Our company is now based on the experience of 100 years of continuous research and development, project work and designing.

This means more than nine decades of successful market- and especially customer-oriented product development according to the latest technical standards.

1908  Wilhelm Wiegand obtained the patent for a multi-effect circulation evaporator
1920 Foundation of the firm of machine engineers Wilhelm Wiegand GmbH in Merseburg
1930 Opening of the Jet Pump Department
1937 First 5-effect evaporation plant for potassium bicarbonate
1948 Reestablishment of Wiegand Apparatebau GmbH in Karlsruhe
1951 Sale of the first porcelain steam jet vacuum pump
1953 Introduction onto the market of the falling film evaporator
1957 Building of our own test center in Karlsruhe
  First evaporation plant with mechanical vapor recompressor
1961 First jet scrubbing plant for the suction and cleaning of waste gas
1967 First spiral tube evaporator for high-viscous products
1970 Move to the new company premises in Ettlingen
1971 Delivery of the 1,000th falling film evaporation plant
1973 First 6-effect evaporation plant
1975 Delivery of the 10,000th Wiegand water jet vacuum pump
  Construction of the first product steam driven jet pump
1977 20th patent registration since 1948 in the evaporation sector in 17 countries
1979 30th patent registration since 1948 in the jet pump sector in 37 countries
1984 Entry into the GEA group
1986 Start of our own evaporator manufacture in Beckum
1987 Construction of an evaporation plant for thin juice with an evaporation rate of 475 tons/hr
1988 Testing of the 30,000th jet pump in our R+D centre
1990 Foundation of GEA Wiegand Arnstadt GmbH in Thuringia/Germany
1991 Delivery of the 3,000th evaporation plant
  Construction of the first fluidized bed evaporation plant
  Construction of a rectification and recovery plant for 60,000 l/d alcohol
1992 Delivery of 2 evaporators with a total heating surface of more than 11,000 m²
1993 Commissioning of the first fluidized bed drying plant
1994 Certification according to DIN EN ISO 9001
  Manufacture authorized by UDT, the Polish Technical Inspection Board
1996 Modernization of the Research and Development Center
1997 First manufacture of evaporators in China
  Authorization to build pressure vessels in accordance with US regulations (ASME U-Stamp)
1998 Commissioning of the first key-turn alcohol line for 60,000 l/d in East Europe
1999 Transfer of the jet pump activities to the GEA Jet Pumps GmbH
2001 Delivery of vacuum plants for the largest polyester factory in the world
2002 Opening of a Membrane Filtration Department
2004 Commissioning of 3 Bioethanol Production Plants with molecular sieve technology
2007 Turn-key Bioethanol plant for 100,000 tonnes/year
  Delivery of the vacuum system for the largest refinery worldwide
2008 100 years of Wiegand technology
2009 Reintegration of GEA Jet Pumps GmbH
2010 Start of production in Kitzingen


 

Wilhelm Wiegand (1881-1951)
Wilhelm Wiegand (1881-1951)
 

In 1908 Wilhelm Wiegand obtained a patent for a multi-effect circulation evaporator and founded Apparatebau GmbH Wilhelm Wiegand in Merseburg in 1920. Dr. Joachim Wiegand (1908-1987), the founder’s eldest son, established the new Wiegand Apparatebau GmbH in Karlsruhe in 1948.