Our company’s history


FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR HISTORY.

Family-owned and run since 1948

Transparency, honesty, reliability, trust and sustainability have been the fundamental values underpinning our company’s culture from the very beginning, and are reflected in the way we treat our customers, our mutual respect for fellow employees and in the quality of all our products.

Years of experience have confirmed to us that these values must be consistently pursued in order for us to continue to set new standards in the future.

These values motivate our employees every day to care for our company’s most important asset – our customers.

Franz Josef Wälder

1948

Foundation of Ketten Wälder GmbH: production of agricultural chains and construction of the first production hall

1950

Establishment of the machine park, start of mechanized chain production

1977

H33 certification by the employers' liability insurance association

1980

Relocation to the new, spacious company building

1995

Start of production of stainless-steel chains

2001

Introduction of numerous new products, including development of the INOX product range

2008

Expansion of the production and storage area to over 5,000 m² and registration of the brand cromox®

2016

In addition to annual investments in machinery, acquisition of state-of-the-art 5-axis machining centers (in the course of automation of production processes)

2018

Foundation of the independent subsidiary cromox® US, Inc.

2021

Process automation: new implementation and expansion of the ERP system infrastructure

NOTHING IS MORE CONSTANT THAN CHANGE

As with a lot of other companies, since its inception, Ketten Wälder GmbH has undergone numerous changes in order to meet the product and quality requirements of its ever-growing client base. While our customers mainly required agricultural chains in the early days, today we are able to offer customised, stainless, acid-resistant product solutions of the highest quality. In 1950, we replaced traditional, manual chain forging over an open fire with our first automatic production line.

Since then, our product range has been continuously adapted and developed to reflect current market developments, including globalisation. This has allowed us always to be able to meet the demands of our customers and to show them new, improved options.

In 1995, our product portfolio was significantly expanded to include stainless steel chains in our product range.

Regular investments, innovations and development ideas have enabled us to improve the diversity and technical specification of our range on a constant basis. In 2008, this culminated in the successful launch of our own cromox® brand, which has since represented the highest quality in stainless steel.

We have confidence in our cromox® product range and are 100% convinced of its reliability. Nonetheless, we strive continuously to improve our performance and our products for our customers.

We live the progress.

Franz Maximilian Wälder

Download catalog 2022

Please note our new price list, which is valid from 01 August 2023.