TYROLIT: From Crystal Pioneer to Global Player for Surface Treatment

Over the past one hundred years, TYROLIT, part of the Swarovksi Group, has developed into an international group with subsidiaries all over the world. The company's history began back in 1895 with the founding of Swarovski and an expertise in grinding crystals. In 1919, this led to the founding of TYROLIT, an independent company named after a mineral found in Tyrol. Today, with over 4,600 employees, the TYROLIT Group is one of the suppliers of high-quality grinding solutions and has established itself as a system provider for professional users in the construction industry.

The many years of experience in surface treatment, combined with the continuous pursuit of technological innovation, have resulted in numerous products over the years that continue to shape the international abrasives market to this day. In the 1950s, TYROLIT was the first company in Europe to launch fibreglass reinforced cutting and grinding discs under the name SECUR onto the market. As of 1973, TYROLIT tools made it possible for the first time to grind at 100m/s instead of the usual 80m/s and safely allowed workers to take significant advantages of the higher working speed in mechanical surface treatment.

In 1983, TYROLIT was able to make a valuable contribution to applications in the construction industry with the world's first fully hydraulic wall saw. This was followed by the first super-thin cut-off wheels with a thickness of less than 1 mm - an innovation on the market and still the standard for high-quality hand-guided cut-off wheels today. Shortly afterwards, so-called "large" cut-off wheels with diameters of up to 2 m for cutting hot steel were also being manufactured. These are still among the largest cut-off wheels in the world. With their metal-bonded profiling tools for processing granite and a diamond saw wire that is still in use today, TYROLIT also has a sustained significance for the stone industry.

In the age of digitalisation, TYROLIT has its finger on the pulse of time with ToolScope, a modular assistance system for precision machining, and with MoveSmart, a novel monitoring system for the construction industry. Both industry 4.0 technologies deliver numerous data in real time and ensure efficient and safe working through digital networking.

Finally, since 2014, the consumer goods brand TYROLIT life has been putting all the industrial grinding competence into developing numerous applications for the private household.