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The Way It Was

Wagner Meters began as a business in the early 1960s when Delmer Wagner saw an innovative opportunity in the forest products industry of the Pacific Northwest.

At That Time:

American population: approximately 175 million.
Average American salary: $4,750.00/year.
Life expectancy: males: 66 years; females: 73 years.
Minimum wage: $1.00/hour.

Since then, trade has gone global, both for buyers and sellers. Manufacturers produce their goods due to a greatly-expanded set of considerations, among them: cost. Increasingly, companies send production contracts to cost-efficient countries to maximize profit and stay competitive. As with any cultural tectonic shift, globalization has its positives and negatives. Informed individuals can decide, for themselves, on the risks and benefits.

The Way It Is

Globalization has, of course, impacted the moisture content test industry. It is not possible to overstate the importance of this issue, because it so profoundly affects the products used in a moisture content test. Every time a contractor or consumer purchases a moisture content test kit or a moisture meter, they enact a certain degree of support for the nations that produced them.

wagner-meters-wayThe Wagner Meters Way

Wagner Meters designed the first solid-state, non-contact, in-line lumber moisture detector. Soon, clients approached Wagner Meters for hand-held moisture content test meters for spot-checking. Wagner Meters has spent the ensuing decades building a family of wood moisture content test products and concrete relative humidity test products from its original home base in Rogue River, Oregon.

Time has not changed the Wagner Meters business ethic. Delmer’s son, Ed, continued the legacy of pioneering moisture content test equipment from 1987 to 2024, advancing from hand-held meters to lumber mill processing systems. Wagner Meters has grown with the world, but it has chosen to remain rooted in the American vision which motivated Delmer Wagner to innovate.

In 2024, Eric Wagner, the son of Ed Wagner, was promoted to President of Wagner Meters. Since joining the company in 2007, Eric has committed to continuing his family’s legacy of delivering innovative and high-quality moisture measurement solutions.

Through three generations of Wagner family leadership, Wagner Meters has remained an American-based employer with a global reach. Only a business committed to a vision of growth and sustainability recognizes that cheaper may not be better in the long run.

Wagner Meters History

2024

2024

In March, Eric Wagner was promoted to President of Wagner Meters, marking a significant milestone in his journey with the company since officially joining in 2007. With a steadfast commitment to delivering the high-quality products our customers rely on, Eric also brings a visionary approach to innovation. Under his leadership, Wagner Meters will continue to introduce groundbreaking products for efficiency and precision while providing the best customer service and support.

floor sentry

2023

2023

The introduction of Floor Sentry exemplifies Wagner Meters’ ongoing progress in moisture measurement technology. This embedded wood floor data logger effortlessly monitors wood floor and subfloor conditions, alerting users to potential moisture issues through temperature and humidity tracking via the Wagner Sentry app.

2022

2022

2022

The Rapid RH L6 DataGrabber with Bluetooth marked a significant shift in concrete moisture testing by enabling automated, time-stamped RH and temperature readings. This innovative device, working in tandem with the DataMaster L6 app, provides a more efficient way to assess concrete slab moisture conditions.

2020

2020

2020

Winner – Rapid RH L6 – Most Innovative Product at 2020 “World of Concrete”
 
Top 10 Finalist – Orion 950 – Tomorrow’s Contract Floors Magazine’s “Top 10 Flooring Tools”
 
Wagner Meters has developed numerous patents over the years and holds many valuable patents that protect current products.

2019

2019

2019

Rapid RH L6 products are launched to enhance the ease, quickness, and data integrity that made the Rapid RH concrete moisture testing system the tool of choice for professional floor covering installers and inspectors around the world:
 

  • Rapid RH L6 Total Reader® with Bluetooth® and ambient Temp/RH sensor
  • Rapid RH L6 Smart Sensor with increased responsiveness in high RH concrete
  • DataMaster™ L6 free smart device app with improved visual mapping

 
Wagner Meters launches the specialized C555 Electronic Concrete Moisture Meter as a tool for improving the efficiency of in-situ concrete moisture testing as described in ASTM F2659.
 
The Orion 950 wins the Association of Woodworkers and Furniture Suppliers (AWFS) 2019 “Visionary Award” for its multipurpose functionality and exclusive ability to be calibrated by the user.

2018

2018

2018

Smart Logger™ 24/7 Temperature and RH data logger is launched.
 
Wagner Meters introduces the Orion® series of pinless electronic wood moisture meters. The Orions are the only wood moisture meters with the exclusive capability* to be field calibrated by the user in about a minute. *Patent Pending.
 
Eric becomes Vice President of Wagner Meters.

2017

2017

2017

Wagner Meters celebrates the published revision of ASTM F2170 to decrease concrete moisture testing equilibration time from 72 hours to 24 hours. Wagner Meters President and ASTM F2170 Committee member Ed Wagner credits the extraordinary collaboration of the ASTM F2170 Committee to the expedient revision.

2015

2015

2015

Wagner Meters offers the first Rapid RH® reusable moisture meter: the Rapid RH 5.0.

 

Wagner celebrates 50 years of offering quality moisture meters — now including four company divisions:

 

  • Forest Products Industry
  • Woodworking
  • Flooring
  • Building Inspection

 

2013

2013

2013

The Rapid RH® DataMaster™ wins the “Most Innovative Product” award at WOC. A hand-held device, the DataMaster paired touchscreen capabilities with Bluetooth® technology to allow users to quickly and easily record all test data for a particular job site.

2012

2012

Eric becomes the manager of Wagner Meter’s marketing department.

2011

2011

Eric begins working full time in the Wagner Meters marketing department. Starting with web design, Eric’s responsibilities grow as he works to increase Wagner Meter’s customer support and educational presence online.

2010

2010

2010

Wagner Electronics changes the name to Wagner Meters to better express the solution they offer to the market — moisture meters.

2007

2007

2007

Ed’s son, Eric, begins working at Wagner Electronics by assembling meters and occasionally helping out in the engineering and marketing departments.

2006

2006

2006

The original Rapid RH® in-situ concrete slab RH test system wins the “Most Innovative Product” awards at the World of Concrete (WOC).

2005

2005

Wagner Meters and CTLGroup collaborate to develop the Rapid RH®, an in-situ relative humidity testing system for concrete.

2004

2004

2004

Howard Kanare (employed by CTLGroup, Portland Cement’s Material Testing Laboratory Service in Skokie, Ill.) and Wagner Meters suggest the first concepts of what would become the first Rapid RH® tool for measuring moisture in concrete.

Late ’90s

Late '90s

Late ’90s

Info-Pak, a comprehensive kiln tracking software package for compiling moisture content data, is introduced for use in the forest products industry.


The L610 and L612 meters are introduced.
 
Industry experts estimate annual flooring failures due to moisture in concrete at more than $500 million.

Late ’90s

Late '90s

Late ’90s

The L722 Lumber Stack Probe is developed for use with the L622 Digital Recording Moisture Meter, making it easy to reach deep into stickered units of lumber and take accurate moisture readings without the danger of broken pins.

 

Stat-Pak for Windows, a powerful software program for moisture analysis using the L622, is also developed.
 


 
Ed Wagner chairs a number of ASTM Standards committees and is a driving force for updating and publishing several ASTM Standards for testing moisture in wood.

Early ’90s

Early '90s

Early ’90s

Recession hits and Wagner develops smaller hand-held pinless meters for the wood flooring and woodworking markets.

 

The L609, L607, L606, and L601-3 models are introduced and are designed for woodworking and wood flooring customers where quick scanning of lumber is needed.

1987

1987

1987

Delmer Wagner retires and sells the majority of stock in Wagner Electronics to Ed Wagner.

 

Ed Wagner becomes president and CEO of the company.

Mid ’80s

Mid '80s

Mid ’80s

Wagner Electronics adds microprocessors to in-line systems to aid in-kiln troubleshooting The forest products industry is among the first to take delivery of this innovative combination of computers and in-line moisture meters.

1980

1980

1980

Introduction of the Model 778 in-kiln moisture detector which uses microprocessors to replace the analog circuitry of the Model 776.
 
Ed Wagner is promoted to Production Manager.
 
First Wagner pinless wood moisture meter invented: L600.

1979

1979

Ed graduates from Engineering school and returns to Wagner Electronics.

1970s

1970s

1970s

Development of the non-contact sideways and end-to-end sensors for quickly determining the moisture content of large quantities of wood being processed in lumber mills and secondary wood products operations.
 

Delmer develops a process to track season changes, compare kilns performances with specific wood species, and track the exact location of each stack of wood. This process innovation also tracked the amount of wood that came out too wet, with a need to be run through the kiln again, or too dry, causing it to warp, split and crack. The process helped to give mills the needed information to optimize the value of their lumber.
 
Invention of the Model 776 in-kiln moisture detector for accurate assessment of moisture levels during the kiln-drying process.

1967

1967

1967

Ed Wagner, Delmer’s son, starts working for Wagner Electronics. He begins with wiring, assembling, soldering, and testing meters.

1965

1965

1965

Delmer Wagner founded Wagner Electronics.

 

He designs a second in-line transistorized moisture detector.

1963

1963

Delmer develops the first in-line moisture detector using transistors for the Redmond sawmill.

 

The detector is smaller and more compact than traditional detectors. It is also more reliable, and easier to calibrate. Pleased with Delmer’s newly-designed moisture detector, the mill takes out a patent on his device.

 

Delmer Wagner leaves the mill to teach at a local college.

’60s

Early '60s

’60s

Delmer Wagner works for a sawmill in Redmond, Ore.

 

To measure moisture in lumber, mills use “contact moisture detectors” in a cabinet the size of a man and equipped with radio vacuum tubes. They are hard to use, hard to calibrate, and hard to interpret.

Wagner Meters’ Mission Statement

We empower you to eliminate costly moisture problems by providing superior moisture measurement products with unmatched expert support, so that you can realize a more profitable business.

Ed Wagner President and CEO standing with his son Eric Wagner. Wagner Meters is a family-owned company.