WEG Electric manufactures and distributes industrial and HVAC electric motors and drives to customers worldwide through manufacturing facilities in Latin America and distributing centers in the US. The company is a subsidiary of Brazil's WEG Indústrias S.A. Werner Ricardo Voigt, Eggon João da Silva, and Geraldo Werninghaus founded the company in 1961; the company's name is derived by combining the first letters of the founders' first names. WEG contributes to the scrap recycling industry in the US by supplying motors and drive systems for car-shredding machinery. Parent WEG operates in the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East.