Celebrating a new milestone, WAGO continues to build confidence through smarter connections, automation, and trusted engineering excellence
Established in 1951, leading digital solutions provider, WAGO, believes that confidence depends on reliable connections that keep people, systems, and industries running safely and efficiently. Guided by its mission of ‘Empowering Connections’, WAGO helps customers create safer, smarter, and more efficient electrical and automation systems through reliable products, expert support, and long-term partnerships. With more than 35 years of presence in the UK and Ireland and a portfolio of over 25,000 products, the company is committed to supporting a sustainable, connected future across the world’s greatest industries, infrastructures, and built environments.
In 2026, WAGO is proudly celebrating its 75th anniversary – a remarkable milestone that’s symbolic of its legacy in trusted electrical connection technology. Today, the company is continuing to expand its role in industrial automation and digital transformation; in fact, WAGO (UK & IE) has more than tripled over the last seven years. Manufacturing Today sits down with Darren Hodson, Managing Director of WAGO (UK & IE), and John Mackey, Head of Automation Sales (UK & IE), to learn more about the key driving factors behind this tremendous growth.
“Our connectors have introduced many customers to WAGO, but our growth has increasingly come from helping those customers solve a broader range of engineering challenges,” Darren begins. “Once customers experience the quality and reliability of one part of the portfolio, they become more open to using WAGO across other applications. Our success is born from connections: with electricians, contractors, engineers, panel builders, machine builders, system integrators, distributors, and end users. That combination of product quality, customer relationships, innovation, and investment in the UK has enabled us to grow while maintaining the values that have defined WAGO for 75 years.”
WAGO’s dedication to continued innovation and superior customer service lies at the very heart of its operations, governing its wider investment strategy. For instance, the company has recently invested £25 million in new headquarters in Rugby to accommodate its growth. The 63,000-square-foot office, warehouse, and production area is purpose-built, utilizing WAGO’s own interconnection, interface, and automation solutions to create a smart building space.
“Our new headquarters in Rugby is a significant investment and a clear statement of our long-term commitment to the UK and Ireland,” Darren affirms. “It gives us the space, infrastructure, and capabilities we need to support a much larger and more diverse business. It brings our people together in a modern environment and creates more opportunities for collaboration between sales, marketing, product management, engineering, customer service, and operations. It also allows us to provide customers with a stronger experience. We can demonstrate more of our technology, deliver technical training, host customers and partners, and work collaboratively on real applications and engineering challenges.”
With this new facility now operational, WAGO is well-positioned to further expand its comprehensive range of automation and software solutions. When it comes to research and development, the company’s approach combines German engineering discipline with a close understanding of real applications – another philosophy that remains central to its longevity and success.
“Innovation is only valuable when it solves a genuine problem,” John emphasizes. “Our development teams therefore work closely with customers, machine builders, system integrators, and engineers to understand the challenges they face, whether that is reducing installation time, improving reliability, using less cabinet space, connecting different technologies, or gaining better access to operational data.
“Quality and testing are fundamental,” he says. “WAGO products are designed for demanding industrial and electrical environments, where reliability, safety, and product longevity are critical. We also focus on modularity, openness, and ease of use. Customers need technology that can be implemented efficiently today but also adapted as their machines, processes, and facilities evolve. Our 75-year history demonstrates that innovation and reliability do not need to be competing priorities; the best engineering delivers both.”
As such, investments in its UK automation capabilities form a key part of WAGO’s operational strategy. John elaborates: “One of our most important developments is the investment we are making building sector expertise, strengthening our relationships with automation distributors and system integrators, and developing a more focused approach to advanced manufacturing, life sciences, data centers, and energy.
“We are also investing in people. My role is part of a wider commitment to bring additional automation knowledge and experience into the UK organization. Having spent much of my career at Siemens, I have seen how automation can transform manufacturing productivity, resilience, and competitiveness. WAGO has the technology, engineering heritage, and customer relationships to play a much larger role in that transformation. Customers will also see us bringing our interconnection, interface, power, energy-management, and automation capabilities together more clearly. Rather than promoting individual products in isolation, we want to demonstrate how the portfolio can solve complete customer applications.”
In light of WAGO’s 75th anniversary, Manufacturing Today is keen to dive deeper into the forces that have been integral to the company’s longevity, growth, and success. Darren highlights four key factors. “The first factor is quality,” he says. “Customers need to know that the product they install today will continue to perform reliably for many years. WAGO has built its reputation by never compromising on that principle.
“The second is innovation. While the business has continually evolved, it has done so in a considered way, developing products that solve practical engineering problems and create measurable value for customers. The third is our people and our relationships. Our success has never been based solely on products. It has been built through connections with customers, distributors, engineers, contractors, and partners around the world. Finally, WAGO has always taken a long-term view. We invest in engineering, manufacturing, people, facilities, and partnerships because we want to build sustainable success rather than pursue short-term gains.”
As WAGO looks to the future, its ambition extends far beyond its renowned connector heritage. By strengthening its expertise in automation, energy, and smart technologies, the company aims to become one of the UK’s most trusted engineering partners, helping customers build safer, more efficient, and more sustainable operations. Guided by its vision of being the backbone of a smart, connected world, WAGO will continue to empower connections that drive innovation and long-term success.
“The key message is that WAGO’s success has always been built on connections,” Darren reveals. “More than one billion connectors sold in the UK over the last decade is an achievement of which we are extremely proud, but it also represents millions of individual moments where a customer has placed their trust in our brand. We want to build on that trust and show customers that WAGO can support far more of their electrical, electronic, and automation requirements.”
“For manufacturers, the pace of technological change is accelerating. Businesses need to become more productive, more energy-efficient, more connected, and more resilient,” John adds, concluding our conversation. “WAGO brings together strong German engineering, an open automation philosophy, and an established UK customer and partner network. That puts us in an excellent position to help businesses modernize without creating unnecessary complexity.
“We are proud of our 75-year heritage, but we are equally excited about the role WAGO can play in the next generation of UK industry.”
