Wuppermann celebrates 150th anniversary

Leverkusen, Germany, 30.06.2022 - The Wuppermann Group celebrates its 150th anniversary today. It all began on 30 June 1872 in Düsseldorf. It was there that Heinrich Theodor Wuppermann founded the Wuppermann company with a single puddling furnace including a "Luppenschmiede". 150 years after the company was founded, the Wuppermann Group is one of the largest manufacturers of hot-dip galvanized hot-rolled strip in Europe, a major producer of high-quality tubes and profiles made of steel. "Highest corrosion protection with lowest CO2 emissions" is the claim of the Wuppermann Group today.

The headquarters of the group of companies is in Leverkusen. When Heinrich Theodor Wuppermann died in 1907, his sons took over the business and Wuppermann became a family company. The company grew with industrialisation, two world wars and the world economic crisis left their mark. Nevertheless, by 1972, the small hull forge had become one of the largest steel rolling companies in Western Europe. It was not until the steel crisis at the beginning of the 1980s that growth initially came to a halt: Wuppermann had to sell its rolling mill in Leverkusen. The condition for the new owner at that time was that the jobs in the plant should be preserved. So, the contract was not awarded to the highest bidder, but to the one who offered the prospect of continued employment. After two years, however, the new owner closed the factory. The companies that did not belong to the rolling mill became today's Wuppermann Group. The group grew again, among other things by founding new plants in Austria in the 1980s and 1990s, where Wuppermann introduced a new type of surface finishing process for hot-rolled steel strips. Further plant foundations followed in the Netherlands (2000), Poland (2011) and Hungary (2017).

"For 150 years, our medium-sized family business has pursued a strategy of long-term and consistent value creation. In recent years, we have developed from a pure steel processor into an innovation leader in corrosion protection and a pioneer in the field of sustainability. In addition, Wuppermann closed 2021 as the most successful financial year since the company was founded. This was the best start to our anniversary year that we could have wished for," explains Johannes Nonn, Spokesman of the Board of Management of Wuppermann AG.

Dr. C. L. Theodor Wuppermann, current Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Wuppermann AG, adds: "This year we look back on one and a half centuries of company history. Such a long period of time is characterised by changes. However, the fundamental principles that have accompanied the company since its foundation have always remained the same. We understand this to mean high quality standards for our products, a sense of responsibility towards our employees and long-term entrepreneurial and social thinking. We on the supervisory board and in the family look forward to many more exciting years in business. We see the target of CO2-neutral production in 2025 as the next important milestone in the history of Wuppermann.