The business takes off
The 70s came to be a successful period of time and the turnover grew from 5 - to almost 25 million Swedish crowns. In 1972, Rune Starks Mekaniska Workshop changed its name to Väderstad-Verken AB. By this stage, the firm was already known throughout all of Sweden as a manufacturer of rigid tine harrows and cultivators.
In 1972 the company employed 20 people and despite building extensions totalling 400 square metres, the company quickly outgrew its premises. A plot of land for a new factory was bought and the location remains the same to this day.
The only aerial photo of what was then Rune Mekaniska Workshop was taken in the winter of 1971. The white building was developed in two phases and was later moved up to the new factory.
Success in Germany
The summer of 1975 was dry and the clay soils were hard. However, Väderstad machines acquired a great reputation on larger farms in the Holstein region of Germany. Since the only implement that worked well in the conditions was a Väderstad harrow.
Test folding of the first six-metre version of the ring roller, in 1976. The roller series, which came to be called HV soon, had a very widespread uptake. Production in Väderstad during the following decade comprised around 8000 rollers. Around 10 000 rollers were built under licence in the former Soviet Union and several thousand more in France. Since then, Väderstad has become Europe’s largest manufacturer of ring rollers and thousands have been shipped out across the world.
Containers were shipped to South Africa
Innumerable containers were shipped to South Africa. Large farms profited greatly from the Väderstad rollers. That was in fact the first time that Väderstad came in contact with really enormous farms and was able to observe what wear on machinery large scale use caused.