150 years of development

It all started back in 1873. The two innovative engineers Gottfried Rystedt and Nils Petterson saw a niche for producing fasteners of standardized dimensions, a kind of product that was otherwise generally imported from Britain. For capital acquisition, they enlisted the help of businessman Herman Friedländer.

 

Started in Hallstahammar

They found the power they needed west of Stockholm in Hallstahammar, a town that has a river called Kollbäcksån running through it. Its strong flow could easily be converted into kinetic energy to run the industrial machines of the age. 1873 saw the start of Bultfabriksaktiebolaget – literally ‘The Bolt Factory Corporation’. In the beginning of the 20th century, the company extended its offering by acquiring various other businesses nearby, for example Eskilstuna Fabriksaktiebolag and Kanthal AB.

 

 

An age of expansion

As for Swedish industry generally, the end of the Second World War marked a new age of expansion. Competing factory Åshammars Bultfabrik was acquired and a factory was built in Kalix. Over a couple of decades, Bulten established itself as a leading European manufacturer of fasteners. The 1990s heralded further crucial steps toward growth, now oriented more internationally. Production units were acquired in Germany, China and Poland, and the decade also saw Bulten’s first appearance on the stock exchange. But 2001, Finnveden became new principal owner and the company was delisted.