History
Ceska zbrojovka Uhersky Brod dates back to 1936, when it was established as a branch plant of Ceska zbrojovka located in town of Strakonice, based on a political decision of the National Defence Council. On 2 January 1937 production of a combined range of military and civilian arms commenced. The first products were aircraft machine guns, military pistols and smallbore rifles. During the Nazi occupation period the plant was forced to produce and repair military arms.
From 1945 the plant returned to the combined range of military and civilian arms, with an equal share of time going into the production of each. In 1950 the Company became a separate state enterprise called “Presne strojirenstvi Uhersky Brod” (The Precision Machine Tooling Company) and was subsequently reorganized into a number of specialized directorates.
In the 1970s and 1980s the Company was merged with the concern Agrozet Brno, where it engaged in it’s traditional production of arms while also taking over and launching the production of reduction gears and driveshaft casings for aircraft engines for Motorlet Praha and hydraulic powered and controlled attachments for tractors for Zetor Brno.
Restructuring
In the second half of the 1980s a corporate modernisation and restructuring process began, with an emphasis on the product range of arms, and the process continued on into the 1990s. As of July 1, 1988 the Company was split off from Agrozet Brno and became a separate state enterprise, once again taking it’s original name of Česká zbrojovka, s.p.
In 1990 production for the last project for the Czechoslovak armed units ceased and the newly available capacity was put to full use in expanding production of arms for hunting and sporting purposes, as well as exports for armed police and military units.Similarly, in 1991 when the production of hydraulic powered and controlled attachments for tractors was discontinued, and in 1992 after the production volume of reduction gears and driveshaft casings for aircraft engines was curtailed, the newly available capacities were used primarily to expand the traditional production of recreational arms.
On 1 May 1992, the National Property Fund of the Czech Republic established the joint stock company Ceska zbrojovka a.s., Uhersky Brod in accordance with a privatization project.
In 1997 Ceska zbrojovka obtained quality system certification pursuant to ISO 9001. The Company has been granted the requisite authorization by the Office for Civil Aviation to manufacture and repair aircraft engine parts. The Company’s automotive industry manufacturing operation is has received quality system certification per CSN EN ISO 16949 standards, which forms a solid basis for further development in this area.
