Throughout 2023, WINTERSTEIGER is celebrating its 70th year in business. The Austrian company is a manufacturer of machinery and equipment used for the wood flooring industry, among others.
Reflecting upon WINTERSTEIGER’s founding, the company says that in 1953, Fritz Walter and Johann Wintersteiger combined their expertise— a precision mechanic and an inventive designer— to lay down the blueprint for the precision machinery company. Beginning with humble roots of repairing machines in their modest workshop, the duo quickly expanded into creating equipment that resonated with niche markets.
According to the company, a pivotal moment occurred in 1970 when WINTERSTEIGER heeded the call to aid Fischer Ski’s production line, engineering the world’s first thin-cutting frame saw. Fischer Ski used more than 10 thin-cutting frame saws at peak times on its ski production lines. While initially designed for crafting wafer-thin sheets of ash to be laminated into ski cores for Fischer, this invention marked a change for woodworking. The company says that offering a precise cut with the lowest possible material loss meant increased production efficiency and lower costs.
As multi-layer parquet flooring began to grow in the 1990s, WINTERSTEIGER says so did the demand for their thin-cutting frame saws. Finding its place in the hardwood flooring sector, WINTERSTEIGER started a WOODTECH Division. They highlight the DSG 200 thin-cutting frame saw, launched in 1995, as one of their preeminent products as it continues to be in use today.