What does passion for precision mean?
The managing director answers questions
Wiederholt is one of the leading manufacturers of high-precision, drawn steel tubes. What makes the company so special and what marks you out from the competition?
Wiederholt is 100 % focused on welded and cold-drawn precision steel tubes, where many tube providers only stock these as a secondary product. This specialism allows us to cater for the highest requirements of our individual customers in terms of dimension, tolerances, geometry and surface quality.
Wiederholt has been active in international markets for over 100 years. How did it all start? And what obstacles were there in the history of the company?
Everything started in 1919 and, after a very short time, the company had established itself as a provider of electrically resistant press-welded and drawn precision steel tubes. The excellent skills of the entrepreneur, Vincenz Wiederholt, in mastering foreign languages already helped him to master the greatest global economic crisis of the last century in the 1930s. The special social tradition of the company and ensuring that employees identified with the company to the greatest possible extent made it possible to keep going, even after crisis situations.
The production of precise steel tubes can only be described as complex.
Can you briefly outline the production process for us – from the raw material to the final product?
First, the steel coil is cut into slit strips. These are then rolled and welded to form a tube. The tube then goes through the stations of annealing, and mechanical and chemical treatment, and is then drawn. After straightening and the fault-free inspections using ultrasound and eddy currents, as well as cutting to the desired length, the tube is then ready to be packed and shipped.
Your steel suppliers have a shining reputation. What importance does the quality of the steel and your partner companies have?
The quality of the steel is very important to us. We ensure this by only buying the primary materials from selected premium suppliers from Central Europe. Good tubes can only be produced from good primary materials!
MARTIN KRÄMER
Vincenz Wiederholt GmbH
Managing Director
Your range offers the right solutions for various branches.
Which sectors are your main customers?
Our customers are primarily active in the automotive, mechanical engineering and agricultural industry sectors.
In business, this motto applies: Standing still is the same as going backwards. What plans and measures do you have for the future?
Over recent years, we have upgraded our process development in terms of capacity and intellect. Our aim is to cold form steels with an ever greater degree of tensile strength so as to meet the requirements of our customers in terms of weight savings, for example, and to keep the steel tube competitive against other materials as well. This is supported with targeted investments in our machinery.
How can you encourage talented young people into a career at Wiederholt?
Wiederholt is characterised by over 100 years of lived social tradition which is always passed on from older generations to younger ones. This high degree of reliability also inspires enthusiasm among young people in the 21st century for this “old economy” company.
