50 years of Watt Drive
From an Austrian family business to an international competence centre for gear technology
In its 50-year company history, Watt Drive has already experienced several changes and innovations. What has never changed, however, are the values Watt Drive stands for: the highest standards of quality, innovative solutions and products, and the best service for our business partners.
On March 31, 1972, Ing. Hans Wustinger founded an engineering and sales office for drive technology and named it Wustinger Antriebstechnik GmbH. Four years later, an assembly plant for geared motors was opened in the town of Wiener Neudorf, where the company‘s own designs were assembled for the first time.
But Hans Wustinger had bigger plans. In order to successfully implement the idea of a modular gearbox system, a larger production site with its own manufacturing facility was necessary. In 1990, the new company was opened in Markt Piesting and from then on was called Watt Drive Antriebstechnik GmbH.
In the 1990s, Watt Drive became an international brand. With subsidiaries in Germany, Singapore and Malaysia, new markets were opened up. In addition, new products were introduced, such as the EUSAS motor with wide-range winding, which can be used worldwide, and the MAS gear unit line, which is still successful today.
Company founder Hans Wustinger passed away unexpectedly in 2014, but he had already passed his life‘s project Watt Drive into trustworthy hands a few years earlier.
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| The extended company building in 2019 |
In 2011, the Brazilian electric motor manufacturer WEG recognised Watt Drive‘s expertise and incorporated the company into its group.
Thanks to numerous investments in machinery and extensive expansions of production and storage areas at the Markt Piesting site, Watt Drive now has the status of a competence centre for gear technology within the WEG Group. The new WG20 gear unit line is the first highlight of the international cooperation.
To the next 50 years
A big thank you is of course due to our motivated employees who have played a decisive role in shaping the success story of Watt Drive. Together, we proceed with confidence towards the next decades of Watt Drive and look forward to new projects, further innovative products and the successful cooperation with our clients, business partners and colleagues within the WEG family.