The history of today’s complex of the TOPOS company dates back to the second half of the 19th century and is related to the gradual development of the textile industry in the region and the building of a modern industrial textile factory by the manufacturer Wilhelm Weber in 1881-1883. Later on, the textile factory developed its activities and other branches to produce chains, gears and parts for the automotive industry in 1926. In 1945, the production of various electrical devices also began here.
The political and social changes in Czechoslovakia after the end of the Second World War brought about the following change in the focus of this industrial complex and the official establishment of the state-owned company TOPOS in 1950.
In 1950, the original production buildings were gradually rebuilt and the production of machinery and equipment for bakeries, for which TOPOS is known today, began. Other TOPOS production divisions also produced, for example, industrial milk cooling tanks or air cylinders for truck brake systems.
One of the great success stories of TOPOS production from the 1960s was the first model of the T-785 planetary mixer with a removable bowl, which was continuously and significantly upgraded over the following decades to today’s all-stainless state-of-the-art and very popular version, the T-750.5.
A slight improvement in the political situation in the former Czechoslovakia in the 60s brought the possibility of exporting TOPOS machinery and equipment to Western Europe as well as to the USA. In 1962, for example, the first dough mixer was delivered to the bakery of Mr. Michael Morabito in Pottsown, Pennsylvania, USA. Since 1963, the first business cooperation was also carried out when Mr. Michael Morabito founded the Topos a.s. Corporation which represented TOPOS in the USA to sell its automated Artisan roll production lines (Created company name Topos a.s. Corporation, USA, where Mondial name was added to promote international (worldwide) reach). Unfortunately, the heightened Cold War stopped trade with the USA in 1968 and the journeys of both TOPOS and Topos a.s. unfortunately diverged for the next 20+ years.
The largest and most extensive modernizations of buildings and the construction of new halls occurred mainly in the 70s and later in 1985 and 1989. Starting in the 1970s, TOPOS also began to produce the then groundbreaking fully automated continuous bread dough production lines, including an automatic fermentation system. These lines became a very popular and groundbreaking way of producing dough in a fully automated form, but unfortunately the political situation at the time only allowed their export to Eastern Bloc countries such as Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union.
Since the 1970s, TOPOS products have nevertheless enjoyed great popularity at least in Europe, and TOPOS has been the winner of several SALIMA awards and EUROPE AWARDS for quality products over the years up to the present day. It would be worth mentioning the names of TOPOS’ managing directors from the company’s inception to the present day:
The Velvet Revolution and the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989 began a new era for TOPOS, associated with private rather than state-owned business. In addition to its traditional Central and East European markets, TOPOS was also able to explore new West European markets and in the following years it also re-established its cooperation with the American company Topos a.s. Corporation. TOPOS was reunited with Mr. Michael Morabito as well as with the new generation of this company by his son and today’s owner of Topos a.s. Corp. Mr. Damian Morabito.
Meanwhile, Topos a.s. Corp. has focused on rebuilding, complete remanufacturing and engineering of baking equipment in the USA since the 1980s. Now, through TOPOS a.s., it has been able to expand its activities to include the sale of new machinery and equipment. The quality cooperation between both TOPOS and Topos a.s. soon brought success when, at the beginning of the new millennium, TOPOS started the production of horizontal dough mixers for which it is worldwide known today.
In 2004 TOPOS and Topos a.s. also built their first industrial doughnut proofer, fryer and glazer line for a nominal 12.000 pieces per hour production. The specialization in the manufacturing and sale of equipment for the dough production and handling has thus expanded to include another and nowadays very important new element – equipment and complete lines for the production of doughnuts.
The high-quality and successful cooperation of both companies gradually resulted in the entry of Topos a.s. Corp. into the shareholder structure of TOPOS a.s. The gradual merger of the companies is completed in 2015 when Topos a.s. with Damian Morabito as the owner purchases all shares of TOPOS a.s. and becomes 100% owner. The names of both companies and their operations and activities are still maintained to mutual satisfaction and perfect teamwork. While Topos a.s. Corp. primarily focuses on engineering, sales of new and remanufactured equipment and full customer service in the U.S., TOPOS a.s. is responsible for the manufacture of all new equipment and automatic lines and sales and customer service to Europe.
