HISTORY
In 1888 the Sterzing mechanic Gabriel Leitner set up a workshop in his home town, where he produced agricultural machinery, material ropeways, water turbines and sawmill equipment, and within a hundred years the company developed into a global player in the field of ropeway engineering. The headquarters of today’s LEITNER group still occupy the original site in Sterzing.
By 1925 the business had grown from a workshop with just ten employees to a plant for the series production of agricultural machinery. After the 2nd World War, when tourism came to the Alps and generated demand for a modern mountain infrastructure there, the company switched from material to passenger ropeways, and in 1947 LEITNER built its first chairlift in Corvara, Italy.
LEITNER’s decision to focus production on the winter mountain infrastructure quickly proved a winner. Agricultural machinery production was discontinued in 1970 and replaced by snow groomer engineering. At the end of the 20th century, the company started to develop new production facilities and agencies outside of Sterzing in other countries, and today LEITNER has works in Austria, France and Colorado in addition to Sterzing as well as over seventy sales and service outlets worldwide.
In the meantime there has been rapid progress in ropeway engineering, too. Since 1983 high speed detachable systems have gradually replaced fixed-grip installations; the year 2000 saw the debut of the direct drive for ropeways, and ropeway systems have become a convincing solution to the problem of traffic congestion in urban areas. For that market, LEITNER has developed a rope-hauled light railway system by the name of MiniMetro.
Since 2003 LEITNER has made use of the synergies available from ropeway and wind power engineering to develop the LEITWIND wind turbine, in which the LEITNER direct drive is employed for the generator.
From agricultural machinery to wind turbines – from the very beginning LEITNER has always had a focus on quality, innovative products and cutting-edge technology.
