HISTORY OF THE NORWEGIAN CANNING INDUSTRY

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   1. PIONEERING TIMES FROM 1841-1900
   
   
   
   
   This period is characterized by manual production and a wide range of products, primarily canned dinners. In addition the factories also produced significant quantities of salted goods, especially anchovies.
   
   
   2.     THE INTERNATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH OF "SARDINES" 1900-1920
   
   
   Characteristic for this period was the increased use of machinery, mass production and mass distribution of "sardines". The industry achieved its maximum volume of export.
   
   
   3.     CONSOLIDATION AND REGULATION 1920-1960
   
   
   To secure profitability in the industry, comprehensive state regulations were implemented. A relatively high number of factories were maintained, whilst new development was limited.
   
   
   4.     RECESSION AND RESTRUCTURING 1960-1981
   
   
   New technology and changes in the market brought about a significant reduction in the number of factories. Simultaneously a series of rationalization measures were undertaken. The most significant innovation, dating from the end of the 1950s, was the use of freezing techniques. This made year-round production possible. This period concluded in the establishing of Norway Foods Ltd., where all the remaining 'sardine' producers were incorporated.
   
   
   5.     NEW STRUCTURES, NEW STRATEGIES, NEW GROWTH, 1981-1998
   
   
   The same year in which the Norwegian Canning Museum was officially opened (1982), Norway Foods Ltd. decided to shut down their last factory in Stavanger, the production site of Chr. Bjelland & Co. AS at Verven. Production was stopped during the spring of 1983. In the fall of 1996, Reiber & Søn took charge of the Norway Foods Ltd. stock. The administration was moved to Bergen in the spring of 1998. The label department and the warehouse is still maintained in Stavanger.
   
   
   PIONEERING DAYS IN THE CANNING INDUSTRY
   
   
   In a photograph from 1878 the entire work force of Stavanger  Preserving Co. is pictured outside the factory. The women with their freshly washed aprons and white headdresses, are placed in the front row with the management. Further up the hill are the men, also influenced by the solemnity of the occasion, but still more relaxed with their hands deep in their pockets and wearing their somewhat dirty work clothes. The building appears to be well maintained, recently painted, and on the first floor there are even a whole row of painted false windows. These windows didn't do much to improve the working conditions indoors, but they gave the building a more prestigious appearance.
   
   Stavanger was at this time a town of barely 20 000  nhabitants and was moving towards a serious economic crisis because the city's two main industries, export of herring and trade by sail ship, were experiencing great difficulties. This resulted in bankruptcy and unemployment in large areas of the established industrial sector.
   
   
   The founders of the Stavanger Preserving Co. were four of the town's most prominent men, ship owner Knud Knudsen, magistrate Henrik Finne, consul Lars Berentsen, and merchant George W. Groom. In 1883, on the recently purchased property in Øvre Strandgata, they built "a small factory with adequate storage space". This is where Julie Marie Helland, along with all the other women, cleaned and prepared the fish and meat and packed it into the small round tin cans. The cans had previously been soldered together by Martin Endresen and his work mates. They also had the job of soldering the lids in place and of ensuring that the cans were boiled in the large kettles heated from below. The cans were then painted to prevent rusting, before they were furnished with a simple label. From this little factory in Øvre Strandgate the canned dinners and soups would be distributed to the world market.
   
   
   Stavanger Preserving Co. was a pioneer in Stavanger, but canning factories had existed other places in Norway for several decades before the founding of the factory in Stavanger. The first canning factory was founded by Chr. August Thorne in Drammen in 1841. Its production was considerable, ranging from the more refined dinners to a variety of anchovies. Factories with a similar output of products were established in Sunnhordland and in Southern Norway in the 1860s.
   Common to all these factories was a simple method of production based mainly on manual labor. Both the goods and the packaging were made by hand without the use of machines.
   In retrospect, it is the companies' will power and ability to market their products that impresses most. As early as in 1855, Chr. August Thorne participated in the World's Fair in Paris. For several years he was on his own, but by the time the World's Fair was being staged in Philadelphia in 1876, Stavanger Preserving Co. was also among the participants. The companies received recognition for their products, and sales increased.
   However, Stavanger would not have become 'the canning town' if another new product had not been introduced, the smoked Norwegian sardines. This happened in 1879 at the factory of the Stavanger Preserving Co. in Øvre Strandgt. At least this is how the company's newly appointed manager, Johan G.B. Mejlænder, recounted the story. Recent research shows that both Chr. August Thorne in Drammen and Hagbart Thorsen in Sunnhordland had made "smoked sardines" before Stavanger Preserving Co. started its production. However, this was in smaller quanities and without any definite breakthrough into world markets. Stavanger Preserving Co. deserves the credit for having started the systematic production and sales of this product, which came to spread the name of Stavanger on millions of cans to every corner of the world.
   Throughout the 1880s and 1890s we see a continual improvement in the production methods for this product. At the same time exports increased, creating the need for further factories.
   
   
   THE GREAT BREAKTHROUGH, 1900 - 1920
   
   
   At the beginning of the twentieth century, the canning industry received its definitive international breakthrough. The export volume of canned goods increased from 1.5 million kg in 1900 to 37 million kg in 1915, making it Stavanger's most  important industry. This increase can be roughly ascribed to two separate causes; a series of technical improvements in the production process and efficient international marketing of the industry products.
   In the technical field, equipment and machines were developed that enabled mass production of canned goods. Important concepts in this connection are:
   • Folding machines for the attachment of lids
   • Threading tables enabling quicker threading of the fish onto skewers
   • Decapitating machines which replaced cutting with scissors
   • Pressing machines for making cans and lids
   These innovations transformed canning from a manual industry into a mechanized one, resulting in the need for a type of production premises other than the old, wooden-floored, sea-fronted houses. Consequently this period is characterized by the building of brick factories.
   These changes in the industry are clearly illustrated by the exhibits in the Canning Museum, where it is possible to study each improvement and the consequence it had for the working environment.
   
   
   One of the consequences of mass production was a significant price fall, from NOK 0.40 per can in 1900 to NOK 0.17 in 1912. This helped to improve the competitive situation for Norwegian sardines on the international market. However, the price fall alone cannot account for the significant upswing in sales. Looking back, it is impressive to see how sales and marketing techniques developed at the beginning of the twentieth century. Important concepts in this connection are:
   • International agents and branch offices
   • Participation in exhibitions all over the world
   • Commercials, the first in 1909
   • A series of posters and colorful labels (iddisar) as eye-catchers on the cans
   
   
   For the sardine industry it was also of great importance that one of their strongest competitors, the French producers, were experiencing a significant decrease in access to raw materials. This weakened their competitive position and strengthened the Norwegian industry.
   On the second floor of the museum, parts of this fascinating marketing story is documented by exhibited examples of diplomas, medals, posters, and labels.
   The exhibits at the museum show developments through to the 1920s. It is therefore natural to stop the historical discourse at this point. However, the continuation is just as exciting and serves as an example of the growth and recession of a branch of industry. In order to get a clear grasp of the developments that followed, a chronological history of the branch has been outlined below.
   
   
   THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE CANNING INDUSTRY - A CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE
   
   

   1810	Nicolas Appert, France, discovers the art of canning. For packaging he uses glass jars and crockery that are corked and sealed.
   1830	Production of canned sardines begins in France. The sardines are boiled in olive oil before being packed in cans. ("Fransking").
   1841	Chr. August Thorne in Moss starts production of anchovies and later canned goods in round cans.
   1870	Harbart Thorsen produces Norwegian sardines in oil.
   1873	Stavanger Preserving Co. establishes the first canning factory in Stavanger
   1879	Stavanger Preserving Co, starts production of Smoked Norwegian Sardines in Oil.
   1883	Fisheries Industry Exhibition in London, many Norwegian participants.
   1885	18 factories in Norway, most of them located in sea houses, etc. Manual production methods.
   1900	There are 38 factories in Norway, 14 of them in Stavanger. Søren Opsal, Stavanger, launches the first functional folding machine for rektangular cans. In subsequent years patents are taken out for folding machines, punchers, presses, decapitators, and oil filling tools, etc. Production methods are industrialized and a large industry is built up based on mass production of sardines for the international market.
   1901	The Union of Women Canning Industry Workers is established in Stavanger. A lengthy conflict within the canning industry takes place in Stavanger. Hans J. Reinert takes out a patent on a folding machine that has a capacity of approximately 8000 cans per day. The machine is a success.
   1905	Legal proceedings concerning the right to use the "sardine concept". Norwegian producers are summoned before a series of law courts by the French sardine industry, in several European countries. The French view wins, the Norwegian producers choose to call their product brisling or sild-sardines.
   1906	The idea of a Canning Museum in Stavanger is launched.
   1908	The purse seine net goes into use and makes for more efficient fishing.
   1910	John Braadland Ltd. buys Øvre Strandgt. 88a to use the property as a warehouse and for the production of anchovies.
   1914-18	Work due to the war. Large exports and an increased number of factories.
   1915	128 factories in Norway, 48 of them in Stavanger.
   1920s	Economic crisis leads to many bankruptcies. Only 50% of the 180 production companies that existed in 1919 avoided a change of ownership, bankruptcy, etc.
   1921	Reinert’s folding machine appears in a fully automatic version.
   1924	The Canning Industry Advertising Foundation is established, its task being a joint marketing campaign abroad.
   1925	198 factories in Norway, 59 of them in Stavanger.
   1931	The Canning Industry Laboratory is opened in Stavanger. This was the only specialized canning laboratory in Europe.
   1933	Export of Canned Goods Act passed in the Norwegian Parliament. It introduces regulations pertaining to the distribution of raw materials and establishment of factories.
   1934	184 factories in Norway, 58 of them in Stavanger.
   1948	Lubeca-Werke GmbH enters the Norwegian market with their fully automatic folding machine LW 303, capacity of approximately 3600 cans per  hour.
   1952	The automatic threading machine goes into use. The machine had been developed by the industry in cooperation with TRIO. Norway’s Technical School for the Canning Industry opens in Stavanger.
   1955	134 factories in Norway, 50 of them in Stavanger
   1955-65	Structural changes in the canning industry. Many of the regulations from the 1930s are dispensed with. Freezer plants and ships are taken into use, making year-round production possible. The establishment of the European Common Market changes the marketing situation in Europe. The industry’s dilemma now is whether to modernize or close down. Many factories are closed down, but to total production capacity is maintained through modernization of the remaining factories.
   1960	83 factories in Norway, 38 of them in Stavanger.
   1968	48 factories in Norway, 13 of them in Stavanger.
   1973	International oil crisis, resulting in a significant economic recession.
   1975	Stavanger municipality appoints a committee to investigate the possibilities of a canning museum in Stavanger.
   1978	21 factories in Norway, 9 of them in Stavanger.
   1981	The remaining Norwegian "sardine" producers amalgamate into one concern, Norway Foods Ltd., with its main office in Stavanger.
   1982	Official opening of the Norwegian Canning Museum. Norway Foods Ltd. decides to close down the last factory in Stavanger, the Chr. Bjelland & Co. A.s production plant at Verven. Production closed down during the spring of 1983. Today, King Oscar is one of Norway Foods Ltd.’s most well-known trademark.
   1985	Boycott of South Africa leads to an export decline of 10% for Norway Foods Ltd.
   1990	4 production plants in Norway.
   1994	Norway Foods Ltd. is awarded the American prize for successful marketing strategy. The concern has a considerable profit. The factories in Skånevik, Eikelandsosen and on Askøy had a combined production of 30 million cans, 90% were exported. The entire work force of Norway Foods Ltd. is 280.

   
   
   By John  G. Johnson: The Norwegian Canning Museum. Stavanger . Adapted to be posted by Leopoldo Costa