The order that changed the direction of the entire company arrived suddenly. And today Proton Engineering still has its supplier number with the venerable vehicle manufacturer. Visionary and entrepreneur Anders Krahner founded his company in 1936 in Jönköping, selling everything from Italian Borsalino hats to Kardex systems. As a gifted entrepreneur from Småland, Anders Krahner founded a growing business. The company moved to Skillingaryd in the middle of the Second World War and started to sell wooden furniture.
In the 1950s, it veered increasingly towards what is still the core of the company’s production: steel pipes. For a few years, the company focused on manufacturing desk chairs and dining chairs – but then the order that marked a critical juncture arrived. After delivering 700 dining chairs to Volvo in Gothenburg, Anders Krahner was asked whether he might be able to commit to producing chairs for Volvo’s cars as well. This marked the start of the company’s venture into the automotive industry. Anders Krahner was given supplier number 18 by Volvo, the same number that Proton Engineering still has today.
Growth within the automotive industry also causes the company to grow and Anders Krahner to expand the premises in Verkstadsgatan in Skillingaryd – where the company is still located. The Volvo Group has been responsible for a large part of the company’s revenue for many years. But then comes the oil crisis in the autumn of 1973 that turns the entire industry on its head. Less than half of the projected production of car chairs are actually produced. In the same year, founder Anders Krahner dies at the age of only 57 and his son, Rolf Krahner, takes over. A new era starts when new customer Saab Scania enters the scene. The company’s direction has changed from components for cars to components for lorries.
The Swedish automotive industry has experienced both highs and lows, something which is also reflected in Proton Engineering’s history. Changes of ownership and redesigns are part of our contemporary history – and in 1990 there is a change of owner that forms the basis for the entire Proton Group when Leif Malveholm takes over the company.
Today, the company has established a clear focus on complex pipe products for world leaders in the automotive and engineering industry. Proton Engineering offers pipe bending, end forming, sheet metal work and welding with a high degree of automation – as well as overall solutions with everything from prototypes and serial production to installation and various types of shipping and logistics solutions.
1936: Anders Krahner founds his company in Jönköping and later moves to Skillingaryd.
1950s: Production of steel tube furniture starts and later switches to subcontract production of sheet metal and pipe components with a focus on the growing automotive industry.
1970s: Production focus switches from cars to lorries.
1980s: A number of ownership and structural changes; the company is renamed Småland Industriprodukter and later acquired by listed company Adamas Industri AB.
1990: The company is delisted and becomes privately owned, with Leif Malveholm as the principal owner. Proton Engineering is founded, as is the Proton Group.
2008: Proton Skillmech and Proton Caretec merge with Proton Engineering to be able to face the financial crisis more efficiently.
2014: Previous company mergers are dissolved and the company’s focus is once again the heavy vehicle industry.
2015: The business focus is expanded to include other engineering industries.