His life's work
To the top of the industry with software
As the first employee of the WiCAM group of companies, Mr. Timo Eigenblut started his career at WiCAM in the mid-90s. Together with Mr. Wilkesmann he laid the foundation for today’s success of the company.
In 1984, a young man named Harald Wilkesmann was working the night shift at a CNC punching machine to earn money for his mechanical engineering studies. Night after night, he was annoyed by the time-consuming process of calculating and entering coordinates. Today, one would say he felt like a human being who could easily be replaced by a computer.
That same year – January 1984 to be exact – the Apple company (still a small company at the time) presented the first Macintosh to the world. The computer for the masses was born – This was the starting signal for today’s digital world.
Fascinated by the possibilities of CNC technology and the emerging digitalization in the industry, he began to develop algorithms that turned order lists and drawings into the so-called NC texts for controlling the machines.
Word quickly spread that there was someone who could control entire machine parks error-free and at lightning speed – more and more companies were looking for just such solutions. He successfully completed his studies in 1986 and founded the postwendet WiCAM GmbH. A word creation from his name Wilkesmann and the technical term CAM – which stands for Computer Aided Manufacturing.
The first versions could process 4000 different variables, and so he named his project ‘Parametrik NC 4000’, or ‘PN4000’ for short. Driven by ambition and the pursuit of perfection, it took him six years to introduce his program to the industry.
In 1994, PN4000, the world’s first 3D-based universal CAD/CAM system, was launched, beginning internal growth and global expansion.
Over the years the company expanded and Mr. Eigenblut took over the responsibility for the operational business as well as the development of the current subsidiaries already in 2007.
After more than 35 years the programming system of WiCAM is used in all well-known groups like Siemens, Liebherr, Krones, Thyssen und co. der Dreh- und Angelpunkt für die automatisierte Produktion rund um den Globus.
After the unexpected death of company founder Harald Wilkesmann in 2017, a phase of uncertainty began. Mr. Timo Eigenblut, who had been with the company since 1995 and was the second man behind Mr. Wilkesmann, then took over the entire management of the entire group of companies as a first step.
In 2022, Timo Eigenblut and his investment company acquired „TE Invest GmbH“ the majority shares of the WiCAM group of companies. In accordance with the will of the company’s founder, the remaining shares went to the general-profit „WiCAM Foundation“ about.
With this step WiCAM remained one of the few globally operating tech companies in private hands and guarantees customers, partners and machine manufacturers absolute manufacturer neutrality also for the future.
This was and still is the basis to lead the lifelong dream of Mr. Wilkesmann, with his philosophy and visions, further on successfully and aspiring.
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