Weima celebrates 30 years in business

The Weima Group is celebrating 30 years in business. Weima says it has come a long way from its humble beginnings. The Germany-based shredder manufacturer offers its machines for a wide range of applications with customers in the plastic, wood and recycling industry from all over the world. Its production range includes single-shaft shredders, four-shaft shredders, briquette presses and systems including parts and accessories with offices in Europe, Asia, North and South America and more than 50 offices worldwide.

"Since its establishment in 1986, Weima has sold around 30,000 shredders and briquette presses." says Martin Friz, the managing director of Weima Maschinenbau GmbH. "Whereas the machines used to be operated in the background, they have now been integrated into the overall production process. Weima now boasts a team of over 200 employees worldwide, and we are still growing stronger with each year."

It all started in the timber industry. Even today, half of Weima's market share comes from the wood industry worldwide. Two-thirds of the machines sold to date were specified toward wood applications. Despite efforts to diversify further, the wood industry remains its largest industry.

The other half of Weima's market share comes from a variety of other industries, including paper, plastics, data destruction, and the waste-to-energy sector.

Weima is based in Ilsfeld, Germany, and has offices worldwide. Europe remains the strongest individual market followed by the Weima America, Fort Mill, South Carolina, generates a quarter of the company's overall earnings.

As the company continues to expand, its sights are set on other international markets including China, India and Southeast Asia. South America—Brazil, Argentina, and Chile specifically—are becoming increasingly more appealing as well.

In the past years, it has made significant investments in enhancing the facilities in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany and the U.S. It will follow suit with its Ilsfeld facility this year. It is currently also establishing its first sales and service subsidiary in northern China to provide specific solutions to individual sectors on the Chinese market.

Since the company was established, it has served businesses of all sizes, from small workshops to large industrial companies. Providing size reduction solutions for companies of all sizes will remain its focus.

In the last few years, Weima has noticed that customers are investing in fewer and fewer stand-alone solutions. Today’s customers seek a more comprehensive approach where shredders are integrated into the production line in order to optimize the process and save time, according to the company. As a result of this, every PLC-controlled machine that leaves the Weima warehouse features a network interface option.

Weima has 40 specialists within its workforce of 200 employees that specialize in servicing Weima machines. This portion of its business is expected to grow significantly in the years to come. The company says it is working together with trade partners in local markets with whom it strives to establish long-term cooperation. Retailers and distributors must also be prepared for increased service demands due to the increasing complexity of the systems Weima provides.

In the U.S. market, preventative maintenance is absolutely key to maintaining a system, says the company. The majority of Weima machinery is sold with service agreements for preventative maintenance—that is, proper care of the machine over time to ensure its longevity and efficiency in shredding and briquetting. This way, suitable maintenance measures are carried out at intervals that suit customers’ needs and prevent down time. Southeast Asia also is on board with the trend of preventative maintenance, and Friz says he has hopes that the European market will soon begin to also embrace this development. It will become part of the product range, whereby maintenance is either carried out by the retailer or the manufacturer.