Chromalox has its company headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We have sales offices across the United States in addition to representation for most of the world. The following is a synopsis of a very interesting and exciting company that began as the pioneer and progressed as the world leader in the manufacturing of electric heating products. – more... We hope this history pays due respect to all the people, both past and present, that have made Wiegand Industrial a long running success story.
In 1915, Edwin L. Wiegand, a young, brilliant, self taught engineer was granted his first patent for a resistance heating element embedded in an insulating refractory enclosed in a metal sheath. This major breakthrough cannot be appreciated without realizing that at that time, people could not imagine that electricity would become a popular source for cooking, home heating, and heating liquids in tanks.
Two years later, with one employee, the Company was founded in a small room in the Old Point Building in Pittsburgh. Their first order was for a strip type heater that was to pave the way for today's modern electric household iron that millions of people the world over are using. Shortly after perfecting the flat iron element, Mr. Wiegand experimented with clamping a similar heater to the underside of pot-belly stove lids and that was the start of metal sheath electric range elements. There is also an often told story of how "E.L.", when riding to work in a trolley one cold winter morning, got an idea for another application for his devices. Upon arriving at his little shop, he took a yardstick, bent metal around all sides, installed what looked to be electric terminals and then arranged a visit with officials at Pittsburgh Railways Co., a producer of a new product called electric trolley cars. Mr. Wiegand explained this was an electric heating element that could be positioned in metal cages underneath the trolley seats to provide comfort for the passengers. The trolley manufacturer was so pleased with the idea, they immediately gave "E.L." an order for samples and this was the beginning of electric comfort heaters.
Unlike most other companies that began prior to the 1920's, the E.L. Wiegand Co. survived the great depression. The World War II years were very high growth years for the relatively new company. During this time, Chromalox became the primary supplier of electric heating products to the government, ship yards, and just about all defense industries. Millions of American G.I.'s washed their canteens and utensils by dunking them in a 55 gallon drum of water heated by a Chromalox KBLS heater.
In the early years, the Company was not organized around different product applications. Appliance elements, industrial process heaters and comfort heating products shared the same facilities, raw materials and engineering department. However, all three major lines were growing so that separation was inevitable. By the mid-seventies, Chromalox was so far ahead of competition, in product breadth, reputation and technology that the favorite saying was "nobody is in second place."
Wiegand Industrial Division always subscribed to the theory "there is no such thing as a saturated market." Quality management will always find ways to expand with new products, product line extensions and new markets. Two good examples:
In the early 1970's, management initiated a program that led Chromalox into becoming a very successful global company. The International Sales Department was brought in-house, expanded and successfully handled international sales, world wide. This was reinforced by the 1973 acquisition of two manufacturing facilities, Grimwood in England and Etirex in France. Additional manufacturing, engineering and sales experience was obtained with the 1990 acquisitions of Bray and Eltron in England. With the addition of the Eltron organization, Wiegand became the world most technologically advanced electric heating equipment producer. This global expertise provided unchallenged capabilities to meet stringent third party and local code approvals throughout the world. By 1990, changing economic conditions in the Far East opened new markets for Chromalox heating and temperature control products. In 1993, to expand the respected position as a "global player," Chromalox opened a Regional Sales Office in Hong Kong to aggressively pursue the Asian market.
Although Chromalox always did a nice business in sales of temperature controls, growth was limited because of offering buy-out items that provided only a condensed selection and pricing did not allow penetration in the OEM market. In 1977, Chromalox Industrial Controls was given birth by taking over the Rosemount Temperature Control operation in LaVergne, TN. Rosemount was a well known manufacturer of very high precision temperature controls and monitors with their major customers being in the textile machinery manufacturing industries. Management immediately diversified the product line and initiated changes to modify some products and develop many new products that put Chromalox in a position to be able to offer temperature controls (primarily electronic), control systems, temperature monitors and control panels for where electric heaters are not involved. The success and growth rate of this operation exceeded any other experienced by Wiegand Industrial Division.
One of the reasons why the industrial business did so well, was the company's willingness and ability to meet customers special requirements, and flexible enough to adjust to meet the changing market conditions. When nuclear power became popular in the mid-fifties, Chromalox was the first to supply pressurizer heaters for nuclear power plants and nuclear submarines. Developing products for new applications like these expanded the standard industrial heater line. During the Space Age, Chromalox was the major supplier to the manufacturers of support equipment. A Chromalox type WS strip heater achieved another "first" when it landed on the moon in the late 1960's. During the 1980's, our country's heavy equipment manufacturing had almost vanished, so Wiegand concentrated on supplying products to companies making electronic equipment, computers and communications equipment. During the early 1990's equipment manufacturers in industries such as medical technologies, packaging, commercial cooking and environmental clean-up were seeing big increases in their markets and Chromalox was there to assist with electric heaters and temperature controls.
The above are just samples of what occurred over the past eight decades to build Wiegand Industrial into a great company. The future looks bright. You can be certain that as long as electricity is a common energy source for process heating, Chromalox will be a giant in the industry. You can be equally certain that if another energy source with the same convenience as electricity should appear, Wiegand Industrial will be involved to service customers by developing and supplying superior products. – less – More from ZoomInfo »
