The WEIDMANN History

From 1877 to present
	1877 Heinrich Weidmann acquires the old water-powered town mill in Rapperswil, Switzerland and establishes a pressboard and cardboard factory. He starts supplying insulating materials to the still young electrical industry.
	1914 Heinrich Weidmann dies without having a successor. His company is taken over by management and townsmen of Rapperswil and transformed into a joint stock corporation ("H. Weidmann Aktiengesellschaft"). The ailing company acquires "Grüzengut", 4 hectares of land in Rapperswil, and builds a modern industrial production and office complex.
	1923 Close to bankruptcy, the company is acquired by a financial consortium under the leadership of Jean Tschudi–Klaesi, the owner of a small board mill from Ennenda in the nearby Canton of Glarus. This board mill produces specialty boards for nonelectrical applications, in particular stereotype matrix boards used in rotary printing.
	1925 The necessary restructuring is entrusted to Jean Tschudi's son, paper engineer Hans Tschudi–Faude. He positions H. Weidmann AG as a first class supplier of cellulose based specialty boards and components for the power transformer industry (WEIDMANN ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY), and later on moulded parts for industrial application from thermosetting material and thermoplastics (WEIDMANN PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY).
	1930-48 Plastic resin compounds, in particular Bakelite, have become fashionable. WEIDMANN is one of the first companies in Switzerland using this base material in compression moulding to manufacture machine parts for the spinning and weaving industry. First production of insulation components from calendered pressboard. In 1937, Hans Tschudi invents "Transformerboard" (hot press dried insulation board mainly used for transformers). 1939-45 During the Second World War, when export of high voltage insulation collapses, WEIDMANN survives thanks to its booming Plastics Technology, producing components from rifle shafts to housings for the domestic telecommunications industry. 1948 Hans Tschudi travels to the USA to buy the first injection moulding machines.
	1952 An important breakthrough in Electrical Technology is achieved by installing WEIDMANN's first large size (3x6m) Transformerboard (T IV) machine in Rapperswil, Switzerland.
	1968 Dr. Felix Tschudi–Hubacher assumes management responsibility from his father. Tschudi&Cie. AG is integrated in the WEIDMANN organization. Convinced that export alone will not satisfy growing customer demand, Felix Tschudi starts an ambitious international expansion program for WEIDMANN’s high voltage insulation (Electrical Technology) business.
	1970 Procelis SA, Bourgoin-Jallieu, France (fabrication of insulation components) joins the WEIDMANN organization as Joint enture/licensing partner and is finally acquired in 1976.
	1971 EHV-Industries Inc. (today WEIDMANN ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY, Inc.) in St. Johnsbury, VT, USA joins the WEIDMANN organization and will become the hub of ETBA's North American fabrication of transformerboard and insulation components/packages. Start of Licensing Partnership with Honshu Paper (today Oji Specialty Paper Co. Ltd.), Japan (until 2006).
	1976 Foundation of Systems Sales Representatives, Inc. (later Weidmann Systems International, Inc.) in St. Johnsbury, VT, USA, as resale and sourcing company for transformer equipment and accessories.
	1978 Foundation of WEIDMANN do Brasil (today Weidmann Tecnologia Elétrica Ltda.) in Diadema SP, Brazil. (Fabrication of insulation components)
	1981 Takeover of Whiteley Ltd., Pool-in-Wharfedale, England, renowned for its paper specialties for electrical and non-electrical applications (e.g. calender bowl).
	1988-1989 WEIDMANN PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY records first sales of its two-component cowl vent to the German automotive industry. 1989 Acquisition of Weidmann Industries, LP in Fergus, ONT, Canada (fabrication of insulation components for the electrical equipment industry). Foundation of Gallan & Associates, Strathfield/Sydney, Australia as ETBA sales office. The still growing group of business units is reorganized under a holding company. In 1994 it is renamed WICOR (Weidmann International Corporation) Holding AG.
	1994 Representative office for WEIDMANN ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY established in Kiev, Ukraine. 1995 First Asian sales office for WEIDMANN ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY established in Singapore. Establishment of Izo-Prod d.o.o., an insulation components workshop in Zagreb, Croatia. 1996 Establishment of Weidmann Systems International Ltd., ETBA's sales and sourcing organization, in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Weidmann Technical Services, Inc. established in St. Johnsbury, VT, USA, later merged into Weidmann Diagnostic Solutions.
	1997 First ETBA production site, Taizhou Weidmann High Voltage Insulation Systems Co. Ltd, established in Taizhou, Jiangsu, China, with a new production plant for Transformerboard. Foundation of Weidmann Technologia Elétrica de Mexico S.A., Saltillo, COAH, Mexico (fabrication of insulation components). Divestiture of the Tschudi&Cie. AG non-electrical specialty boards activities in Ennenda, Canton of Glarus, Switzerland. Conversion of the plant into a new WEIDMANN PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY production facility for automotive components.
	1998 WEIDMANN PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY successfully incorporates micro-structures (nano-technology) in medical components used for analytics and diagnostics ("lab-on-a-chip"). First WEIDMANN PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY overseas production site, Weidmann Tecnologia em Plásticos Ltda, established in Piracicaba, SP, Brazil.
	1999 Opening of a new WEIDMANN PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY production facility for automotive components in Rüti, Canton of Zürich, Switzerland. WEIDMANN PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY starts production partnership with Plasticos Brello in Huarte Pamplona, Spain. Establishment of Weidmann Automotive-Engineering GmbH in Sindelfingen, later with offices in Munich. Merged into WEIDMANN PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY (Deutschland) AG in 2006. Malin Paper Mill, (today Weidmann Malin Paper Mill) large and renowned manufacturer of electrical and specialty papers in Malin, Ukraine, joins the Weidmann organization. Establishment of the Weidmann Malin Insulation Components production facility. License contract with Govik, Electricals Pvt. Ltd., Mumbay, India (fabrication of insulation components).
	2000 Acquisition of Bruwag AG, Bad Ragaz, Switzerland, merged 2006 into WEIDMANN PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY AG, Rapperswil. Establishment of a new production plant with clean-room facilities for WEIDMANN PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY's Medical Division. Acquisition of the US-Canadian transformer oil diagnostics and services group ACTI, Inc. (today Weidmann Diagnostic Solutions), with headquarters in Sacramento, CA and laboratories in Bensalem, PA, Indianapolis, IN, Houston, TX and Calgary, CAN. Tecnidd, later renamed Weidmann Electrical Insulation Systems (Shanghai) Ltd., joins ETBA's Chinese resale organization.
	2001 Franziska Tschudi assumes management responsibility from her father. Acquisition of Avery Dennison's Electrical Paper Division, Framingham, MA and O'Fallon, MI, USA (today WEIDMANN ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY Inc., EPD Division). Fabrication of specialty crepe and diamond dotted insulation paper.
	2003 Foundation of WEIDMANN PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY (Deutschland) AG and establishment of a production plant in Treuen, Saxony, Germany. Foundation of WEIDMANN PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY North Americas, Inc. and establishment of a production plant in Auburn, AL, USA. 2005 Weidmann Diagnostic Solutions acquires the former Siemens Burlington/Toronto, Canada laboratory. WEIDMANN ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY sales office established in Ansan, South Korea. Opening of a Weidmann Tecnología Elétrica plant in Porto Alegre, Brazil. (Fabrication of insulating components)
	2007 Expansion of the Rapperswil, Switzerland transformerboard plant by second bay housing a new fransformerboard machine. Opening of a new Weidmann Diagnostic Solutions laboratory in Lake Hamilton, FL, USA. Weidmann Tecnologia Elétrica moves from Diadema to Piracicaba, Brazil, into new production and office facilities shared with Weidmann Tecnologia em Plásticos Ltda.
	2008 Opening of a new Weidmann Diagnostics Solutions laboratory in Baton Rouge, LA and Waukesha, WI, USA. Expansion of the WEIDMANN PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY's Medical Division plant in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland, thereby double its clean-room facility.
	2009 Inauguration of the expanded transformerboard plant in Rapperswil, Switzerland.