Hilti Corporation (Hilti Aktiengesellschaft or Hilti AG, also known as Hilti Group) is a Liechtensteiner multinational company that develops, manufactures, and markets products for the construction, building maintenance, energy and manufacturing industries, mainly to the professional end-user. It concentrates mainly on anchoring systems, fire protection systems, installation systems, measuring and detection tools (such as laser levels, range meters and line lasers), power tools (such as hammer drills, demolition hammers, diamond drills, cordless electric drills, heavy angle drills, power saws) and related software and services. Hilti, a registered trademark of the various Hilti corporate entities, is the family name of the company's founders. History 1941–1946 In 1941, the Hilti company was founded by Martin and Eugen Hilti, with the opening of a mechanical workshop in Schaan, Liechtenstein. Martin Hilti was trained in mechanical engineering and automotive design at the Wismar Engineering College and was 26 at the time of founding the company. He was also a voluntary Waffen-SS and functionary in the German National Movement in Liechtenstein as editor-in-chief for Der Umbruch. The Martin Hilti Family Trust holds all of Hilti's registered shares as of 2003. 1947–1963 After the war there was a sharp decline in sales and the company was close to bankruptcy. To make ends meet Martin Hilti signed sub-contracts as diverse as gray cast iron parts for the Swiss textile industry, machining eggcups molds, or lighters and pencil sharpeners. In the late 1940s Martin Hilti found a technology that would allow setting nails into concrete or masonry, and he acquired the original designs and the patents rights of what would later become Hilti's Direct Fastening first tool. Although promising, the technology proved to be immature, and required significant development. In the meantime, through the early 1950s, Hilti produced its own line of household products, which included a cigarette lighter, and a water-powered kitchen mixer called "Ello", which enjoyed considerable success. In 1952, with a solution that proved mature to be marketed, Hilti launched its first construction-related product, a manual tool to drive threaded studs into steel. In 1953 the company introduced its first power-actuated high-velocity fastener that allowed setting nails into concrete, called Perfix. At this time Hilti opened offices in Italy, Belgium, Poland, Finland, Norway, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, France, Australia, Canada and the USA. In 1963 Hilti was present in 23 countries, with a turnover of over 400 million Swiss francs. 1964–1994 In 1964