Bonjour! WINTERSTEIGER is heading to the “Grande Nation”
In 1986, WINTERSTEIGER established a subsidiary in France. The company was located in Sallanches in the Haute-Savoie region, in the Mont Blanc area. The first few years were very difficult, and the subsidiary generated very little revenue. It was thanks to Michael Neuwirth from Austria that the subsidiary got off the ground, until he returned to Ried as managing director.
The product lineup in France in the early 1990s included: Micro 1, Micro Sb2, Polyjet, KNS, Polyman, SWM, SNB-WM, and Skitronic. A range of used machines was also still being sold in the early 1990s: MCR 1500, MCR 800, BAV, BTM, SEL, CBM, and BBG.
Acquisition of SKID
Günther Kamml took over as managing director from Michael Neuwirth and was responsible for preparing the merger with SKID. In 1999, WINTERSTEIGER acquired SKID, its main competitor in France. SKID also manufactured ski service machines, but WINTERSTEIGER was about four times larger at the time. To keep the French owner—who had extensive market knowledge—on board, the acquisition was spread out over three years.
At that time, there were only two sales representatives for all of France—one for ski service machines and one for thin-cutting wood (then known as Engineering). From 1994 to 2000, the number of sales representatives increased to four; the subsidiary employed a total of 14 people.
In 2006, WINTERSTEIGER built a new sales and service branch in Sainte-Hélène-du-Lac.