Having started as a small, privately-owned company with an almost non-profit-making activity, Leine & Linde is now a global company with offices and distributors worldwide.
Follow the company's journey through the years!
1967-1976: The age of invention
1967 – P-O Leine and Henrik Linde start up Leine & Linde HB at Bangatan 5 in Solna. The first encoder model, M35, arrives – known as "the 35".
1971 – Leine & Linde move to the bathhouse in Strängnäs.
1973 – The company buys distributor boards for SEK 9,170, allowing an accuracy of 10 arcseconds and pulse figures of up to 2,500 per revolution.
1975 – General agency set up in France.
1976 – Leine & Linde wins a major order: Asea orders 95 encoders for forestry machinery.
1977-1986: The entrepreneurial era
1977 – The company is bought out by Ulf Hedlund. Half of all sales go to exports.
1978 – Leine & Linde becomes the market leader in the Nordic region.
1980 – Sales reach SEK 25 million.
1981 – The company relocates to Olivehällsvägen in Strängnäs (its present address).
1982 – First delivery of the 800 series. The customer is Asea.
1984 – The first PC is acquired.
1985 – The premises are extended for the first time.
1987 - The present: The expansion phase
1987 – Euroventure buys a 40 per cent share in the company. The products are given item numbers.
1988-1989 – Production runs at 23,500 encoders per year.
1990 – Incentive-gruppen acquires Leine & Linde.
1991 – Sales reach SEK 40 million.
1992 – DR. JOHANNES HEIDENHAIN GmbH is the new owner of Leine & Linde.
1994 – The company's current CEO, Björn Zetterlund, takes up his post.
1995 – Sales office opens in Germany.
1996 – ADS (Advanced Diagnostic System) presented as an integral system in the encoders. As a result Leine & Linde's encoders become self-diagnosing.
1997 – The company's quality management system become certificated according to ISO 9001.
1998 – Sales office opens in Finland.
2000 – Sales office opens in Denmark. Sales are SEK 75 million.
2002 – The company is environmentally certificated according to ISO 14001. Introduction of the G4 encoder platform, for 58 millimetre incremental and absolute encoders.
2005 – Sales office opens in Italy.
2006 – Sales office opens in China. Sales are SEK 175 million.
2007 – A new state-of-the-art production facility is opened at the head office in Strängnäs.
2009 – Sales office opens in India.
2010 – Sales office opens in Korea. Service and Support organization established in China.
