80 years: looking back and looking forward ...

“Tradition is not keeping the ashes but passing on the fire.” This old Indian saying, was expressed in similar words by people like Thomas Morus and other well known thinkers. It is the best way to describe the relationship between the Steyr-Werner company and tradition.

The company was founded in 1929 by Karl Werner, a famous motorcycle race driver. He started out selling sewing machines and bicycles and later added motorcycles and car parts to his assortment of products. The first two people to work here were Karl Werner and his wife. After the war, the company, which had grown considerably, added bearings to its product range. By the end of the 1950’s it was the largest bearing retailer in the whole of Styria. In 1972, Steyr Daimler Puch took over the company and in 1991 it was bought up by the HILD group. Throughout the decades and changes of ownership, the product range kept expanding and new branches were opened.

We encourage a positive efficiency-raising atmosphere in the company because we place a lot of emphasis on the qualifications of our staff by expecting them to be top performers. It makes us happy to be very good at what we do. This is why we support the development of the individual and the team through training, support programmes, seminars and instruction courses at the “Steyr-Werner Academy“.

Learning is a very important issue here and we invest a lot in it. Nobody is surprised that we take our apprentices and their education very seriously. Their learning process guarantees us qualified workers in the future. Our dedication in this area was rewarded by the Chamber of Commerce in Upper Austria when they presented us with the title: “Top on-the-job-training Company”.