Wartsila

Wärtsilä

1834 Company was established when the governor of the county of Karelia approves the construction of a sawmill by a rapids in the municipality of Tohmajärvi.

Some years later the sawmill becomes the property of N. L. Arppe.

1898 The sawmill and iron works company was renamed Wärtsilä Ab.

1907 Company renamed Ab Wärtsilä Oy.

1935 Wärtsilä acquired a majority holding in Kone-ja Siltarakennus Oy (Machine and Bridge Construction Ltd), thereby also gaining control of the Hietalahti shipyard (est’d 1865) in Helsinki and the Crichton-Vulcan shipyard (est’d 1741) in Turku. Kone-ja Siltarakennus Oy manufactured, for example, paper machines and Abloy locks.

Wärtsilä's headquarters moved from Karelia to Helsinki.

1938 The Machine and Bridge group was merged with Wärtsilä, along with the iron mill Taalintehdas (est’d 1686) just acquired, and the Turku, Pietarsaari and Vaasa subsidiaries.

After that Wärtsilä-Yhtymä O/Y (Wärtsilä Group Ltd) was established.

c1942 Wärtsilä signed a licence agreement with Friedrich Krupp Germania Werft AG in Germany. The first diesel engine was produced in November 1942.

1954 Began to design its own diesel engines. Wilmer Wahlstedt, a young civil engineer, working then at the Wärtsilä Turku shipyard, was called to Vaasa to lead the design work for that future engine.

1959 the first Wärtsilä-designed diesel engine, the Wärtsilä Vasa 14 (with only three cylinders), was started for the first time.

The first commercial engines (six cylinders) were sold to Silja Line’s m/s Skandia, sailing between Finland and Sweden.

1974 Wärtsilä began to build a new shipyard at Perno, Turku

1978 Acquired 51 percent of the NOHAB diesel business from Bofors in Sweden. The remaining shares were acquired in 1984.

1983 The whole Turku Shipyard moved to Perno.

1986 A crisis in the global marine industry led Wärtsilä to pool its marine resources with Valmet, resulting in the establishment of Wärtsilä Marine Oy. Valmet’s shipbuilding activities are joined with Wärtsilä’s while Wärtsilä’s paper machines are transferred to Valmet.

1990 Wärtsilä merged with Lohja; new name, Metra Oy Ab, for this “international industrial corporation whose key areas of focus are building-related activities and the diesel engine business”.

1997 Metra and Fincantieri merge the Wärtsilä Diesel, New Sulzer Diesel and Diesel Ricerche as Wärtsilä NSD Corporation. This makes Fincantieri a minority (15%) shareholder in Metra’s largest division.

1998 Metra plans demerger into three listed companies: a diesel and gas engine company, a bathroom products company and an investment company. Despite the postponement of the decision on demerger Metra will further increase the independence of its divisions.

2000 Metra renamed Wärtsilä.

2001 Wärtsilä expanded into biopower and acquired Finnish company Sermet Oy, which specialises in small and medium-sized boiler plants running on biofuels, oil and gas.

2008 Joint venture formed with Metso combining Metso’s Heat & Power business and Wärtsilä’s Biopower business. Metso owns 60% and Wärtsilä 40% of the joint venture.

See Also

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Sources of Information

• Wartsila website [1]