In 1960, Walter Salje founded his company of the same name in Bielefeld to supply boards to the concrete block industry.

 

In 1980, after long years of experience in its specialist field, the company was renamed WASA Unterlagsplatten GmbH when Heinz Bechtold took over as managing partner. Since then, the company headquarters have been located in Mossautal in South Hessen (Odenwaldkreis). The manufacture of softwood boards also took place in Mossautal. Working closely with a number of different manufacturers of wooden boards both at home and abroad, the company continued steadily to expand and so build up its expertise and business relationships in the concrete industry.

 

In 1985, WASA entered into a joint venture with Kian Guan Timber in Singapore to manufacture boards from hardwood. To this day, Kian Guan Timber still makes wooden boards from pure Yellow Balau.

 

It was Heinz Bechtold who, in 1990, had the idea of manufacturing boards from recycled plastics. Following promising initial tests and having made contact with Duales System Deutschland (DSD), which at the time was to be their principal supplier of plastics, WASA purchased the site of a former agricultural cooperative in Neubrunn (Thuringia) in 1991. Once the existing factory buildings had been converted and new ones added, the production of solid plastic boards began for the first time.

 

WASA UNIPLAST® boards were to lead to a revolution in the concrete block industry. The combined ideas of various experts and the use of ultra-modern production techniques made it possible for the factory to turn out boards that over many years have proven extremely durable. Today, Neubrunn is the largest board factory in the world, having achieved a standard of production that is unmatched.

 

Innovative WASA UNIPLAST® captured the mood of the time. And as a genuine alternative to all other boards previously on the market, it rapidly gained popularity around the world. This continual expansion meant that the workforce also had to be increased. As a result, a new sales office was built in Mossautal in 1996.

 

In 1997, Peter Webel joined the WASA group as an additional managing partner, and since then he has been responsible for ensuring the smooth running of production in Thuringia.

 

In 2003, WASA took over Hardenberg, its Dutch competitor in the wood industry.

 

Since 2004, there have been four manufacturing facilities for WASA UNIPLAST® in operation in Neubrunn. The new factory in Neubrunn is pointing the way ahead for the industry, pioneering the manufacture of homogenous plastic granules, the associated manufacturing process and precise quality controls, and the sophisticated logistics required for despatch and delivery to the customer.

 

This 65,000sqm industrial site operates 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. The extruders and machinery are only shut down for maintenance purposes or in unforeseen circumstances.

 

In 2005, all wooden board manufacture was moved from Mossautal to Neubrunn in order to facilitate the manufacture there of wooden boards from the very highest-quality softwood. A 3,000m² factory was built specially for this purpose and equipped with state-of-the-art manufacturing technology which turns out several hundred quality-tested boards every day.

 

In 2007, WASA entered a new line of business with the production of wetcast moulds made from polyurethane. Since then, WASA has offered customers the choice of either selecting from an existing comprehensive portfolio of slab designs or coming up with their own design specification which WASA then turns into wetcast moulds. The entire process is carried out by WASA, from the blueprint stage through to pouring the wetcast mould.

 

Also in 2007, a new generation of solid plastic boards was launched: WASA UNIPLAST® ULTRA. Reinforced with integrated microfibers and not requiring any interior or exterior steel profiles, it has set new standards for board manufacture ever since.

 

In 2009, WASA introduced a special service for customers in the WASA UNIPLAST® family. Using a mobile grinding machine mounted in two sea transport containers, concrete block manufacturers now have the opportunity of regrinding their solid plastic boards that have been in use for many years and thus achieving a surface which is practically indistinguishable from new. WASA was the first company on the market to offer this service, thereby reaffirming its status as a pioneer in the industry.

 

At the beginning of 2010, only two years after the introduction of wetcast moulds, the production line for cast-resin manufacturing had to be expanded in order to meet the very high level of demand for wetcast moulds. Since then, WASA has also introduced a special stack carrier system for wetcast moulds, in which multi-nest polyurethane moulds are fitted into a carrier frame, which enables them to be filled by fully or semi-automated wetcast machines. WASA UNIPLAST® ULTRA boards, which are fitted with torsion-free plastic feet, act as stack carriers.

 

In April 2010, WASA launched a completely revamped advertising campaign just in time for Bauma in Munich, the world’s largest tradeshow for the construction industry. The new website went live on the eve of the fair.

 

In 2011 WASA put their newest product in the area of the production boards: the WASA WOODPLAST®. The board is made with a softwood or hardwood core and a high impact resistant and break-proof-polyurethane coating. Additional C-shaped steel profiles on the front offer protection from mechanical forces in the board magazine.
 
A change in the enterprise point took place in the beginning of 2012. By December, 31st 2011 Heinz Bechtold left the company as a manager of the WASA Group. To his place stepped his son Matthias by January, 01st 2012 who is with the company since 2006. Heinz Bechtold remains WASA for the time being, nevertheless, as an adviser and main companion.

 

Today, more than 120 employees and representatives work for WASA on every continent in the world.