The company was founded in
Schalke,
Gelsenkirchen, in 1872 by
Friedrich Grillo with backing from the Grevel family, as Vogelsang & Co. In 1886 the company became Gewerkschaft Schalker Eisenhütte. In 1882 the company produced its first machine for pushing
coke out of a coke oven, and by 1900 was manufacturing a range of equipment for the mechanisation of coke production, including coke wagons and locomotives. In 1937 the company began production of electrically powered mining locomotives with equipment from
AEG,
BBC, and
Siemens. The prototype was completed in 2011. In August 2012, with cumulative losses reportedly twenty million euros, the company was restructured, with a reduction in workforce; approximately 155 of the workforce of 210 workers were to be transferred to other Eickoff group companies, with approximately 25 jobs losses overall. ==See also==