The company
history of SCHUCO
The history of SCHUCO is inextricably linked with the name of
Heinrich Müller who had already produced ideas for toys by the
age of 17. Almost all the plans and patents stemmed from ideas by
Heinrich Müller. In 1912, he founded the Schreyer & Co toy
company together with the businessman, Heinrich Schreyer. At the
beginning, production was limited to felt and soft toys. The First
World War interrupted operations which did not resume until the
spring of 1919. SCHUCO, as the company was called from 1921, set a
popular trend with its mechanical toys. The most successful item of
the 1920s was Pick Pick, a tin bird with a soft covering. Over 20
million of these items were sold. The SCHUCO legend began to mature
with the production of toy cars which began in the mid-'30s. The
"Wende Auto" (tumble car) - which does not fall off the table - and
the even more legendary Mercedes Silver Arrow, of which, at the
height of production, 8,000 models were produced daily - each
consisting of 101 individual parts - became top sellers.
In 1946, after the end of the Second World War, the first SCHUCO
toys reappeared on the market. In those days, these toys were only
exported to America. In 1952, the factory, the largest toy factory
in Nuremberg, was rebuilt over approx. 13,000 square metres
providing space for 800 employees. The sale of 100 million toys
means that the name of SCHUCO is known throughout the world. At the
end of the 1960s, the toy market began to change. Materials such as
cast metal and plastic outstripped tinplate in popularity. SCHUCO
did not recognise the need to change early enough and had to
declare itself irrevocably bankrupt in 1976. The remaining assets
were sold in 1976 to an English company, DCM, which also declared
itself bankrupt in 1980. In the meantime, many tools and moulds had
been scattered all over the globe and some had even been scrapped.
In 1980, the SCHUCO name was bought by GAMA one of its former most
formidable competitors. Its main focus was on the Silver Arrow
racing cars which are still in SCHUCO's range today. In 1993, the
companies TRIX and GAMA merged. At the same time, however, SCHUCO
was given its own management and as a result the SCHUCO brand was
reborn. Three years later, SCHUCO was released from TRIX and became
an independent company again.
Once the Mangold family had completely withdrawn from the toy
industry, SCHUCO was sold to the Sieber family in Fürth in
1999. This family has been working in the toy industry for three
generations. SCHUCO became a company within the SIMBA-DICKIE-GROUP
which in addition to the main brands of SIMBATOYS and
DICKIE-SPIELZEUG also includes the EICHHORN, NORIS, DICKIE-TAMIYA,
CARSON and BIG firms. The Group ranks internationally as one of the
largest in the industry, with an annual turnover of approximately
340 million EUR. A total of approximately 800 people are employed
at its headquarters in Fürth, in the logistics centre in
Sonneberg, Thuringia, both in Germany, and in various other
European countries. From this point on, the SCHUCO brand blossomed
under its new management. Its success was also attributed to
numerous new product groups and a creative and innovative policy
determining the ranges available. As ever, SCHUCO is concentrating
its efforts on the traditional and classic collectors' market and,
with its new product lines such as historic model motorcycles and
utility vehicles , it has gained new collectors. The loyal fan base
of Piccolo collectors is constantly delighted by our new product
ideas. New standards have been set over the past few years in terms
of detail and quality. SCHUCO is also once again a partner for
automobile groups such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Opel, Porsche and
VW, a fact which cannot be ignored. Since its launch in the year
2000, the Junior Line has developed extremely successfully with the
result that SCHUCO has been reintroduced to children's playrooms.
Together with Edition 1:87 which was introduced in 2002, cars and
trucks adapted to model railways on HO tracks, and the Distler
figures made of metal which were launched in 2003 on a scale of
1:24, SCHUCO is once again on the way to re-establishing its
worldwide reputation. At the Toy Fair in 2007, SCHUCO launched its
first aeroplane models under the SCHABAK brand which it acquired
the previous yea
