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An outline of Wieland's history
After a series of extended study tours through Germany and neighbouring countries, Philipp Jakob Wieland returned to his hometown Ulm with a thorough grounding in his trade. At the age of 27, he took over the fine art and bell foundry in the Rosengasse from his uncle Thomas Frauenlob, which had been established some 250 years earlier. This was announced to the townspeople of Ulm in the local newspaper "Ulmisches Intelligenzblatt" on 19th October 1820, offering his services to produce brass castings of all kinds.
At that time, no one suspected that this was a man whose character, vision and enthusiasm for work would win him a well-justified reputation as a pioneer of industry. Today, we know better.
Wieland's history began in 1820 with the art of casting bells and utility items in copper alloys. Since then, copper materials from Wieland have stood in good repute. Over the years Wieland has had a major influence on the development of processing and manufacturing technology.
| Wieland since 1820 | |
|---|---|
| 1820 | Philipp Jakob Wieland takes over the art and bell foundry in Rosengasse in Ulm owned by his uncle, Thomas Frauenlob |
| 1828 | Production of rolled brass material starts right in the centre of the city of Ulm |
| 1841 | New facilities for rolling and wire drawing are built in Herrlingen |
| 1859 | Acquisition of new premises in Ulm (Willy-Brandt-Platz) |
| 1864 | In Vöhringen, 17 km to the south of Ulm, a brass rolling mill and a wire drawing mill are built. Tube mill in Ulm produces first seamless tubes |
| 1865 | Start-up of Vöhringen plant with an initial workforce of 38 people |
| 1891 | Transfer of slab foundry from Ulm to Vöhringen. Vöhringen plant gets rail connection |
| 1898 | Start of rod production |
| 1901 | Introduction of extrusion process; in Vöhringen, the first extrusion press for sections and tubes is put into operation |
| 1919 | Conversion from general partnership into Wieland-Werke AG (stock corporation) |
| 1922 | Creation of Wieland trust |
| 1924 | Electrical induction furnaces replace coal-fired furnaces at the Vöhringen foundry. Brass is hot rolled |
| 1929 | Installation of modern hot-rolling mill in Vöhringen. It is in use until 1972 |
| 1931 | Acquisition of Messingwerk Schwarzwald AG (since 1951 Metallwerke Schwarzwald GmbH) |
| 1933 | Development of continuous casting process for billets and slabs |
| 1939 | First Hollerith machines are installed; start of automatic data processing |
| 1945 | The Ulm plant is largely destroyed by bombs; dismantling of important production units in Vöhringen |
| 1946 | Reconstruction |
| 1950/60 | Extension of production capacity; development of a worldwide distribution network |
| 1961 | Production start of new tube mill in Vöhringen |
| 1969 | Establishment of Schwarzwälder Metallhandel in Schwenningen |
| 1970 | Creation of non-profit making trust Berufsbildungswerk Philipp Jakob Wieland |
| 1980 | Opening of slitting centre in Wheeling, USA |
| 1982 | Move from city centre Ulm to new plant and administration unit Ulm/Donautal |
| 1987 | Acquisition of Langenberg Kupfer- und Messingwerke. |
| Official opening of rolling mill in Wheeling, USA | |
| 1988 | B. Mason & Sons Ltd., Birmingham, UK, becomes a member of the Wieland group |
| 1989 | Takeover of slitting centre Nemco Metals, Northampton, United Kingdom |
| 1990 | Participation in slitting centre Cimsa, Barcelona, Spain |
| 1991 | Opening of slitting centre Wieland Metals Singapore |
| 1993 | New production line for rods, sections and wires becomes operational in the southern part of the Vöhringen plant; |
| Majority takeover of slitting centre Erich Rössler, Kaufbeuren | |
| 1998 | Takeover of slitting centre Semimetais, Porto, Portugal |
| 1999 | Majority participation in Austria Buntmetall AG, Enzesfeld, with companies in Amstetten and Enzesfeld, Austria; |
| Opening of sales office in Shanghai, China | |
| 2001 | Integration of Metallwerke Schwarzwald and Langenberg Kupfer- und Messingwerke into Wieland-Werke AG; |
| Opening of slitting centre in Shanghai, China | |
| 2002 | Start-up of a new hot-rolling mill at the Vöhringen plant, marking the conclusion of the largest investment project in the history of Wieland: the new reroll strip production concept |
| 2003 | Joint-venture between Kobe Steel, Japan, and Wieland-Werke AG: KobeWieland Copper Products manufactures plain and inner-grooved copper tubes in Pine Hall, USA. |
| Outer-finned copper tubes, so-called chiller tubes, are manufactured in Wheeling, USA | |
| 2005 | Acquisition of Manner Metals, Copenhagen, Denmark; |
| Opening of sales offices in Bangalore, India and Shenzhen, China | |
| 2006 | Transfer of Singapore administration and slitting center to the new factory |
| 2007 | Acquisition of Almeta Stahl- und Metallhandel AG, Solothurn, Switzerland; |
| Opening rolling mill in Singapore; | |
| Opening of sales offices in Moscow (RUS) and Tokyo (J) | |
| Opening of trading company in Prague (CZ) | |
| 2008 | Opening of trading company in Warsaw (PL) |
| Participation in Wolverine Tube Shanghai (CN) | |
| 2009 | Acquisition of trading company Fudickar Sauerländer Metallhandel, Hagen-Hohenlimburg |
| 2010 | The two Austrian plants Buntmetall Amstetten, Amstetten, and Enzesfeld-Caro Metallwerke, Enzesfeld, are merged into one company, namely buntmetall amstetten Ges.m.b.H. |
| Wolverine Tube and the Wieland Group form Wolverine/Wieland Heat Transfer Technologies based in Huntsville (USA) and Ulm – a joint venture for the development of heat transfer technology. |
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