixdorf scraps with IBM“,
Electronic business, 1986.
KEMPER; K., "Heinz Nixdorf. Eine deutsche Karriere.“ Landsberg/Lech,
Verlag
Moderne Industrie. 1986.
Nixdorf, H., "Der technologische Wandel und die Gefahr der
Arbeitslosigkeit“, in: Fritsch,
U., "Die neue
Dimension“, Düsseldorf/Wien, Verlag Eccon
1995.
Grunenberg, N., "Heinz Nixdorf“, in: Weimer, W., "Kapitäne
des Kapitals“, Frankfurt/Main, Verlag Suhrkamp Terms: Heinz
Nixdorf
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| French translation made by
Vicky Rotarova. Portuguese translation made by Artur Weber. |
In
the 
In
the beginning, the contact with "Exacta“ in Cologne (later
renamed as Wanderer-Werke AG), a manufacturer of office machines, was
most important for the "Labor für Impulstechnik“. Starting in
1954, Heinz Nixdorf built electronic multiplication units (ES and EM)
for the "Bull-punchcard machines“ distributed by "Wanderer“.
From 1958 onwards he produced electronic multiplcation units for the
electro-mechanical accounting machine "Wanderer Multitronic
6000“, and since 1962, for "Wanderer“ as well, one of the
first electronic desktop calculators with a printing facility (Conti).
The breakthrough as a computer manufacturer was made possible for
Heinz Nixdorf with the development of the "Logatronic“, a
freely programmable mini-computer for invoicing
was of use in both
business and administrative areas, and while inexpensive it could be
afforded by smaller companies and firms. So Nixdorf became a perfect
example of what is known in Germany as "Mittlere Datentechnik
(MDT)“.
In
1988 the company was in a crisis due to aging products and
mismanagement. High losses forced the NCAG to look for a partner. In
1990, Siemens took over the majority of shares in the NCAG, merged it
with its own computer department and renamed it Siemens Nixdorf
Informationsystems AG (SNI). Since 1992 SNI is a 100% subsidiary
company of Siemens with its own rights.