ARAKO´s history goes back to the 19th century when Josef Koppitz founded the factory and started to manufacture sewing machines of Opilia, later Silesia and Minerva brands. The production of the Minerva sewing machine grew rapidly in particular, despite the First World War. In the inter-war period the company was well provided with capital, starting a construction of a subsidiary in Boskovice. However, the Second World War complicated substantially the company´s situation when the company had to be involved in the war production, reducing the sewing machine manufacture to a minimum. Although the Opava factory was heavily damaged at the end of the war, the manufacture of sewing machines came back to the town soon. The deliveries were supplied not only to the domestic market but many batches were also intended for exporting abroad. However, the sewing machine manufacture was ceased in 1953.

 

START OF INDUSTRIAL VALVE MANUFACTURE

In the early ´50s the then Minerva factory in Opava changed its production programme and started to manufacture industrial valves. In 1976 the company was at the birth of the nuclear energy industry in former Czechoslovakia, introducing special valves for the nuclear energy industry (Dukovany nuclear power plant and Jaslovské Bohunice nuclear power plant) into its production programme.

 

MODERN ARAKO

In the ´80s the company was a part of the SIGMA group. After the group´s privatisation, the private company ARAKO, spol. s r. o., was founded in 1992. Thereafter the company restructured its production programme and built new production and storage shops. Since 2007 the company has been owned by the Russian corporation Atomenergomash. From 2011 to 2013 the company modernised extensively its machinery to increase the productivity and to maintain the top quality of valves. Due to an investment programme, ARAKO extended its product range by not only new models but also valves of large sizes in the following years.