HISTORY OF THE WÜRTH GROUP

1945

With 20 years´ experience in this line of business, Adolf Würth establishes a wholesale firm in Künzelsau, in the Hohenlohe region of southern Germany, supplying screws, nuts, and bolts.

1954

Death of Adolf Würth, founder of the firm, at the age of 45. His 19-year-old son Reinhold takes over the running of the business. Annual sales at the time are around EUR 80,000.

1962

Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth ventures outside Germany and sets up the company´s first foreign subsidiary, Würth Nederland B. V.

1969

WURTH USA Inc. is the first Würth company in the Americas.

1970

Würth establishes its first company in South Africa.

1972

With the acquisition of the picture “Cloud Reflection in the Marsh” the foundation stone is laid for the Würth Art Collection. Today, the collection comprises over 17,000 works of art. The collection mainly focuses on sculptures, paintings, graphic art created between the end of the 19th century and the present, recently also on the art of the early modern period.

1982

Würth establishes its first company in Australia.

1987

Würth enters the Asian market by acquiring a company in Japan and establishing its own subsidiary in Malaysia. Würth is now represented on all five continents.

1992

On 15 May 1992, the new headquarters building in Künzelsau-Gaisbach is officially opened. The attractive architectural complex includes an integrated museum that is open to the public.

1994

On 1 January 1994, Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth retires from operational management and takes the chair of the Advisory Board of the Würth Group.

1995

On 20 April 1995, Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG celebrates its 50th anniversary. In the anniversary year, the Würth Group achieves record sales of EUR 2.2 billion.

1999

Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth is appointed Professor for Entrepreneurship at the University of Karlsruhe in recognition of his outstanding entrepreneurial achievement and teaches there until the end of the summer term 2003.

2000

The Würth Group rounds off an outstanding fiscal year in the history of the company by setting new records, with the company´s sales exceeding EUR 5 billion. This represents the fulfillment of the target set by Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth. His “Vision 2000”, formulated back in 1987 when group sales were just EUR 700 million, becomes reality.

2001

On 1 January 2001, the Würth Group is given a new management structure. The Central Managing Board – comparable to the management board of a group holding – is set up as the most senior decision-making board of the Würth Group.

2005

Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG celebrates 60 years in business.

2005

Robert Friedmann, who started his career at Würth in 1992, is appointed Chairman of the Central Managing Board of the Würth Group.

2006

Bettina Würth takes over the chair of the Advisory Board of the Würth Group from her father on 1 March 2006. Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth is now Chairman Emeritus of the Advisory Board and remains Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Würth Group´s Family Foundations.

Alma Würth, co-founder of Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, passes away on 4 May 2006. Alongside her husband Adolf Würth, she was the driving force behind the foundation of the screw wholesale business.

2007

The german parent company of the Würth Group, Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, is the Group´s first entity to record sales of EUR 1 billion in a fiscal year, including intra-Group sales.

2008

Freie Schule Anne-Sophie, funded by the Würth Foundation, celebrates the opening of its new buildings at the beginning of the 2008/2009 school year.

2009

The Federal Association for Logistics (BVL) awards Würth for its concept of modular system logistics that can be tailored to the needs of the individual customer target groups with the German Logistics Award 2009. The award is presented at the 26th German Logistics Convention in Berlin.

2010

Two special anniversaries for the Würth Group: In April, Professor Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth celebrates his 75th birthday and Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, the parent company of the Würth Group, its 65th anniversary.

The Würth Group gets new logo.

2011

Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG celebrates the laying of the foundation stone of the new logistics center in Künzelsau-Gaisbach on 6 December. The new building provides the logistic basis for the company's future growth. 60,000 order lines can be picked every day in the new logistics center. The building offers storage space of 17,000 square meters.

2012

The Würth Foundation, which promotes projects in art and culture, research and science as well as in the field of training and education, celebrates its 25th anniversary.

2013

The Distribution Center West is inaugurated after a construction period of just 17 months. With the new warehouse building at the location of the Group headquarters in Künzelsau-Gaisbach Würth prepares the ground for further growth.

The Würth House is opened in Rorschach, Switzerland. It houses, besides six Würth companies, also the exhibition rooms of the Forum Würth Rorschach, a “Handwerkershop” (craftspeople´s shop) and conference rooms.

2014

On 15 September, Würth celebrates groundbreaking for new branch office building with office space at the location in Gaisbach. The cubic five-story building with courtyard offers workplaces for 575 employees as well as conference and seminar rooms.

2015

With the 80th birthday of Reinhold Würth and the 70th company anniversary of Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, parent company of the Group, the Würth Group celebrates two round anniversaries. In line with the company's tradition of celebrating such occasions the anniversaries will culminate in a great number of events. The public will be invited to an open-house day on 21 June 2015.

2015

For the first time in its corporate history, the Würth Group achieved a sales volume of more than one billion euros (EUR 1.010bn) within one single month in September 2015.

2015

Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG continues to invest in its Künzelsau-Gaisbach location. Directly across from the company premises, at the federal road B19, the company celebrated the groundbreaking for a congress and culture center on 2 December 2015. The center is named after Carmen Würth.

2016

Würth Spain welcomes Itziar Abal – the 70,000th employee of the Würth Group.

2016

The Würth Group bolsters its e-business activities by launching its very own B2B online platform in Germany on 1 December 2016. Wucato is an e-procurement solution and online procurement platform for the B2B sector. For the first time ever, it allows customers to access a Group-wide product range consisting of more than 500,000 products from suppliers within the Würth Group. Wucato will serve as a pioneering sales channel, enabling the Würth Group to respond to the more complicated demands of its customers and react to new market conditions.

2017

The inauguration of Carmen Würth Forum in Künzelsau-Gaisbach was celebrated with a ceremony on 18 July 2017, the day Carmen Würth, after whom the building is named, turned 80. Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Würth Group's Family Foundations, said: “I wanted to raise a monument in my wife’s honor. Carmen and I have been married for 61 years and I am most grateful for every day spent with her. It is a great way to keep her memory alive well beyond our days.”

2017

In 2017, the Excellence in Risk Management Awards were presented for the second time within the framework of the European Risk Management Awards in London. The Würth Group was among the prize winners who received an award in the category “Innovative Insurance Programme of the Year“.

2017

Würth Group achieves records in sales and operating result: According to the preliminary annual financial statement, the Würth Group reports a sales volume of EUR 12.7 billion in 2017. This corresponds to a growth of 7.5 percent. Adjusted for foreign currency effects, growth comes to 7.9 percent. In particular, companies in Eastern and Southern Europe grew dynamically. With respect to the business units, Electronics and Production show above-average growth rates.

2018

Würth Group welcomes 75,000th employee: sales representative Juliana Aragão is working for Würth Brazil - the largest company of the Würth Group in Latin America.

2020

Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Würth Group’s Family Foundations, will turn 85. He continues to go to the office and record letters on the Dictaphone. Due to the corona pandemic, Reinhold Würth called off the planned festivities. Once the dust has settled, the businessman hopes to make up the celebration.

In 2020, a double anniversary is on the calendar: the Würth company is celebrating its 75th anniversary. A grand week of festivities was planned for June but will also be postponed.