About W&S Leakless
In 1982 started Joakim Sundberg a company together with a friend. The company got the name Winkler&Sundberg Marketing Assistence HB. The first trip to Australia was done in order to get some sort of trade relationships between Australia and Europe (mainly Sweden).
After a comeback to Sweden we received the various proposals on goods and services that they wanted us to advertise in Sweden/Europe, but only a few were of interest to us. A product that we both found interesting was hose reel for air, water as well as oxygen/acetylene that later was named Flexorullen.
We soon realized that this was a way to narrow range of hose reels in order to satisfy the industry’s requirements and dealers’ preferences. During 1984/85 we found a manufacturer in Germany, Braunwarth & Co. Apparatebau GmbH, that had what we were looking for, and also a good attitude to developing more models as well as making special reels in small batches. In 1989 we founded a limited liability company that got a name Winkler & Sundberg Marketing AB, which later became Winkler & Sundberg AB.
Most of our customers remained satisfied with the range and quality of products, but in some workplaces hose reels were not the right solution for getting hoseless floor, the hose was rolled out in the morning and rolled in in the evening because the spring force was too heavy, whereupon the hose remained on the floor during work hours anyway. That’s why we started together with our German supplier produce both steady springs and motorized hose reels. The motor-driven reels were supplied with a slipping clutch as well as a circuit board that made the reel function as a spring-driven reel, but without progressive development of the force. The price level, however, became too high at small volume, so the sales were not too successful.
In 1992 we were in contact with the Development Fund which helped us to produce two sizes of a motorized hose reel together with Stålvall & Larsson AB. These reels were developed during 1993 and they been manufactured in Denmark to the year 2000 when we moved the manufacturing to Sweden again.This kind of hosereel is now under our brand ReelSafe or ReelSafe ® - OneHand.
In 1993 we have taken in a new product range, from Reelcraft Industries in USA. They have a good width of hose reels for the most industries, everything from manual to motorized reels for hose lengths & dimensions that are often missing at most manufacturers. Today we also have Hannay Reels in our range that we further expanded for the industry.
To motivate our customers to invest in high quality reels which in some cases cost slightly more, during 1990s we started to provide information about the time that it takes to handle hose and the cost of compressed air. Where a millimeter size hole in a hose that lies on the floor can cost as much as a new hose reel. The compressed air cost and discussions about compressed air leaks were further transformed into a service-related part of the business.
In 1999 we acquired ultrasonic instruments that were selected after a diligent comparison. At first it was somewhat difficult to convey that compressed air has a cost, and in particular to determine how this cost is calculated. More about this you can read under Leak Detection. This part of W&S - Winkler & Sundberg AB we called Leekseek until 2008. After the partnership did not work out, we had to rename the leak detection department to LeakLess ® since the previous companion gave the name to our Leekseek partner in Holland. After this within a year we got two new members in the industry which had the same customer database. This got confusing for our customers.
Because of the above and due to a proper recession in the economy in 2008/2009, the company became insolvent. In the beginning of 2011 Joakim Sundberg started up a new company with our present name W&S LeakLess AB.
In W&S LeakLess AB we have leakdetection and hosereels as our two main areas of business. Within hose reels we can claim that we have one of the industry's widest selections and expertise.The LeakLess ® database has a history from 1999 as we had saved all projects when we got rid of our previous database.
The development is progressing steadily and now we also have the new OneHand ® spray/blow nozzle that saves money both in terms of energy and life-span. New applications of our ReelSafe ® products mean that we never stand still. We also introduced hose break valves as well as piping system, Transair ® from Parker, which allow us to provide our customers additional savings and safer hose handling.
