Đuro Đaković Holding d.d. was founded in 1991 in accordance with a founder agreement concluded by the Croatian Development Fund, Croatian Railways and Composite Company Đuro Đaković of the time.

In accordance with Companies Act of that time, Đuro Đaković organizations of associated labour have reorganized and transformed into joint stock and limited liability companies, transferring their capital to the Croatian Development Fund, later to become the Croatian Privatization Fund, which invested its stock and shares into Đuro Đaković Holding d.d., thus becoming the majority owner.

Today, Đuro Đaković Group consists of Đuro Đaković Grupa d.d. as the central operating company of the Group, and four companies in which Đuro Đaković Grupa d.d. is the majority owner.

Đuro Đaković Group consists of the following companies:

• Đuro Đaković Specijalna vozila d.d.
• Đuro Đaković Industrijska rješenja d.d.
• Đuro Đaković Strojna obrada d.o.o.
• Đuro Đaković Energetika i infrastruktura d.o.o.

The companies are divided into three strategic business units: Defence, Transport and Industry and Energetics, offering full service tailored to the needs of the client, from turnkey solutions to individual products, parts, components, as well as repair and maintenance services.

The period from 1921 to 1940

1921 – The Founding Assembly of the shareholders was held and the company was entered into the court registry; the construction of factory buildings began.

The founders were:

•  Prva Hrvatska štedionica (The First Croatian Savings Bank), Zagreb
• Slavonija d.d. za industriju drva (Slavonija d.d. Wood Industry), Brod
• Slavonsko trgovačko društvo ugljena Kauffman i drugovi u Brodu na Savi (Kauffmann and Co. Coal Trade, Brod on Sava River)
• Machinery & Railway-Equipment Works, Kistarcsa
• Jugoslavenska banka d.d., Osijek

The factory's goal was construction and maintenance of railway vehicles and locomotives, railway bridges and structures, the manufacture of railway traffic tools and equipment, development and running of the industry related to the aforementioned products, engagement in the construction and equipping of railways, operation of railway lines under own management or in collaboration with other companies and similar.

Andrija Kiraly was appointed General Manager, while Mavro Donath was appointed as the Operations Manager.

1921 – Construction of factory buildings started in May.

1922 – The factory commenced with railway vehicle production and maintenance.

1923 – The company employed 1,200 workers.

OUR FIRSTS TO BE REMEMBERED...

• 1926 – The bridge over the Tisza River near Titel constructed.
• 1926 – The first railway freight car produced.
• 1926 – The first steam boiler produced.
• 1928 – The first tram produced, commissioned by City of Belgrade.
• 1930 – The first chemical and processing industry tank manufactured and installed.
• 1930 – The first bridge exported to Greece.
• 1935 – The first bridge crane constructed according to own design.
• 1935 – The first standard-gauge railway locomotive manufactured.
• 1938 – The first motor-train for the Sarajevo – Mostar railway line manufactured.

The period from 1941 to 1960

1941 – The factory halts production temporarily, after suffering significant damage from bombing.

1947 – The company renamed Đuro Đaković Industrija lokomotiva, strojeva i mostova (Đuro Đaković Locomotive, Machine and Bridge Industry), Slavonski Brod.

1952 – The number of employees doubles, 410 railway cars exported to Turkish Railways, 208 locomotives from the standard product line manufactured to meet domestic needs; Agreement on Business and Technical Cooperation concluded with The Babcock & Wilcox Company.

1955 – The first 20 hp locomotive manufactured.

1956 – The first 50 hp and 100 hp diesel locomotives manufactured.

1957 – The first commissioned 180 hp locomotives manufactured.

The period from 1961 to 1980

1961 – The Company renamed Đuro Đaković Industrija šinskih vozila, industrijskih i energetskih postrojenja i čeličnih konstrukcija Slavonski Brod (Đuro Đaković Railway Vehicle, Industrial Energy Machinery and Steel Structure Industry, Slavonski Brod)

1964 – Product range expanded with oil and petrochemical industry equipment. A part-time degree course of the Zagreb Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture set up in Slavonski Brod, nowadays the Faculty of Machine Engineering in Slavonski Brod.

1969 – Đuro Đaković becomes the biggest manufacturer of Steambloc boilers worldwide. At the time, 60,000 tonnes of steel structures were manufactured, mostly bridges; 200,000 tonnes of steel structures manufactured by the company itself and other companies were erected, including 48 bridges domestically and abroad. Complete production plants and steel structures were manufactured for ironworks in Skopje, Smederevo, Zenica and Sisak, as well as a large number of bridge, portal and shipyard cranes.

1976 – In a joint-venture with Energoinvest from Sarajevo, Đuro Đaković, begins exporting components for primary loops of nuclear power plants.

1977 –RO Inženjering, a business unit for design and production engineering, is founded.

From 1970 to 1981 – Virovitica and Bijeljina Sugar Mills constructed; Kosjerić, Beočin and "Dalmacija cement” cement factories constructed in cooperation with Krupp Polysius company; projects abroad include a Cement Factory in Alexandria, the Homs Cement Factory and the 4x400 MW NEKA Thermal Power Plant in Iran, built jointly with Babcock & Wilcox

New products are introduced in this period, namely:

• a 1882 hp electric diesel engine, developed in cooperation with General Motors (USA),
• Waporax and Thermopac boiler lines, in cooperation with Wanson (Belgium),
• the production of multilayer expansion joints, a joint-venture with Teddington Bellows (United Kingdom).
• Construction completed of Tvornica kompenzatora, Montaža and Elektromont production and business facilities, the heavy equipment production hall, crane production facilities, the Computing Centre and the Scientific Research Institute.

The period from 1981 to 1990

1982 – Mass production of combine harvesters at Đuro Đaković Tvornica poljoprivrednih strojeva (Agricultural Machine Factory) in Županja, based on Deutz-Fahr technology.

1983 – Đuro Đaković Specijalna vozila (Special Vehicles) commences mass production of the M-84 tank.

• Đuro Đaković Elektromont introduces a line for production of hot and cold beverage vending machines and game of chance machines, while Đuro Đaković Bešavne boce starts a production line for seamless steel cylinders.
• Đuro Đaković Inženjering is employed on the construction of sugar mills in Šabac and Požarevac, the thermal electric and heat plant in Ljubljana, and, in cooperation with the Swiss company Sulzer, the Plomin II 200 MW thermal electric power plant.
• Consignment of natural gas processing equipment for INA – Molve.
• An agreement on the production of spherical petrochemical tanks for Iraq concluded.
• Conclusion of agreement and partial consignment of 214 M-84 tanks for Kuwait.

1986 – A total of 16,339 people are employed at Đuro Đaković.

The period from 1990 to date

1991 – Founding Assembly of Đuro Đaković Holding d.d. was held, founded by Croatian Development Fund, Croatian Railways and Đuro Đaković Composite Company.

1993 – By decision of the Đuro Đaković Holding Management Board, the company is transformed into a joint stock company. Subsidiaries which make up the Group today operate independently on the market.

1993 – A 240-tonne fractionation column, the heaviest product ever built at Đuro Đaković, was consigned to INA.

1995 – Several types of weapons, instruments and ammunition were produced for Croatian Armed Forces during the Homeland War.