Everything has a history
A common denominator runs through our history – of seeing needs and developing solutions that make everyday life simpler
The key to success is often having the drive, dedication and determination to find solutions and think outside the box. When Erik U Sterner acquired the company in 1946, production consisted of various forms of iron working and the time was ripe for a rethink. Sterner had seen a photograph of a vending machine from America. He saw a business opportunity in self-service vending machines and vowed:
“I’m going to make this kind of product at our factory here in Sweden.”
New machinery was procured and new know-how started to be developed. In the early 1950s, the Swedish postal service announced a competition to manufacture stamp vending machines.
Sterners developed an ideal product for this application and won the competition.
The first stamp vending machine was manufactured in 1952 and following its initial sales success in Sweden, also soon became a major export product. The stamp vending machine remained in production until the early 1980s, with 80 percent exported.
Other machines were developed in parallel with the stamp machine. A great many. Coin-operated systems started being manufactured in the late 1950s, systems that remain in use today, for applications such as camp site showers, tanning booths and public WCs. These were followed by change machines, ticket machines, shoe shine machines, cash dispensers, vending machines and screenwash filling machines. The technology behind all these machines is now being adapted for our modern cashless society.
In 2013, the company acquired Indauto, a company with complementary know-how within the production of equipment enclosures and sheet metal working. Mercur was acquired in 2016 and, together with the screenwash pump developed by Sterners, can now offer a complete range of service station forecourt services.
As a family company, Sterners – now in the third generation – has retained the inventiveness that has always been part of the company’s DNA. Then as now, Sterners has been associated with innovation and new thinking, with a clear common denominator running through its entire history – of seeing needs and developing solutions that make everyday life simpler.