On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Cubigel Compressors, reporters had the honor of visiting the factory of Cubigel brand compressors in Spain.
Sixty years ago, hermetic reciprocating compressors had broad demand prospects in the European light commercial refrigeration market. In 1962, Antoni Forrellad founded Unidad Hermética, the predecessor of the Cubigel brand, with a bold plan to build the largest production plant in western Europe, meeting European and global demand for the core components of refrigeration equipment. He immediately set up a factory in Sabadell City in Barcelona Province, which was put into operation in 1962.
After 10 years of development, to meet increasing demand, Unidad Hermética added a new factory in Sant Quirze del Vallès Barcelona. With this factory that started operation in 1976, the company raised its production to 2 million compressors per year, the highest capacity in western Europe at that time. In 1988, Unidad Hermética joined the Electrolux Compressors Group, with the aim of supplying compressors mainly for the household refrigeration market, while keeping commercial refrigeration compressors as a secondary business. The following year, Cubigel was created as the organization for the global commercial refrigeration activities for Electrolux. Since then, as one of the few independent brands that focuses on the light commercial refrigeration market, Cubigel has been building a leading position in the world.
In 2004, Cubigel officially put into operation its third factory in Cervera, adding another 1.1 million compressors to the company´s annual production capacity. In 2006, the company has clocked up accumulative production of 100 million compressors. In 2009, Cubigel Compressors was established. Then, in 2012, Huayi Compressor Barcelona was established by China-based Huayi Group and Cubigel Compressors. Thanks to Huayi’s scale advantage backed by the Changhong Group, Cubigel’s brand influence and globalization have been greatly enhanced. Currently, Huayi Compressor Barcelona globally provides a complete range of Cubigel brand compressors and condensing units for light commercial refrigeration. Its business encompasses research and development (R&D) and production to sales and after-sales in a dual-base model in Spain and China. For production, the company now has a global annual production capacity of 8 million compressors and 45,000 condensing units and a total of 362,000 m2 production spaces in China and Europe. Its compressors cover displacements ranging from 1.4 to 38 cc addressing various voltages and refrigerants, suitable for any type of commercial refrigeration application. The European factory is located in Barcelona and has a large front-end supporting workshop and three automatic/semi-automatic terminal assembly workshops for compressors and casings as well as condensing units. There is also a supporting system to ensure normal production. In 2020 and 2021, Huayi Compressor Barcelona rapidly increased its market share, thanks to its large production capacity combined with sufficient overseas technical services.
This year, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary, the company has rolled out Cubigel brand strategy as the Cooling Expert+, focusing on reliability, environmental protection, complete products, and technological innovation, to provide better and more comprehensive services for light commercial refrigeration.