Dortmund. Significant milestones of the pump technology come from the German pump expert WILO AG, which successfully operates on the market since 135 years. The company with headquarters in the German city of Dortmund is nowadays one of the worldwide leading manufacturers of pumps and pump systems for heating, air-conditioning and cooling technology, water supply as well as sewage disposal and purification. Wilo pumps are applied in commercial buildings, municipal facilities, in industry and private households.

Today’s WILO AG was founded by Louis Opländer in 1872 as a factory for copper and brass goods. Since 1920 the business activity has been extended to the heating and sanitary areas. In the following decades groundbreaking innovations have been brought on the market consistently which revolutionized building service. This is how in 1928 the first circulation accelerator was developed and applied for a patent. Therewith an important advancement had been achieved for hot water heating systems compared to mere gravity circulations. The company got the name Wilo also in 1928 after Wilhelm Opländer, the founder’s son, took over the company.

As the first pump manufacturer Wilo introduced completely oil-filled motors in 1950. This construction principle is thermally very robust and requires no additional cooling compared to glanded pumps.

Wilo reached a decisive step to more user convenience and energy efficiency in 1988 with the development of the first fully electronic circulating pump “Star-Wilo E25“. With it the first “mechatronical“, that means a pump model consisting of mechanical end electronic components, was ready to go into production. Unlike uncontrolled pumps electronically controlled pumps adjust their flow rate to the actual requirements thus operating, amongst other things, in a considerably power-saving manner.

Large savings can be achieved with so-called high-efficiency pumps. Here Wilo was also the pioneer when the company introduced the world’s first high-efficiency pump for heating, air-conditioning and cooling applications in 2001. The “Wilo-Stratos“ pumps, which are suitable, amongst others, for heating installations and the secondary hot water circulation of larger residential buildings, consume, compared to conventional uncontrolled circulating pumps, up to 80 percent less power. Since 2005 owners of smaller multi-family houses can also take advantage of the same saving potential – thanks to models of the Stratos series designed especially for this: the “Wilo-Stratos ECO“.

In 2001 also the first submersible sewage motor worldwide with a hermetically closed cooling circuit was presented. In addition to this, an electronics production was established at the headquarters in Dortmund. Since then the electronic components for all Wilo pump works (Dortmund, Oschersleben, Aubigny/France, Gimhae/South Korea) and all brands (Wilo, Salmson, EMB) are produced here.

Simultaneously, in addition to the multiple groundbreaking technical new developments, on the basis of a family business with a long tradition, Wilo has developed into a modern, internationally operating company group. This is how Wilo started to build up own subsidiaries abroad and intensified the international direction in 1965. In 1984 Wilo took over the French pump manufacturer Pompes Salmson. In the new millennium Wilo continued its international strategy of growth, amongst others by taking over the Korean pump manufacturer LG Pumps in 2000 as well as the Indian Mather & Platt Pumps Ltd in 2006. With the take-over of the EMU Group (Hof, Germany) in 2003, the Wilo Group has additionally strengthen its competence in municipal and industrial water supply, sewage treatment and sewage treatment plant technology.

Nowadays the WILO AG has representative offices in more than 50 countries and employs almost 6,000 people worldwide. In 2006 the turnover amounted to 873.4 m. Euros. Therewith Wilo is the world’s sixth largest pump manufacturer. Many years ago Wilo coined the German claim “Pumpen Intelligenz“ for the development of innovative pumps and systems which are deeply rooted in the methods and principles of German engineering technology. Worldwide it does not only stand for products, but also for widespread know-how and service offers according to requirements made by Wilo.