Werner Ricardo Voigt
"Em toda nossa vida pessoal e profissional, sempre primamos pela honestidade. Jamais tentamos lucrar prejudicando alguém."
Descendente de imigrantes alemães vindos da região de Düsseldorf, Werner Ricardo Voigt nasceu no dia 8 de setembro de 1930. Desde menino, sempre teve a eletricidade como uma paixão. Werner também despertou cedo para os prazeres da leitura por meio do avô, Leo Schulz, construtor e professor, que recebia inúmeros livros e revistas técnicas da Alemanha.
Purnhagen foi outro mestre que exerceu forte influência na vida de Werner. Adolescente, foi morar em Joinville, onde estudava no SENAI e trabalhava na oficina de Werner Strohmeyer. Aos 18 anos foi convocado para servir ao Exército, em Curitiba/PR. Após o serviço militar, foi um dos dois soldados selecionados para frequentar a Escola Técnica Federal, onde se especializou em radiotelegrafia e eletrônica.
In September 1953, Werner established a small repair shop downtown in Jaraguá do Sul. The small business, which rendered general services and maintained two dozen motorized vehicles that ran in Jaraguá do Sul and surroundings, expanded, proving the entrepreneurial spirit of the youngster who, later, would use his talent to start one of the largest companies of the world: WEG.
Werner Ricardo Voigt conceived the prototype of a motor that became the original product of WEG. A visionary, fond of innovation, he directed the technology used in the factory. His technical leadership was unquestionable, and his attitude focused on evolution led WEG to always choose modernity when the subject was technique. In October 1988, when Décio da Silva took over as president, Werner started integrating the board of directors and stopped performing executive functions at the company. In 2008, he established the Educational and Technical Training Center Werner Ricardo Voigt in the city of Schroeder (State of Santa Catarina), providing learning opportunities for young people of the region.
In June, 2016 at age 85, Werner Ricardo Voigt passed away of natural causes in Jaraguá do Sul/SC. Until the last days of his life, Werner was a regular presence at WEG manufacturing plants. Sharing his experience with the just graduated engineers or already experienced ones with the same pleasure as always. Asking, looking, listening, discovering and talking, Werner divided all of his large experience in production and troubleshooting.
Eggon João da Silva
“Men motivated by an idea are the foundation of success”
Eggon João da Silva was born on October 17, 1929, where the city of Schroeder is located today. Son of Emílio da Silva and Magdalena da Silva, Eggon was deeply inspired by his father. Emílio was a teacher, photographer, carpenter, musician, trader, among other jobs. He wrote the book "Jaraguá do Sul - A Povoação do Vale do Itapocu", a reference to many scholars of the history of the State of Santa Catarina.
Eggon started working early, at the age of 13, as an auxiliary at a notary office in Jaraguá do Sul and soon gained experience in administration. In 1957, after fourteen years in the main bank of the state, he became partner of João Wiest & Cia., a company specialized in the production of car exhaust pipes, with eight employees then.
Four years later, Eggon left the company, which had 150 employees then, to face the biggest challenge of his career. In September 1961, together with Werner and Geraldo, he founded WEG. Eggon was the president of the company until 1989, leading it to become one of the largest in the sector, with remarkable participation on the domestic and international market. That year, he handed over the position to Décio da Silva.
Eggon's history is not connected only to WEG. The businessman was part of the board of four big companies: Oxford, Tigre, Marisol and Perdigão. In the last one, he was CEO from 1994 to 1995, accomplishing the hard task of recovering the financial situation of the company. In September 2015, at age 85, Eggon João da Silva died of natural causes in a hospital of Jaraguá do Sul.
Geraldo Werninghaus
“We grew because at the very beginning we thought big”
Natural de Rio do Sul/SC, Geraldo Werninghaus nasceu em 26 de novembro de 1932. Ele começou sua carreira profissional na Werninghaus & Filhos, oficina de seu pai em Joinville. Aos 14 anos, quando iniciou seu aprendizado como mecânico, o universo de tornos e fresadoras, graxas e estopas já estava impregnado em seu cotidiano.
Geraldo deixou a Werninghaus & Filhos em 1961, aos 29 anos, aceitou o convite de sociedade para fundar a WEG em Jaraguá do Sul, junto com Werner e Eggon. Seus conhecimentos em mecânica e sua criatividade para solucionar problemas somados às habilidades dos colegas serviram para tornar a empresa uma referência no Brasil.
Na fábrica, Werninghaus se encarregava da produção propriamente dita. Era tido como um líder com foco na produção e nas equipes de trabalho.
Pessoa dedicada ao trabalho e à comunidade, ao deixar as atividades executivas diretas na WEG para o Conselho de Administração em 1989, iniciou a nova e promissora carreira pública.
Foi vereador, deputado estadual e prefeito de Jaraguá do Sul, com mandato que se encerraria em 31 de dezembro do ano 2000. Porém, em 10 de fevereiro de 1999, um acidente de trânsito encerrou precocemente a carreira e vida de Geraldo Werninghaus.