Welcome to the
WEGMANN GROUP

Peter Wegmann founds the Casseler Waggonfabriken. With 210 employees, it is already possible to start production in January. The first coal wagons leave the factory gates in May.

Four years after its foundation, the company is renamed Wegmann & Co. Already in this year, 677 wagons leave the company’s premises. 15 years later this already reaches 1,500.

Under the motto “Everyone pulls together”, the entire workforce at Wegmann & Co. and Waggonfabrik Gebrüder Credé & Co. works together to achieve a market share of 10% of the entire production of German rail wagons.

When the company's founder Peter Wegmann passes away in 1912, August Bode, at this time just 37 years old, takes on responsibility for all technical issues. August Bode joined Wegmann & Co. in 1889 as an apprentice and within a short time enjoyed the trust of the shareholders and the workforce. Conrad Köhler becomes his counterpart on the commercial side.

Together, the two managing directors guide the company through the post-war period. High interest rates and galloping inflation, which makes it extremely difficult to invest, even force the managing directors to pay the workforce in kind.

Despite these difficult times, August Bode assumes overall responsibility for the company. What's more, he invests in a majority stake in the Hessenwerke and thus establishes Plant II in Kassel, Germany. In the process, he is actively supported by his two sons. 1945 The main factory is destroyed during a bombing raid.

At the age of 70, August Bode rebuilds the destroyed plant together with his two sons, Engelhard and Fritz, and leads the company into the booming 1950s.

After August Bode’s death, his sons continue to manage Wegmann & Co. as their father would have wished and develop it into a high-tech manufacturer.

The business is split into two independent companies: Wegmann & Co. and Gebrüder Bode & Co. The core company, Wegmann & Co., is passed down to Fritz Bode’s sons, Dr. Manfred and Wolfgang Bode.

Just one year after the company is split up, Wegmann & Co. purchases a 90% stake in today’s Schleifring GmbH in Fürstenfeldbruck in Germany and thus enters the transmission technology sector. Slip rings transmit power, data, signals and media in continuous rotational movement for wide-ranging applications. Under the management of WEGMANN, the slip ring business segment is continually developed further, professionalized and internationalized.

The group’s parent company, Wegmann Unternehmens-Holding GmbH & Co. is founded in Kassel. The headquarters are moved to Fürstenfeldbruck in 2019.

After a final delivery of four bogies to Yugoslavia, Wegmann & Co. sells all its rail vehicle construction business to Talbot in Aachen. Having relinquished its original field of business, the company clearly orientates itself towards business sectors with a more promising future.

Kraus-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) comes into being through the merger of the armaments-related activities of Kraus-Maffei AG and Wegmann & Co. Wegmann & Co. acquires 51% of the shares and the other 49% are retained by Mannesmann and then purchased at a later date by Siemens AG. Subsequently, KMW remains one of the leading manufacturers in Europe in the field of land-based defense systems.

With the merger of the subsidiaries Dionys Hofmann GmbH based in Albstadt, Germany and Franken-Industrie GmbH & Co. KG based in Würzburg, Germany, the WEGMANN automotive Group is founded. The company‘s headquarters is moved to Veitshöchheim, Germany. Up to the present day, the products produced by the WEGMANN automotive Group are the global market leaders in the field of wheel changing. Two out of three new vehicles contain products made by the WEGMANN automotive Group.

WEGMANN purchases the remaining 49% of KMW’s shares from Siemens AG. The former supplier thus takes complete control of the system house.

KNDS N.V., Amsterdam is founded through the merger of KMW and the French Nexter Systems in 2015. The WEGMANN GROUP posses 50% of the shares and the remaining 50% are directly owned by the French state.

After the expansion of the Schleifring GmbH’s premises, Wegmann Unternehmens-Holding GmbH & Co. KG is relocated to SCHLEIFRING’s main site in Fürstenfeldbruck.