100 Years

In 2010, Sika celebrates its 100-year anniversary. Developing innovative products and solutions and being consistent towards all stakeholders have made it possible for Sika to grow throughout its first century. We are now present in over 70 countries, with over 12,000 employees.

Principles of sustainable development play a decisive role at Sika because these principles answer to today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. The challenges are driven by megatrends such as water management, energy conservation or climate protection, all of which will shape future economic conditions and growth. Entrepreneurial success depends on intelligent solutions matched to these megatrends.

The Start of Sika / Sika and the Gotthard Tunnel

Kaspar Winkler was driven by his entrepreneurial spirit when he laid the cornerstone of our company in 1910. He was born into a modest cobbler family and emigrated quite early from Austria to Switzerland. There he invented Sika-1, a quick-setting waterproofing admixture for mortar, which was used to waterproof the Gotthard Tunnel, enabling the Swiss railway company to electrify this important connection between Northern and Southern Europe. Innovation met demand! Kaspar Winkler recognized an upcoming global need for his “trailblazing” admixtures and launched subsidiaries around the world. Already in the 1930s, 15 Sika subsidiaries in Europe, USA, Argentina, Brazil and Japan established new construction chemicals markets.

Today the new Gotthard Tunnel (NEAT: New European Alp Transit) again is an important project for Sika. Although Sika-1 is still part of our product range, today much more advanced products are being used. High-tech admixtures for shotcrete and tailored waterproofing systems are needed to build this 57 km tunnel – the longest tunnel on earth – through the Swiss Alps. We can be proud of our history and look to the future with optimism, as our know-how, our service and our products are needed more than ever.

Milestones 1935 - 1970 / War and economic boom

During World War II, Sika companies continued production in every country where they were present. Thus the admixtures for bunkers built in Switzerland and in the German-occupied areas were delivered by Sika. But also the concrete ships used by the Allies to transport war materiel and to land at Normandy were built with Sika admixtures.

During the boom of the 50s and 60s, new subsidiaries were founded from Sweden to Cuba. A second generational change was heralded in Switzerland by Romuald Burkard’s entry into the firm. Between the time of his entry into the firm in 1953 and the death of his father-in-law Fritz Schenker in 1971, Burkard gradually took over the leadership of the group of companies which by 1968 had become a single integral corporate structure with Sika Finanz AG. Subsequently, Sika was listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange.

However, as the economy overheated in the late 60s, Sika slid into a serious crisis. A new plant in Düdingen had major start-up difficulties and went over budget; the operations of a number of construction companies were not cost-effective; in Germany and in Scandinavia warranty claims loomed on the horizon. The situation was ominous: Sika only just avoided insolvency.

Milestones 1970 - 1990 / Crisis management and new business

The decade of the 70s was not everywhere a happy one. With enormous efforts, Sika surmounted the difficulties resulting from the severe recession of 1973 through 1976. But the crisis years ultimately strengthened the Sika Spirit. This rallying cry, still in use to this day, was shaped during these years. It stands for an employee attitude of solidarity and optimism vis-à-vis the company. For example, in the middle of the crisis, Sika personnel in Switzerland agreed to a wage cut. This was reversed in the second half of the decade as soon as Sika could recover economically. A product which had already been developed in 1968 but had hitherto accounted for only a modest portion of the turnover now evolved into a bestseller: the one-component, elastic polyurethane adhesive, Sikaflex.

With the versatile adhesive Sikaflex, Sika opened up a new field of business in the 1980s: the automotive industry. In the process Sika diverged from its traditional construction chemistry path. The diversification was intended to increase resistance to economic cycles. The expansion of our worldwide presence had the same goal. With the 1982 takeover of Lechler Chemie in Stuttgart, Sika increased the size of its personnel from 3000 to over 4000 in one stroke. It had finally laid enough groundwork for a concerted attempt to develop the German market further. Nevertheless it took a number of years before the new company proceeded on the road to growth after digesting this risky integration. In the second half of the decade most industrial nations enjoyed an economic boom. Sika also profited from this, surpassing the turnover threshold of one billion francs in 1989.

Milestones 1990 - 2010 / Global presence

In no other decade did Sika set up new companies in more countries: between 1990 and 1995 alone, 16 new subsidiaries were founded. Especially in Asia, Eastern Europe and in Latin America, Sika strengthened its presence. Despite this effort, the 1990s were not an easy decade. Sika combatted recessionary phases as well as weak profitability, attributed to tight competition and increasing raw materials prices. The solution was achieved by withdrawing from less lucrative, non-core businesses, such as the building of robots used to rehabilitate sewer lines. Sika also abandoned the manufacture of road building products. And Sika almost sold its sealing membranes business to Sarna.

The very same Sarna became a member of the Sika Group ten years later. In 2005 that Swiss company, a specialist in membranes, became a Sika acquisition. Sika experienced its decade of most rapid growth. Turnover increased from 2 billion to more than 4.6 billion francs, a significant portion of which was contributed by the 36 firms acquired between 2000 and 2008. During that same period, the workforce increased from 8,000 to 13,000.

Since the year 2000, Sika summarizes its core competencies as follows: sealing, bonding, damping, reinforcing and protecting. From basement to roof, Sika intended to become the market leader in these technological disciplines. Sika ViscoCrete, the concrete admixture brought to market in 2000, became a significant sales mainstay. Sika also experienced a boom in other business units — in the peak year of 2006, turnover increased by over one third. Sika AG, the holding company since 2002, invested considerably in personnel and production capacities, and restructured the overall management organization.

Since 2006, all marketing and sales activities have been consistently channeled via new centralized Business Units, targeted at the four most important customer groups, “Distribution”, “Contractors”, “Concrete” and “Industry”. Towards the end of the decade, the tug of the international recessionary maelstrom triggered by the financial crisis was also felt at Sika. Despite the recession, Sika has nonetheless been increasing its market share virtually everywhere. On the threshold of its 100-year anniversary in 2010, Sika stands well equipped to face the future.

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