DRAŽICE, Page 3

1900

The future cooperative enterprise was born: widow Marie Kyselová contributed a grain mill to the company's assets, thus creating a limited liability company named "Grain Storage, Artistic Rolling Mill and Bakery" in Dražice nad Jizerou.

1910–1917

The new management, led by Václav Čančík, following the recommendation of Professor of Prague Technology Ing. Karel Novák, turned to the very promising production and distribution of electrical energy. In 1910, a hydroelectric power plant with two turbines of 300 HP was built. In 1917, 69 municipalities with 8,111 consumers were connected to the Dražice power plant.

1926–1939

The company reached its peak in the second half of the 1920s. It employed 220 workers and owned eight hydroelectric power plants on the Jizera River, a steam power plant, two mills, and a distribution network serving 383 municipalities with 24,080 users. The turnover in 1930 amounted to an impressive three quarters of a billion CZK at that time.

1948

After the forced sale of the distribution networks and subsequent nationalization of a significant part of the cooperative's assets, the company reoriented itself towards products and services for the population, focusing on household and sports use.

1956

One of the programs became the contract production of water heaters under the leadership of former craftsman Mr. Křovák.

1972–1989

In the course of 1972, the development of a combined water heater was completed and introduced into mass production. By the end of the 1980s, Družstevní kombinát Dražice was producing about 13,000 combined water heaters annually and employed approximately 50 workers in this area.

1989–1992

After the political change in 1989, the cooperative was divided into separate commercial companies. One of these companies is the private company Družstevní závody Dražice–strojírna, s.r.o., which took over the production of water heaters.

1992–2003

During this period, there was a rapid development in the production of water heaters. The product range was expanded, technologies were modernized, and production continuously increased. A major modernization took place at the end of 1997 with the construction of a new enameling line. The company became the largest seller of water heaters in the country and began expanding its exports from 1994. The company exports to 16 countries across Europe. In 2003, the company produced 95,000 water heaters and employed 190 workers.

2004–2005

In 2004, a new hall was built as a preparation for the construction of a new enameling kiln. This kiln was built in the summer of 2005 and allowed the company to increase the capacity of the enameling process and improve the enameling procedure. In 2005, the product range was also expanded to include storage tanks, and by the end of the year, new types of rectangular water heaters D-LUX were prepared. In the last year, the company produced 115,000 water heaters and employed 210 workers. In the future, further increases in production capacity, expansion of the product range, and modernization of the existing product range are planned.

2006

In 2006, 100% of the shares of the company Družstevní závody Dražice – strojírna s.r.o. were transferred to the Swedish company NIBE Industrier AB, which thus became the sole owner of DZ Dražice.

2007–2009

During the summer, the company expanded to two assembly lines, increasing production capacity to 150,000 units per year. DZ Dražice also began offering heat pumps under the NIBE brand.

2011

In 2011, a hybrid heater with the possibility of connecting to photovoltaic panels was added to the product range. A heater with intelligent control and many functions OKHE SMART was also introduced.

2014

In September 2014, the new model of the water heater OKHE SMART EVO 3 with smartphone control was presented at the FOR THERM fair.

2016

Since 2016, we have been producing a new range of heaters OKHE and OKCE, and the functions of OKHE SMART have been further improved.

2018

The range of electric water heaters was expanded in 2018 with a flat version – OKHE ONE. Its depth is only 30 mm, making it suitable for installation in confined spaces or areas with limited depth of installation.

2020

This year was marked by the introduction of new small-volume heaters TO in models 5.1 and 10.1. They won two gold medals in the Czech Made competition organized by the Czech Association.