Innovative system solutions for wet rooms
The wedi success story started in 1983 when master tiler Helmut Wedi invented the 100% waterproof, directly tileable building board and founded the company in Emsdetten, Germany. He set himself a goal to develop high-quality, but above all, practical solutions for tradesmen that provide real added value in their day-to-day work. What started as a one-man operation in the garage of his own house has grown into a global company supplying innovative wet room solutions in more than 50 countries world-wide. The wedi Group, with its more than 500 employees, still is the leading manufacturer of XPS building products: to be able to cope with the international demand, wedi opened a new production site in Batavia, Illinois, USA in 2016. The board with its blue core made from extruded polystyrene rigid foam is still the trademark of the family company, managed today by the second generation, Stephan Wedi together with Fabian Rechlin. The wedi building board, which was trendsetting for the entire industry and the name of which is still used as a generic term when referring to tile backer boards, has been joined by many other innovations during the past 37 years. As a result, today, the premium wedi brand stands for carefully considered system solutions for the individual, effortless design of bathrooms and wet rooms.
Building, renovating and designing in a system
“Demanding requirements and the ever-present time pressure: the challenges for bathroom professionals have become ever greater in recent years, and the skill shortage makes the situation even harder. That's why we offer intelligent, modular system solutions that make the realisation of bathrooms, wellness oases and spas quick, reliable and aesthetically pleasing,” explains Managing Director Stephan Wedi. The company's portfolio spans from complete building systems, carefully considered flush-to-floor shower systems and exciting design elements for which the wedi building board was the base, through aesthetic design surfaces and practical system accessories to comprehensive module and commercial construction services. All products can be used individually as well as, thanks to their modular nature, combined with one another as desired to create an overall concept. Individual products thus become a system and multiple systems then form a 100% waterproof wedi system bathroom.
Guaranteed quality
“The wedi brand stands for reliability and superior product quality in all our systems, and I put my name to it. The end user associates the certainty of being able to enjoy showering in their personalised bathroom every morning for many years without the worry about leaks or mould with our quality promise. The quality, for the fitter, naturally means being assured that all wedi products interlock with one another and form a sealed, functional whole. Thanks to our high quality standard, we are able to offer trained wedi specialists an additional performance promise, on top of the statutory warranty, in the form of a voluntary guarantee for up to 20 years,” explains Stephan Wedi.
wedi service – when 1 plus 1 makes more than 2
Customer service and customer satisfaction are the top priority at wedi and are part of our company’s DNA. Trade partners thus experience solid support not just through intelligent wedi system solutions with which they save labour, time and costs as well as gain unrivalled reliability, but also through our numerous services. Partners and customers in all phases of the design and construction process are supported through wedi’s commercial construction service. In addition to technical planning and individual production of a test build in the wedi production hall, this also entails marking each and every element for easy assembly on site. Tilers can easily stay up to date with regular training and can qualify as certified wedi partners. Tradespeople, dealers and planners also benefit from technical support from wedi specialists on site, practical tools like our newly introduced shower configurator and comprehensive marketing documents. “All these services contribute to the added value we offer for our partners,” Stephan Wedi is convinced.
Always one step ahead
Nearly 40 years have passed since the invention of the wedi building board, and the company is still considered to be a leading innovator in the construction industry today. “The building board is and will always be the nucleus of wedi. It is our foundation, which I am proud of and which motivates us all – just like my father in the past – to keep thinking outside the box and asking ourselves ‘what can we still improve?’,” says Stephan Wedi. The continuous further development and optimisation of wedi products is a key element of the wedi corporate philosophy and day-to-day work: the goal is to always be one step ahead. The system provider perfects its products and develops new solutions in tune with the market and in accordance with tilers’ wishes and needs. “Two topics are trendsetting here: the integration of technology and the surface design,” adds Stephan Wedi. Technology is always kept up-to-date and installation steps are made ever easier and more reliable through ‘plug-and-play’ solutions. On the other hand, wedi now offers aesthetic design surfaces which are establishing themselves as seamless, quick and hygienic alternatives to tiles that complement wedi’s waterproof substructures. “As a result, wedi has become visible in the finished bathroom for the first time. And so we will remain, in every respect,” Stephan Wedi concludes.
