Selling German Office Machines
Germany would be competing hard for a share of the New Zealand office machine market now that New Zealand was going to adopt decimals, said the manager of overseas affaire of the office machine manufacturing company, Olympia Werke AG, of Wilhelmshaven, Mr H. A. Krueger, in Christchurch yesterday.
Olympia, with 16,000 employees, was by far the largest exporter of typewriters in the world, he said. The firm belonged to the giant A.E.G. and Telefunken organisation, which manufactured in a vast field with 40 factories. “We are making more than 4000 typewriters a day,” he said.
“We have factories at Wilhelmshaven, Leer, and Braunschweig, and we are building a new factory in Spain.” Before the Second World War, the company’s factory was in Thuringia, which is now in East Germany. Because of this, the Olympia organisation had to start again from scratch after the war. The company had to reestablish itself in the New Zealand market in the 19505, as a “newcomer.” Mr Krueger said that because the market for sterling machines was restricted, compared with the decimal world, his firm had a relatively small programme for the sterling area. But everything that Olympia produced in the world would now be open to New Zealand with the change to decimals.
The two main reasons for his visit to New Zealand, he said, was the proposed change to decimals next year and import licensing. Mr Krueger said his company suffered very much from import licensing difficulties as far as the New Zealand market was concerned. A new New Zealand headquarters for Olympia companies would open in Walker street, Christchurch, about June or July, he said. The two-storey factory cost initially £23,000. Specialised staff would arrive from the parent factory for the decimal change in New Zealand. They would assist in servicing and many other things related to decimal currency. A training course would be held at the factory for mechanics from many parts of New Zealand.
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Press, Volume CV, Issue 31004, 9 March 1966, Page 14
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328Selling German Office Machines Press, Volume CV, Issue 31004, 9 March 1966, Page 14
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