Tyrolit

Tyrolit is an Austrian company that develops, manufactures and markets abrasive products as well as concrete sawing and drilling equipment. With 29 production locations on 5 continents, the TYROLIT group belongs to the world’s largest producers of bonded abrasives. The company is based in Schwaz, Tyrol, Austria. TYROLIT, a registered trademark, was named after the mineral Tyrolite, first described in 1845 in Tyrol.

History
Tyrolit was cofounded on February 13, 1919, by Daniel Swarovski to manufacture grinding wheels for the production of Swarovski crystals. During World War I, the Swarovski Group was cut off from supplies of grinding wheels, and was thus forced to develop and produce its own grinding wheels. After the war, it was decided to commercialize this activity and to start a separate company: thus, Tyrolit was born. In 1950, the company relocated from the Swarovski Headquarters in Wattens to a new location in Schwaz. One of the largest drivers of growth of the company was the market launch of the glass fiber reinforced cutoff and grinding wheel SECUR in 1952. The glass fiber reinforcement greatly improved the security of the tools against centrifugal breakage. In 1991 Tyrolit acquired both the US company Diamond Products and the Swiss company Hydrostress. These acquisitions added significant presence in the market for concrete drilling and sawing systems. Further major acquisitions took place in 2004 with the purchasing of the Czech company Carborundum Electrite, in 2009 with the purchasing of the US company Radiac and in 2014 with the purchasing of the South African company Grinding Techniques.

Organization
The Tyrolit Group is organized in four divisions:
 * Metal / Precision – serves the metal fabrication and precision machining markets
 * Construction – serves the construction industry
 * Stone / Ceramics / Glass – serves the stone, ceramic tile and glass industries
 * Industrial Trade – sells stock articles such as cutoff wheels through industrial distributors

Brands
The Tyrolit Group operates under the following brands:
 * Tyrolit: Global brand for all grinding solutions
 * Tyrolit Hydrostress: drilling and sawing equipment for the construction industry
 * Radiac: US producer of conventional bonded and superabrasive grinding wheels
 * Diamond Products: US producer of diamond tools and equipment for the construction industry
 * Carborundum Electrite: Czech producer of conventional bonded grinding wheels
 * Grinding Techniques: South African producer of conventional bonded grinding wheels
 * SISA: Chinese producer of ceramic abrasive grains and conventional bonded grinding wheels
 * Egeli Egesan: Turkish producer of conventional bonded grinding wheels and sandpaper