In 1986, WIKA Instruments established a presence in Canada by opening a sales office in Alberta. Three years later, WIKA expanded by purchasing Xanax Controls Ltd., a local distributor of WIKA products, and started servicing the Canadian market directly out of their warehouse in Edmonton. During the 1990s, WIKA continued to grow and opened warehouses in both Mississauga and Sarnia, ON to service eastern Canada.
In 1999, WIKA purchased Alltemp Sensors, a company that was founded in 1978 to meet the growing needs of the global temperature measurement market. In July of 2001, the WIKA and Alltemp Sensors operations were consolidated into an 85,000 sq. ft. manufacturing location in Edmonton, AB.
Alltemp Sensors, a high quality manufacturer, was certified to ISO 9001 by QMI-SAI Global, North Americas leading management system auditor in 1997. In 2011, WIKA Instruments Ltd. expanded on this by obtaining ISO/IEC 17025 certification for General Requirements for the Competence Testing and Calibration Laboratories.
Throughout the early 2000s’ WIKA continued to expand in Canada by opening a 12,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant in Oakville, ON, as well as service centers in Calgary AB, Ft. McMurray AB, Sarnia ON and Montreal, QC. Today, WIKA Instruments Ltd employs over 250 employees working in manufacturing facilities, warehouses, service centers and sales offices strategically located across Canada.
On January 02, 1946 Alexander Wiegand and Philipp Kachel founded WIKA GmbH in Klingenberg. The initial two letters of their surnames formed the company name WIKA. In 1951 Konrad Wiegand, the son of Alexander Wiegand, took over the management of the company. A decade later, with the consolidation of the branches, the foundation stone for the present headquarters in Klingenberg was laid.
In 1967 Ursula Wiegand took over the control of the company from her late husband. For her exceptional achievements she received the state medal for outstanding service in 1984. In the following year she was the first woman to be chosen as the business woman of the year.
With the inauguration of the new WIKA head office in 1988, Klingenberg was confirmed as the headquarters of the family-run company. As early as 1994, the high quality standard of WIKA was certified to DIN ISO 9001 by the German Society For The Certification Of Quality Management Systems (DQS).
For their 50th anniversary, WIKA was the Number 1 worldwide for mechanical pressure and temperature measurement. In the same year, following the death of Ursula Wiegand, Alexander Wiegand, the eponymous grandson of the company's founder, took over the management of the business.
In 1999, the construction of a new sensor centre was completed, which, with 13,000 square metres of production space, would be able to cope with the requirements of unlimited growth. In the production areas, the first KAIZEN activities began in 2002.