English translation

Jetsmark’s Struggle with Unemployment in the 1950s

In the 1950s, Jetsmark Municipality had one of the highest unemployment rates in Denmark. The area’s largest workplace, Kaas Briquette Factory, had seen its heyday, and new businesses were needed to absorb the workforce.

To kickstart this development, a large business exhibition was held in Pandrup in 1955. In the following years, several more or less successful companies and factories emerged, leading to the formation of a small industrial district along Industrivej, later renamed Gl. Industrivej, as a larger industrial area developed south of the town.

This exhibition focuses on one of the small and short-lived companies that sprang up in Pandrup in the late 1950s – the television factory TEPANCO.

Television: A Luxury Product in the 1950s

Today, most Danes have at least one TV at home. In the 1950s, however, televisions were still a luxury product that required saving up for. Samkøb, a trade union-owned company, aimed to change this by offering consumer goods like televisions, refrigerators, and bicycles at lower prices by purchasing directly from manufacturers, cutting out the middleman.

A Copenhagen trading company offered to supply Samkøb with 10,000 affordable televisions over two years. They had already secured purchase agreements for the components but needed a location with cheap land and available labor. Pandrup was chosen due to the Business Office’s promise of rapid factory construction. Just eight weeks after breaking ground, production was underway, and the first televisions were completed in September 1958.

Leadership and Workforce at TEPANCO

The factory was led by Director Aksel Ludvigsen and Technical Chief Monsieur Meire, a Belgian engineer from Arel. Components were supplied by the Belgian company Arel and the Dutch company Philips.
Initially, 20 unskilled workers—men and women—were employed, despite having no prior experience with TV technology. A crash course in soldering and a willingness to work were enough to start production, even though communication with the Belgian engineer relied on gestures and sign language.

TEPANCO also provided jobs for local suppliers. TV cabinets were designed and produced by the newly established companies Jysk Formfinér and Pandrup Træindustri, employing around 30 workers in cabinet manufacturing.

TEPANCO’s Sudden Shutdown and Restart

Everything was running smoothly, with 50 employees in full operation. However, in April 1959, just six months after production began, all workers were laid off. Samkøb failed to sell the expected number of televisions and went bankrupt. Only 2,000 TVs had been delivered, and just half of them were sold—far below the projected 10,000 over two years.

Fortunately, FDB (Fællesforeningen for Danske Brugsforeninger) took over the agreement, restarting production in August 1959. FDB was a major player in the market and could offer TEPANCO televisions at just 1,285 DKK, making them among the cheapest available.

In the early 1960s, Danish TV manufacturers engaged in a price war, which was great for consumers—more people could afford a television, and both investors and workers in Pandrup profited.

TEPANCO television factory in 1959

In the foreground, Løkkenvej can be seen, and in the background, the house at Parallelvej 17. Between the factory hall and Løkkenvej, Industrivej – today Gamle Industrivej – was constructed in the early 1960s. Like many other industrial buildings in Denmark from the same period, it was a so-called Flexbyg – a flexible construction that could quickly be adapted from one type of production to another, a necessity in a rapidly changing market.

The Decline of TEPANCO and Danish TV Production

The price war, however, was unsustainable. Large foreign manufacturers—especially German, Dutch, and, increasingly, Japanese companies—offered equal or better quality at lower prices. As they gained a foothold in the Danish market, the local TV industry, including TEPANCO, collapsed.

TEPANCO shut down in spring 1962, and the factory building was sold to a new business.

Børge Møller, one of the key figures behind the Business Office and the 1955 business exhibition, wrote a detailed article about the efforts to create businesses and jobs in Jetsmark in the 1950s and 1960s. The article is available for purchase at the Egnssamlingen store.