Long history
Höft & Wessel can look back on a company history that spans more than 30 years. The company founded in Hanover, Germany, in 1978 by the then students Michael Höft and Rolf Wessel has developed into a medium-sized company in the more than three decades of its existence. After the acquisition of the British subsidiary Metric in the year 1999 Hanover and Swindon, west of London, are the companies headquarters. The traditional history of Metric goes back to the year 1878. Furthermore a subsidiary in Leipzig, as well as distribution offices in Italy and the U.S. belongs to the company group today.
The development of new hardware and software products remains at the centre of the company’s operations, just as it did in the early years. The special corporate culture characterised by flexible working hours and flat hierarchies has also been retained, and formed a successful business model: Small teams of specialists can operate quickly and efficiently in the highly competitive markets. This particular corporate structure has allowed Höft & Wessel time and again to succeed against powerful competition.
On the journey from a minor start-up to a medium sized company, Höft & Wessel again and again succeeded in entering into new markets by developing new products. It all began in 1978 with the idea to establish a business for selling mobile data capture devices. In the early 1980s, Edeka was the first major customer to be acquired. Based on the first generation of mobile terminals, the specialists went on to develop mobile computer solutions and intelligent cash registers.
In the early 1990s, the company’s competence in mobile data capture led to the development of a mobile ticket vending terminal featuring electronic payment facilities and a display of tariff structures. This marked the start of the Ticketing division. Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) equipped its train attendants with 16,000 of the devices and was so pleased with their performance that a few years later they followed up with an order for stationary ticket vending machines from Höft & Wessel.
Another important year in the company’s history was 1998. Boasting a workforce of 240 at the time, the company was listed on the stock exchange to a positive reception as a high-tech stock. Höft & Wessel subsequently moved over to the Prime Standard segment. Its listing on the stock exchanges ensures that customers are provided with transparent and detailed insights into the company‘s activities.
In 1999 the company acquired Metric Holding Ltd. in the UK, with 60,000 installed parking machines in 45 countries a leading manufacturer of parking systems. Parking was thus established as the Höft & Wessel Group‘s third business division.
The acquisition of Metric also gave the company ownership of the Almex brand, a manufacturer of ticket printing equipment renowned throughout Europe. The Almex brand has been used for the Ticketing division ever since.
In 1999 Höft & Wessel also bought the company Skeye Telematic Systems GmbH, and the brand Skeye has since been in charge of its mobile data capture activities. In Germany, Skeye has become the market leader in the retail sector. In addition to mobile terminals with back office solutions for merchandise management, POS systems for supermarkets have also become a major focus for the company in recent years as well as solutions for logistics like telematics solutions. In case of RFID solutions Höft & Wessel Group belongs with long range scanner to the leading providers and has an overall experience with this technology.
The corporate structure with the three distinct and largely independent divisions featuring their own brand names facilitates the marketing of products to specific target groups and results in a healthy diversification of earnings within the Group.