BIT celebrates its 30th anniversary. In 1976, the first product, a vaccination gun, was manufactured.100 years Castolin Eutectic
Our company's international standing is founded on a long history of world leadership in its field, springing from the inspiration and vision of the Wasserman family in the early years of the 20th Century. We have maintained this authoritative leadership through a continuing program of intensive metallurgical research.Castolin Eutectic was founded in 1906 by Jean-Pierre Wasserman. Castolin, as it was then called, was based near Lausanne in Switzerland and developed low-heat maintenance welding - then a revolutionary process for the protection and repair of metals that would have been impossible to join otherwise. Castolin also developed fluxes, brazing alloys and cast-iron repair techniques.
René Wasserman, the founder's son, joined the company in the 1930´s. Through his remarkable foresight and the use of "modern" sales techniques (demos, application marketing) Castolin started on its road to glory. Seeing immense possibilities in the U.S., René Wasserman took off and opened the Eutectic Welding Alloys Corporation in New York. The know-how and experience of Eutectic engineers and the reliability and versatility of its products enabled Eutectic to become the predominant specialist brand in the Americas and Anglo-Saxon countries. The European and American brands were later united to be known as Castolin Eutectic.
The strength of the business together with the pooling of resources and expertise fuelled further global expansion and the development of new groundbreaking techniques in the fields of welding and its alloys, low temperature brazing and surface coating.
Recognising the importance of making technical know-how easily available to customers and the international technical community, René Wasserman created the Castolin Eutectic Institute in 1967 - a visionary initiative which has since trained many thousands of technicians from all over the world.A cornerstone of our philosophy has always been environmental responsibility, and, long before it became fashionable, our company was promoting the concept of conserving natural resources by extending the life and increasing the efficiency of machinery and industrial equipment.
In 1974, we launched the Conservationist of the Year Award recognising a company commitment to the environment by utilising wear protective technologies. In addition, the recently inaugurated award - The Professor René Wasserman Award - continues to highlight the importance of environmental issues. Our story has been an inspirational one for more than a century, and as the company continues to develop, encompassing new technology and pushing industrial techniques still further, it continually reinforces its position as the undisputed No.1 worldwide partner for industry.
In 2000, the Wasserman sold the family company to private investors (Carlyle, Messer and others) – MEC Holding was created. On January 31, 2005, a new chapter in the long history of Castolin Eutectic started when the Messer family became the majority shareholder. We are extremely happy to be a family company again and Messer is an ideal new owner. If you take a look at the histories of the Messer companies and of Castolin Eutectic, there are surprising similarities.
Both businesses were founded around the start of the 20th century, both were for most of the last century owned and/or headed by members of the founding families and both had nearly identical philosophies to grow through Innovation, Quality and Partnership with Customers. The daily direct contact with many customers in the field was always key to this partnership.
In 2005, Castolin Eutectic invested in production and R&D. We bought new plants in Ireland and Poland, and invested in production facilities and R+D in China and East Europe. We also created two new companies, in Russia and in China, and bought new buildings in Mexico and in the USA.
2006 has been a year of celebration for Castolin Eutectic, we celebrated indeed our 100 years and each country organised a huge party, which pictures you can see on our website.
Our motto is the same since 1906: Quality, Service and Technical Leadership = Customer Value Added.
