Wintersteiger

In 1953, Fritz Walter and Johann Wintersteiger founded the Walter & Wintersteiger locksmith's shop in the old smithy in Obernberg am Inn, Austria. The first products were a seed drill and a laboratory thresher for a seed breeding company. In 1958, the business was relocated to Ried, Austria, where the group's headquarters are still located today.

Product expansion 1960s

In the 1960s, Wintersteiger introduced the first serial-produced plot harvesters. Further, Wintersteiger began producing ski production machines and ski service machines, including a stone grinding machine for Fischer – the microplan grinder.

Reorientation 1970s

In the 1970s, Wintersteiger developed a frame saw for ski production and other grinding machines for base service. At the same time Wintersteiger shifted its focus from ski production machines to ski service machines. In 1976, the company building was extended for the first time.

Business expansion 1990s

At the ISPO 1996 in Munich Wintersteiger presented two new product lines for ski service machines. The group had also taken over the distribution of the French SKI2 products in Austria, the US and Canada. When the wood processing industry switched from solid wood to multi-layer boards at the end of the 1990s, Wintersteiger’s frame saw was now repurposed for slicing precious woods. Since 1998, Wintersteiger has been the exclusive machinery supplier to the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV).

Acquisitions and production expansion 2000s

After Germany, France, the USA and Canada, Wintersteiger established branches in Italy (2000), Switzerland (2002) and Singapore (2004). Furthermore, several companies were acquired around the turn of the millennium: Hege in Germany (1999) and SKID in France (1999), Grindrite in the USA (1999), SKI2 in France (2002) and Banholzer GmbH in Germany (2004). With the acquisition of Hege, Wintersteiger had taken over its largest competitor in the production of sowing and harvesting machines for seed research. This was followed by the establishment of subsidiaries in China (2006), Brazil (2008), and Russia (2008). In 2011, Wintersteiger took over the majority of Kohler Maschinenbau GmbH and thus entered the field of levelling technology. In the same year, Wintersteiger bought the company Bootdoc and took over the majority of VAP Automation GmbH in 2012.

In 2002, Wintersteiger completed its exhibition hall and started the construction of a new production hall. In 2006, new operating buildings followed for the sales and service branches in St. Hélène du Lac, France, and in Salt Lake City, USA. In 2004, Wintersteiger invested in additional production sites for their subsidiary Banholzer, and in 2006, a new saw production plant was built in Arnstadt, Thuringia. In 2014, Kohler changed its location to Lahr, Germany. The newly constructed company building was the largest single investment in the company’s history at around EUR 14 million.

In 2004, Wintersteiger was converted from a GmbH (limited liability company) to an AG (public limited company).

Business and product expansion 2010s

In January 2017, further developments of the existing product series and the new Scout ski service machine were presented at ISPO Munich – a ski service station for skis and snowboards that is used in ski service workshops of various sizes. In 2019, Wintersteiger took over Serra Maschinenbau GmbH. Serra developed machines and saw bands for mobile and stationary sawmills.