From Madsen Machine Guns to DISAMATIC

Denmark must produce weapons,” is the message from the government and Parliament these years. It is not many decades since we last produced and sold weapons at home and abroad through, among others, the Rifle Syndicate – with great success. This book tells the story of the company from 1900 to the present day.

The nickname “Riffelsyndikatet” refers to the Danish Recoil Rifle Syndicate, probably Denmark’s most successful arms manufacturer in the 20th century. The Syndicate, however, faced headwinds during the occupation, when it cooperated with the Germans. Today, the company is known as DISA, and it has not produced weapons since the 1980s.

From Madsen Machine Guns to DISAMATIC is the story of a remarkable industrial adventure that began in Copenhagen’s Freeport in 1900, with a licence to export Madsen machine guns under the name Dansk Rekylriffel Syndikat – Compagnie Madsen A/S. Today, the adventure continues in Taastrup, where DISA is a world leader in technologies for shaping and processing metal components.

The Danish Recoil Rifle Syndicate spent many years as an arms manufacturer, but making money from the arms trade is rarely popular with the public. DISA felt this acutely during the occupation and its cooperation with the occupying forces – and in the years afterwards. This was among the reasons why DISA chose to forge a completely new path.

Today, DISA manufactures foundry machinery and, as part of NORICAN, helps establish complete foundries across the world. This is the result of a successful transformation that began in 1961 with the patent for the production of vertical moulding machines: DISAMATIC. It was a patent that was not even fully developed when DISA bought it from Professor Vagn Aage Jeppesen.

From Madsen Machine Guns to DISAMATIC is published to mark DISA’s 125th anniversary in November 2025. The book is intended for all readers with an interest in Danish business history.

The authors are historian Ole Jeppesen and DISA senior consultant Poul Erik Arre.