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1983
Dieter Baur
Similar to Apple founder Steve Jobs, visionary Dieter Baur tinkers on his first prototypes in his garage. The reputation for producing the finest technologies spreads further and further and the company’s advancement soon becomes apparent.
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1985
Transforming a Small Business into a Major Enterprise
wenglor’s first project is a complete success: The sanitary sensor designed for DAL brings the first contactless toilet flushing system to public washrooms.
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1987
wenglorz Becomes wenglor
With the similar-sounding name ending (“wenglor” and “sensor”), the company creates its own sensor category and presents itself with a stylish and confident image at INTERKAMA 87 in Düsseldorf. To this day, the name wenglor stands for “made in Germany” innovation and quality.
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1988
World First: Red Light Sensor
HN22 is wenglor’s first sensor with red light and background suppression. Special feature: The visible red light serves as a precise and easy-to-use adjustment aid. Interference factors can be removed from the scanning area for the first time using background suppression. Initially ridiculed by the competition, this technology is still regarded as standard by almost all providers today.
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1989
Expansion – New Company Building
A fire destroys large parts of the first company headquarters in the district of Gemertsweiler in Tettnang. Despite the setback, the company opened a new company headquarters in the Oberhof district, generating record sales of DM 3 million with 50 employees.
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1991
Precision Laser Light Barrier
wenglor advertises its new laser light barrier with trade advertisements: Objects as fine as a hair can be reliably detected. Publications like these arouse curiosity among the target group, who want to take a closer look – at the Hanover Fair, which is considered the main technology trade fair.
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1994
Top 100
Just ten years after the company was founded, the demand for skilled workers rose rapidly and reaches a record of 100 employees in 1994.
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1997
Smallest Sensor in the World
The innovative wenglor K-type is considered the smallest and most powerful sensor at this time. Due to its small size of 22 x 32 x 12 mm, it is still the best-selling optical sensor design today. The success makes waves: The first branch office outside of Europe is opened in the USA.
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2002
Expansion to Romania
In addition to the numerous international subsidiaries, a second production site is added in 2002: In Sibiu, Romania, not only will numerous product groups be produced in large quantities from now on, but product concepts will also be made ready for series production in our own research and development departments.
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2005
Industrial Image Processing
wenglor develops a vision sensor in which optics, lighting and storage media are integrated into a compact housing. With this sensor, which is considered the first Smart Camera, it is possible to record, digitize and transmit various query criteria simultaneously via standard interfaces. The image recording quality is used in the production of vital vehicle components such as airbags from leading automotive manufacturers.
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2007
Competence Center Germany
A new warehouse, logistics, training and production center in Tettnang offers an additional 4,500 m² of usable space and new prospects for the company. The modern company center not only combines expertise on-site, but also sets new technological standards through geothermal energy, photovoltaics and thermal insulation.
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2008
New Industries, New Markets
wenglor develops a new V4 stainless steel product series for the special hygiene requirements of the pharmaceutical, food and beverage industries, which is resistant to aggressive chemicals and the use of high-pressure cleaners. With a new sales record of 49 million euros, wenglor enters the imminent global economic crisis stronger.
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2009
Innovation Instead of Crisis
Thanks to high investment in research and development, wenglor engineers succeed in creating a real masterpiece. With wenglor interference-free technology (wintec), a photoelectronic sensor is created during this time of crisis, which will be recognized as a top product at the Hermes Award in 2011.
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2010
New Decade: Next Generation
Fabian and Rafael Baur take over the management as the second generation. This year, wenglor achieves a new record sales volume of 53 million euros with over 500 employees.
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2013
the innovative family
wenglor focuses on the strongest brand values and creates a new and distinctive image for the company’s 30th anniversary. As part of the changeover, Mikroelektronik GmbH and its expertise in the field of 2D/3D sensors is integrated into the group of companies as wenglorMEL.
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2015
Innovation Worldwide
The high demand for sensor and image processing technologies not only ensures innovative product solutions in 2015, but also further growth in Germany and abroad. With the founding of two subsidiaries in Malaysia and Brazil, wenglor is further expanding its international business locations – to a total of 23 subsidiaries and 740 employees in the wenglor sensoric group.
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2016
Innovation in 1D, 2D and 3D
The 2D/3D profile sensors included in the weCat3D series are expanding the range of image processing technologies to encompass the third dimension. These sensors make it possible to detect three-dimensional objects and output them using point clouds. Standardized interfaces enable the quick transfer of digital data for subsequent visualization and µm-accurate evaluation.
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2017
New Production and Development Center in Sibiu
The new production and product development center is opened in Sibiu, Romania, thus expanding floor space at our own smart factory to 5,000 square meters. Thanks to its enormous capacity, fully automated production lines are able to meet the growing demand from the global automation industry for new sensor and image processing technologies.
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2018
100% wenglor – 100% Family Business
The wenglor sensoric group is fully family-owned. After more than 35 years as managing director, company founder Dieter Baur has retired with his wife Barbara Baur and has now fully entrusted the management of the company to his sons Fabian and Rafael.
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2019
uniVision – The All-in-One Software
The software development division was expanded in 2017 with another subsidiary in Samara, Russia, and expanded by a software expert team in Tettnang in 2019. With the uniVision 2.1 release, the wenglor group introduces specially developed software for 2D and 3D sensors.
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2020
Strong Partnership Against Global Warming:
wenglor is cooperating with CLIMEWORKS to help reduce CO2 in the atmosphere. The Swiss start-up company has developed future-oriented technology that removes carbon dioxide from the ambient air, which is then converted into climate-neutral substances (such as carbon). Through this sustainable partnership, wenglor is actively committed to combating global warming by recovering 15 tonnes of CO2 per year – which corresponds to approx. 73,500 km in a medium-class petrol vehicle.
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2021
Growth and Expansion in Challenging Times
The long-term corporate strategy ensures growth even in times of crisis. Not only is the headquarters in Tettnang being expanded to include state-of-the-art research and development buildings, but also the location of the subsidiary wenglorMEL, which is famous for the production of 2D/3D sensors, in the district of Unterschleißheim near Munich. A total of 10,500 m² of floor space will be created on six floors to offer room for further typical wenglor innovations in the future.
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2022
Excellence in Shape
The new ShapeDrive G4 3D sensors stand for excellence and precision. They are high-performance sensors in resolution and measurement speed, which calculate a 3D point cloud in the shortest possible time. The different measuring volumes enable the sensor to be adapted to suit the application.
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2023
Strategic Company Growth: New Ways into the Future
The opening of the new wenglorMEL research and development building in Unterschleißheim and the acquisition of the Berlin-based software developer deevio, which impresses with its expertise in the fields of AI and data science, create new opportunities for further wenglor innovations.
wenglor is also developing further on a technological level: The new P3 sensors are particularly powerful and combine unique Triple A technology, high-precision measurement and blue and red lasers.