here - WEY TEC

The History of WEY
From the beginning, to the world market leader in trading floors and state-of-the-art
control room solutions
The Start
The inspiration to establish an independent company came about in 1980 when the Zurich Stock
Exchange issued an enquiry to distribute data from 24 terminals to 600 stock exchange traders’
screens.
With an ingenious idea and the unrestrained will to offer a perfect solution, Hubert Wey
developed the first monochrome video matrix - technically unequalled at the time - within the
space of only 6 months. This project marked the beginning of WEY’s success story. But growth
and profits were never top priority for Hubert Wey. The primary objective of the founder was to
establish a small yet highly specialized company focusing on trading room solutions for banks.
The next milestone in the history of the WEY Group was the founding of WEY Elektronik AG in
1984 by Hubert and Marlise Wey.
The founder
The products and solutions which Hubert Wey produced exclusively for banks were constantly
being adapted and improved, to keep up with progress being made in PC technology as well as
their new areas of application in financial trading. This proved to be the secret behind the young
company’s success. His products were unique in his market niche. The clever entrepreneur
placed great emphasis on building direct contact with his customers, as it was his belief that this
was the only way to create needs-based, customised client solutions. He only provided services
using third-party companies when absolutely necessary.
Growth
WEY Elektronik AG developed the first monochrome monitor in the early 80s, followed by highresolution twisted pair data transmission lines in 1986. From 1988 onwards, a series of RGB
video converters made the company famous far beyond Switzerland’s borders. With Mario Okle
and Armin Klingler, who joined the company in 1993 and 1995 respectively, WEY's organization
was reinforced to manage future challenges.
In 1994, Mario Okle and Hubert Wey began to bundle individual products into a complete system,
by supplementing the unique selling points of competitor products with new functionalities. "Our
solution was half the size and half as expensive as the rival systems. But it only existed on paper.
Looking back, it was sheer madness to offer a product at that stage. But we were awarded the
contract to realize one of the largest trading floors in Zurich,” recalls Mario Okle about the start of
this success story. In addition to Product Development, the young company added new positions
to broaden its scope of services. The goal was to provide a full range of professional services
from development to production, sales, installation and maintenance all from a single source.
WEY Elektronik AG
Dorfstrasse 57
CH-8103 Unterengstringen
Schweiz
Tel:
Fax:
E-Mail:
Internet:
+41 44 751 89 89
+41 44 750 30 61
[email protected]
www.weytec.com
Emerging as the world market leader
Starting in 1996, an international distribution organization with subsidiaries all over the world has
been established under the name WEY Technology. In parallel, the company's product range has
been developed and expanded continuously. In the span of only a few years, WEY established a
dozen sales and support offices in Europe, America and Asia. Since the management buyout in
2003, the WEY Group is owned in equal shares by Mario Okle and Armin Klingler. With over 110
employees, WEY is now the world market leader for the technical provisioning of trading floors
and increasingly active in the control room market. The list of customers includes many of the
world’s leading banks, the public sector, traffic management organisations as well as emergency
services.
Through close interaction with customers and the ongoing development of products, the WEY
Group now offers a leading-edge system with unique modularity to deliver flexible trading floors
and efficient control rooms and security centres. The product portfolio is constantly being refined
and supplemented with innovative solutions. The integration of software components from third
party vendors as well as the use of IP-based components makes it possible to reduce the time to
market and stay price competitive. The electronics are fully developed and produced in
accordance with the highest quality standards using state-of-the-art SMT (surface mount
technology) equipment in Unterengstringen near Zurich. Thus, WEY is in the unique position to
respond to every new project with a great deal of flexibility, and fully satisfy individual customer
requirements. The result is more than 35,000 installed workplaces worldwide.
Die next level:
Strategic diversification
To remain successful as a world market leader and technical outfitter of international financial
trading centres, also in times of the strong Swiss Franc, the banking crisis and export doldrums,
the two company owners, Mario Okle and Armin Klingler, have to consistently make the right
decisions – early in the game and with foresight.
On the train to Milan
The idea behind the strategy which has since resulted in WEY’s second mainstay of business
was born in the train to Milan. After an extended period of business growth, the two managing
directors asked themselves the crucial question: “Quo Vadis with our company?”
The WEY Group had already become the world market leader in the outfitting of trading floors
with customised hardware and software solutions. It had developed the technology to facilitate
real-time electronic trading and was a financially sound company. “Still, we were warned,” says
Armin Klingler today. “We faced a real crisis in 2002 and 2003, and we were determined to learn
from it.”
In 2007 then, on the train to Milan, Armin Klingler, the business economist and Mario Okle, the
only by a few weeks younger ETH engineer, decided to steer the WEY Group in a new direction
– and they had a spark of inspiration. The bundling, control and visualisation of real-time data,
often in complex and unpredictable environments, was also an on-going challenge in control
rooms – whether for air traffic control, traffic management, power plant monitoring, water works
or emergency services.
WEY Elektronik AG
Dorfstrasse 57
CH-8103 Unterengstringen
Schweiz
Tel:
Fax:
E-Mail:
Internet:
+41 44 751 89 89
+41 44 750 30 61
[email protected]
www.weytec.com
Business model turned upside down
Today it is a success story which consistently accounts for 4-5% annual growth, also in hard
times. But the road was a rocky one. “We had the financial markets in our blood” says Mario
Okle. “For us it was as if the shoemaker suddenly had to work as a tailor.”
Mario Okle and Armin Klingler recruited external know-how and turned the business model
upside down. Not only were the technical requirements for control rooms very different from
those for managing the relatively simple work processes on trading floors, but there were a host
of other new challenges. Especially interacting with new kinds of clients, usually from the public
sector, and managing complex public tender processes broke new ground.
Debriefing after every loss
“We got some scrapes and bruises,” recalls Armin Klingler. “How in heaven’s name were we
supposed to name five reference projects worth more than a million Francs when we were only
just getting started in the market?” But Armin Klingler and Mario Okle learned quickly. “After each
loss we sat down with the prospective customer and listened carefully to why we were not
chosen,” notes Okle.
WEY did not win a single control room order in the first three years. “It was a blessing that we
decided to diversify during the years of plenty,” says Klingler. “We could afford the losing streak
and the learning curve.” Then WEY began to partner with powerful companies like Siemens and
Bosch in order to penetrate the market. “2011 was the breakthrough year” said Mario Okle with
pride. “We participated in eight tenders in Switzerland and won the deal all eight times.”
Full production in Switzerland
The entire production and customisation of devices and printed circuit boards takes place in
Unterengstringen near Zurich. “Outsourcing to China is not an option” says Armin Klingler. “We
want to deliver Swiss quality. And operating our own state-of-the-art production facilities gives us
the flexibility to directly respond to and satisfy our customers’ needs.”
Because the management and display of real-time data is sometimes highly complex, and control
rooms always need to be prepared for crises management, which requires the planning of unique
workflows and competencies, the close proximity to the production department in Switzerland
was a distinct advantage for WEY. “Research and development go hand in hand with customer
requirements and manufacturing capabilities” says Mario Okle. This is the strength of the
company – providing customer-oriented solutions with unique selling propositions.
Partnerships for peak performance
With this philosophy, WEY not only fulfils the requirements and requests of the clients, but also
collaborates with a carefully selected group of business partners. Why is this partner network so
important? IP solutions now prevail in trading floor and control rooms, which, although modelled
on classic KVMA switching techniques, are now completely network-based (only signals from the
Keyboard, Video, Mouse and Audio are switched). But there are other suppliers and
manufacturers who offer partial solutions. Important, though, for sustainable success on the
market is an overall concept which consolidates the growing demands of users, IT and
management. Such concepts are only possible within the framework of an intense, concerted
partnership structure, whereby products are fully integrated and product development is
coordinated. Technical integration is a quality criterion which provides customers with the
flexibility and adaptability they need every day.
WEY Elektronik AG
Dorfstrasse 57
CH-8103 Unterengstringen
Schweiz
Tel:
Fax:
E-Mail:
Internet:
+41 44 751 89 89
+41 44 750 30 61
[email protected]
www.weytec.com
Great expectations
The realignment of the company’s strategy is now paying off. Armin Klingler notes an “almost
explosive growth rate” in the control room market. Often, modern systems with large video walls
are also effective marketing instruments. “They impress visitors, and demonstrate that
companies are at the leading edge.” In Germany, for example, WEY Technology GmbH has
‘taken off like a rocket’. The company has delivered control room solutions for monitoring nuclear
power plants, the Hamburger Hochbahn (regional trains, subways and buses), multiple police
departments in North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as the new state-of-the-art command centre for
the Hamburg Port Authority.
The Outlook
The trading floor market is a powerful and demanding sector. It was not easy to become the
world market leader. WEY established its position with the right decisions at the right time. The
control room market is fundamentally different: every new project requires individual product
adaptations. WEY is directly targeting this sector, and experiencing significant success. The good
thing about this story is that the global market for control rooms is very large and promising.
WEY Elektronik AG
Dorfstrasse 57
CH-8103 Unterengstringen
Schweiz
Tel:
Fax:
E-Mail:
Internet:
+41 44 751 89 89
+41 44 750 30 61
[email protected]
www.weytec.com