Kelvion Celebrates 100 Years Of Heat Exchange Expertise

When Otto Happel senior founded the Gesellschaft für Entstaubungs-Anlagen (GEA) in Bochum in 1920, he laid the foundation for a continuing success story. Today, 100 years later, Kelvion is a global player in the heat exchanger business with over 5,000 employees and 47 locations worldwide. It is celebrating its centenary this year under the motto "Embrace our past. Build our future.".

The beginnings as Gesellschaft für Entstaubungs-Anlagen

Otto Happel senior would have been delighted with Kelvion’s achievements. He was a thoroughbred entrepreneur himself with exceptional technical skills and knowledge. At the age of just 34, he founded the Gesellschaft für Entstaubungsanlagen in Bochum. Driven by the desire to propel technical innovations forward, he presented the first closed circuit cooler with elliptical finned tubes just two years later. This first product development was the basis for renaming the company to GEA Luftkühlergesellschaft mbH three years later.  Many other product innovations followed, including the air condenser in 1935. The gap left behind when Happel died in 1948 was all the greater.

From GEA Group segment to the Kelvion brand

A milestone in GEA's history followed in 1989 when the company went public. The company's value continued to grow and, in 1999, it was acquired by mg technologies AG. It was renamed the GEA Group in 2005. Growth continued, resulting in overlaps. In 2010 this prompted GEA to reorganize into clearly defined segments, the largest of which was Heat Exchangers (HX).

In 2013, however, the decision was made to sell this segment - it was highly attractive, but did not correspond to the original corporate competencies. In October 2014, the investment company TRITON bought the operation and, a year later, the Heat Exchangers segment became an independent company. As Kelvion, it has been writing its own history ever since.