Nevertheless the initial period of company's existence was by no means idyllic. Soap was produced in a gloomy cellar of their family house and all family members were involved. The motto of Georg Schicht was: "Buy cheap raw materials, and sell cheap products of good quality". The demand was rising. The financial situation enabled him to build a new dwelling house, and a new soap boiling plant five years later. Wagons full of goods were heading toward the town of Ústí nad Labem and Lovosice. Raw materials were transported from Hamburg to Dresden by ship up Elbe river, then by train to the town of Bílý Kostel, and by horse-drawn vehicles to Rynoltice.

In 1878 Georg Schicht propagated the business to his four sons, the most able of them being Johann who established the company in Ústí nad Labem later on. He spent three years of hard apprenticeship with a shopkeeper in the town of Liberec. Then he left for Vienna where he started working as an accounting assistant of a trading company dealing with oils and fats, and gradually became familiar with high-style business. He studied foreign languages in his leisure time. In 1873 he suggested to the family council an idea of establishing a soap and candle making plant in Ústí nad Labem, a town of 12 000 inhabitants at that time. He argued the supply of the basic raw material by the direct Elbe water route was cheaper, coal and soda were “at hand”, and the town of Ústí with its surroundings were a good sales area. Nearby big towns, even the whole country, could be reached by railway. Johann´s idea was not realized, and after his return from Vienna he was engaged in the bookkeeping and commercial correspondence of the company.

Together with his brothers, Johann he started to put his original plan into practice. At first Stare Mesto near the town of Decin seemed to be a suitable place, and a license proceedings concerning the establishment of a soap making plant was initiated. The local community was against building a plant from fear of smoke and smell. Another choice was Trice near Usti nad Labem but eventually, the plant was built on a site between Kramoly and Novosedlice in what is today Strekov, a part of Usti nad Labem. Compared with the today’s conditions the remark from company's chronicle (1883) sounds funny: “The construction of the plant was accompanied with a number of difficulties. The plant was started in the late summer of 1882 and at the end of December fire was lit under one of the boilers.” The factory consisted of two buildings, a shed and a few vehicles. Johann Schicht was 27 at that time.

In 1885, the company had 10 workers and 2 clerks, and starting from that year the company went through a period of spurt growth. In addition to the soap boiling plant, a candle producing facility, palm kernel processing plant, water glass, cardboard plant, stearin plant, glycerin plant, mechanical engineering plant and a forge were built. At the same time a factory siding, water works on Elbe river, and a power plant supplying the plants as well as public street lighting were constructed. The company also owned coal mines. In 1906 a branch in the town of Moravská Ostrava was established. The original seat of the company in Rynoltice became a branch. Both Rynoltice nad Usti nad Labem plants were continuously modernized. 

Schicht - Severočeské tukové závody - SETUZA a .s.

In his time, Johann Schicht belonged to the best known Czech industrialists like Bata or Skoda. In 1898, due to his contribution to the development of industry in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he was awarded the title of Imperial Councilor. He was a member of many commercial, national and humanitarian clubs and associations. He was interested in arts, reading classic German authors, French enlighteners, and he also revered the spiritual heritage of L. N. Tolstoy. Just for illustration here are several ideas of Johann Schicht taken from his correspondence. They are based on Tolstoy´s philosophy: "I revere Tolstoy as a saint, though he is Russian. In my eyes he is the noblest personality that has ever lived since the time of Christ ... Never to force your neighbours to produce for you unnecessary or even harmful things. To produce as much as possible and consume as little as possible. To live a life that can be summed up on our last day: "You have contributed to the progress of mankind ... To live only for ourselves is worthless." Johann Schicht was an adversary of alcohol and smoking. He wanted to contribute to the campaign against alcoholism by establishing the production of "Ceres saft" fruit juices, first in Rynoltice and then also in Ústí nad Labem. (This production survived until 1952 and then it was transferred to another place.) The year 1906 was a turning point in the history of the company. The family business was converted into a joint-stock company. Looking at the board of directors, besides Schicht surnames, there were their relatives as well as businessmen from Ústí nad Labem, as e.g. Mr. Petschek and Wolfrum. The registered capital of the company amounted to 10,000,000.00 korunas. The first president of the company was Johann Schicht, then his son Heinrich after Johann´s death in 1907. The company had 1880 employees in that year.

In accordance with global trends, the consumption in the sales area of the company was rising. That is why the margarine plant was enlarged. Due to the rationalization of the production the quality of fats increased and the price dropped, which directly influenced the turnover. (The first edible fat called "Ceres" was manufactured in Rynoltice in 1903 from where the production was very soon transferred to Ústí nad Labem). In 1911 a fat hardening plant was put into operation. It was the first hardening plant in Europe and the fourth in the world. In the following two years a new boiler house was built having the highest smoke-stack in the Empire. At the same time a new headquarters were accomplished. The staff of the company amounted to 3500 employees. The company received 5000 orders every day representing 100 000 customers in total. The Georg Schicht joint stock company became the largest company of that type in Europe. There was a larger soap making plant in England, larger oil mill in Germany, and larger margarine plant in the Netherlands but a complex of the three at such technical level did not exist anywhere else.

An intensive development of the company was interrupted by the World War I. Nearly 1600 employees took part in the war including the members of Schicht´s family. The company spent a lot of money on war supports provided not only for company's employees or for the members of their families but also for the Red Cross.

After the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire the company of Georg Schicht lost 75 % of market outlet. Out of the total 60 millions of inhabitants of the monarchy only 13 millions remained in the Czechoslovak Republic. It was necessary to built new factories or modernize the existing ones in the newly created states to restore the market in this part of Europe . The company bought small plants that were not able to compete, as e.g. Kunerol Works, Oil Mill in Lovosice, or companies with profitable products, as e.g. the Swiss company Sarg producing the Kalodont toothpaste. In the Czechoslovak Republic, manufacturing and sales companies were established in the Czechoslovak Republic, e.g. Radion Strekov and Radion Prague, Sana Prague, Elida Strekov. From reasons of taxation issues those companies acted formally as independent units but were directly controlled by the parent company.

Towards the end of World War I, a third margarine plant was put into operation in Ústí nad Labem. In the following period the existing mechanical engineering plant became the largest one of its kind in the former Czechoslovak Republic (named Strojobal today). The production capacity (62 machine tools) enabled the factory to produce equipment and provide services not only for the company and its subsidiaries but also to take external orders as e.g. the construction of the steel bridge for the town of Litomerice. The crate and barrel making mill was supplied with wood from the company's own saw mill in Slovakia, and another power plant was built. In the branch plant "Centra" in Kresice near Decin, which was the most modern plant of this type, delicacy Vitello margarine was produced from edible fats, oils, milk, and egg yellow. The dairy processed 20 000 liters of milk every day.

The Schicht company spent a lot of money on advertising. As early as one year after the establishment of the factory in Ústí nad Labem, the company employed the first travelling representative, and used all available forms of advertising. Advertisements in printed media, large posters in cities, and metal plates delivered to shops. Permanent dealers were provided with brochures for the customers as e.g. Schicht´s calendar, Schicht´s messenger, and fairy tales for children. Prizes were awarded for collecting certain number of packages of certain products. It is probable that generous spendings also in this sphere were always worthwhile, and the money spent on advertising and promotion was brought back.

The economic crisis, and above all unemployment, and over-production was not so pronounced in this field. It was partially due to the decrease of prices and continuous input of raw materials from purchase centers in London, Rotterdam and Hamburg. In 1927, following this purpose the Dutch company "Margarine Unie" was established with an active participation of Schicht company. Consequently the Schicht company merged with Anglo-Dutch UNILEVER. A headquarters for the management of Central and East European enterprises was established in Ústí nad Labem.

Rather worse was the effect of so called Margarine Act that specified the limits of production. This government regulation partially paralyzed the manufacturing process. The quota for Schicht company resulted in the decrease of production by 400 wagons.

In 1927 the total yearly turnover amounted to 30 000 railway wagons. In 1936 the factory employed 2 170 workers and 1 084 other personnel, of which 400 in Centra Kresice. In 1937 after the fire of candle plant a new stearin plant was build, 4 years later a new extraction plant followed, and in 1943 a new washing powder plant was erected.

The Schichts had capital share in various companies and commercial activities. These were: tenement houses, navigation companies, spas (e.g. Terezíny in the town of Dubí), big farms, Cemolit works, and timbering plant in Mojzir. They sponsored churches at Libochovany, Prackovice and Velké Zernoseky. Heinrich Schicht was a member of a number of boards of directors of companies, the activity of which was associated with the main profile of the company. He had an influential position in the Czech association of businessmen and in some trade-interest associations.

The company was equipped with company's own consulting-room staffed permanently with a physician and a nurse. As early as in 1887 a statutes of company's contributory sickness fund were issued. Later a contributory fund and supporting institution were established as independent subject of law. All these institutions were subsidized by the management of the company.

The recruitment of new staff was carried out very carefully. For instance new clerks were enrolled according to their certificates and recommendations. Nevertheless every applicant had to pass a test focused on the position supposed. It is interesting that the applicants of German nationality had to prove, if necessary, their communication skill in Czech too. According to witnesses there were no differences between Czechs and Germans neither in employee ratings nor salary ranges. Capabilities and honest work were the decisive aspects. Nevertheless it is true that the company employed a lot of German employees. It would be interesting to map the demographic composition of the inhabitants of Strekov which was the background of the labour force of the company. Maybe we would see that the relationship between these two nationalities may have been equal. The tradition has it that those who worked for Schicht had then open doors everywhere.

During the World War II the situation in the company management was not changed. Some plants were modified according to the needs of war production (tapping and monitoring devices, shells, components of V1 missiles). The basic staff of the company was combined with workers deported from other European countries and with the prisoners of war. During the air raids to the city of Ústí nad Labem the boiler house of the company was damaged to the largest extent.

In May 1945 the company was transferred into Czech hands very peacefully. For some time the company was managed by both the new and old management together. Later also and well known forms of "business activities" were introduced.

In 1946 after the nationalization the national enterprise Severočeské tukové závody (North Bohemian Fat Works) was established. The most important parts of the factory were gradually reconstructed and modernized. To name the older ones we can mention e.g. the modernization of the manufacture of hydrogenation catalyst, enlargement of the production of crude vegetable oils, the modernization of the grain soap plant, erection of a new washing powder plant, plant for new edible fats and edible oil bottling plant.

Till 1990 the Severočeské tukové závody formed a part of the concern of Tukový průmysl (Fat Industry) in Prague. In that year the independent state enterprise was established that was then transferred into the joint stock company named SETUZA a.s. Ústí nad Labem within the framework of major privatization scheme.

The purposeful activities of SETUZA a.s. targeted at the use of the latest findings of research, new technologies, and at the production of high quality products, gradually improves the position of SETUZA´s products in the market in the Czech Republic to which the production is directed especially.

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