History of the Constructa brand: Difference between revisions

While the washing machines developed by Pfenningsberg were innovative, production still resembled a small factory. Ten appliances per day were being assembled some three years following the market launch. Reining therefore provided Pfennigsberg with a commercial advisor in the persona of Ernst Bökker. Annoyed by this, Pfenningsberg left the company. Washing machine production was modernized by Ernst Bökker. A larger production hall with simple assembly line production was established. The challenge now lay in stimulating demand for such a new and unknown product.<ref>See Constructa äußert sich zur Marktsituation, January 1960, Document collection folder (general) 1959-1965, Constructa company history, 60.11, page 2.</ref> The product was therefore actively advertised at exhibitions and washing machine demonstrations throughout the Federal Republic of Germany.<ref>See various material on organizing demonstrations in: Document collection folder (general) 1951-1958 Constructa, company history, BSH Corporate Archives and inform 82/4, page 15.</ref> And with great success – some 4,000 appliances per month were soon being sold. With a market share of 80 percent, Constructa was the undisputed leader in Germany on the washing machine market.<ref>45 Jahre Constructa. Anniversary Brochure. Munich 1996, page 13.</ref> The Düsseldorf plant had already become too small by 1958 and production moved to Lintorf on the outskirts of Ratingen.<ref>See inform 1984/2, BSH Corporate Archives, A05-0007, page 15.</ref> The company was called Constructa Werke GmbH from 1961. Constructa decisively shaped Lintorf over the next decade with some 30 to 40 percent of its employees living in the locality.<ref>See Michael Lumer: Constructa, die Geschichte einer deutschen Waschmaschinen-Marke, Vor 40 Jahren verlegte Constructa seine Fertigung nach Lintorf, in: Die Quecke, Ratinger und Angerländer Heimatblätter, 68 (1998), page 179-185.</ref>