The development of the four companies, which today operate as four successful brand entities in the WTG, is closely tied to the development of abrasive product usage. Since 1876, new products and solutions have emerged either as quick responses to current developments or they have appeared through the engineering efforts of the individual companies. And their number is by no means insignificant. Since the founding of the company, Winterthur has been a driving force in abrasive products. The company history shown below more chronicles the commercial development of the company than the innovations, which may be found on the individual companies’ websites.

The history of the Winterthur group is also a history of successful mergers and acquisitions based on the philosophy “It is not the customer who must come to us, but we who must go to the customer." Since their establishment, each of the four companies has undergone major changes prior to their integration into the WTG. Remarkable is the fact that none of the numerous mergers has failed so far. This is on the one hand due to the careful selection of merger candidates and on the other hand due to a thorough approach, solid financing and, of course, the presence of the same criteria that count as essential indicators of potentially successful merger into the group. The products must complement each other, the customers must benefit, the employees must understand and support the merger and the new alliance must provide healthy growth. So far, the Winterthur Group has succeeded so well in accomplishing this that the WTG ranks among the top 3 in the global abrasive products market today. 

The group's corporate structure gradually takes shape. Currently, it combines three companies. Rappold is one of the market leaders for cutting billets and slabs and stands for innovative solutions in large-format cut-off and grinding wheels for the steel industry. SlipNaxos is also a leader in this industry, however, for the grinding of billets and slabs. Together they play a very important role in the global steel industry. Winterthur has acquired great expertise and an outstanding reputation with precision-welding solutions for the automotive, natural gas and aviation turbine industries.

With its purchase of Wendt, the group rounds out its portfolio, which now covers the majority of the abrasive product market. Wendt adds dressing tools and devices as well as grinding wheels for processing hard-to-machine materials and precision grinding machines to the portfolio. The entire group now provides abrasive solutions for all materials commonly used in the industry, from steel to glass.