Kaeser Compressors is marking an important anniversary this year with 2019 marking its centenary. One hundred years after it was established in Coburg, Germany, the company is now active all over the world including both Australia and New Zealand.
The history of the German compressed air specialist Kaeser Kompressoren truly is a remarkable story. Although many a company gets to celebrate its centenary, they cannot all boast such sustained and continuously positive development.
While the Kaeser product range can be found in action all over the world, the general public rarely come face to face with the compressed air specialist’s products. Only the portable compressors catch the eye, with their black and yellow livery, when used for road construction work. Compressed air stations tend to be hidden away in outbuildings.
Nonetheless, Kaeser compressors are just as likely to be found in power stations in Australia as in Peruvian gold mines, used by aerospace engineers in the US, fish farms in Norway, car manufacturers in Germany, at the CERN particle accelerator in Switzerland, on ski pistes in Austria, on Arabian oil fields or the weaving mills in Asia.
Often considered the fourth utility, compressed air is just as vital as electricity, and no company with an industrial production line can get by without compressed air.
Humble beginnings
The story of Kaeser began in a small workshop in Coburg’s Hahnweg. The old buildings are still standing in which Carl Kaeser senior started producing spare parts and engines for cars, along with gear wheels and special machines for the glass industry, with a team of eight employees and two apprentices in June 1919. Business was soon booming – within a few years, the company was to employ a 150-strong workforce.
However, with Germany partitioned following the Second World War, almost all of Kaeser’s customer base fell by the wayside – most of the company’s clients were located in Thuringia and Saxony, on the other side of the border in what was then East Germany. Taking advantage of the available automotive expertise, production was promptly adapted to a similar category of products: reciprocating compressors. Thus began Kaeser’s successful focus on compressed air. In 1948, the first reciprocating compressor rolled off the Hahnweg production line as the company continued to evolve.
Further challenges emerged during the mid-1960s, in what in retrospect may be described as a major technological shift. Screw compressors came onto the market, and once again, Kaeser spearheaded the change with its very own invention: Sigma Profile. Developed in-house, Sigma Profile is a rotary screw compressor block with a special energy-efficient rotor profile that was groundbreaking at the time. Since then, Sigma Profile has been the centrepiece of every Kaeser rotary screw compressor – needless to say, it is also refined on an ongoing basis.
A tradition of innovation
This innovative spirit pervades the company to this day, resulting in a steady stream of innovations in compressed air technology, and applying equally to hardware, software and services. From the refrigeration dryer to revolutionary controllers (Sigma Air Manager 4.0); from the portable compressor to completely new business models where the customer basically only purchases the compressed air; and through to digitalisation and Industry 4.0, Kaeser has continued to blaze a trail in the industry for the cost-effective, reliable, efficient generation and use of compressed air, thanks to its innovative, top-quality products and services. Most of the company’s production facilities are located in Germany, with sales and service available in every corner of the globe.
The company’s early international expansion was a vital aspect of its growth. Its first branch opened in Switzerland in 1978, with Austria and France following hot on its heels. Today, Kaeser has more than 50 of its own subsidiaries and is represented by exclusive contract partners in more than 100 countries. Kaeser employs in excess of 6000 staff worldwide, many of whom have been loyal for decades.
A recipe for success
How was this achieved? The company’s secret recipe is an unwavering passion for innovation, sound engineering expertise, close customer contact and an awareness of their needs, combined with exceptional quality standards, a good dose of common sense and the main ingredients: excellent teams and strong family ties. Thomas Kaeser and Tina-Maria Vlantoussi-Kaeser are now the third generation of Kaesers to manage the company, while the fourth has also just come on board, in the form of their son Alexander Jan Kaeser.
However, the emphasis on family does not just refer to the company’s founder and his descendants. All staff are considered family at Kaeser. This is evident in its high apprenticeship rate, well above average, and the extremely long service record of its employees, usually more than 30 years. It is also reflected in the company’s business development: for 100 years without fail, the operating result has been positive – even in 2009, the year of the global financial crisis.
From Anchorage to Auckland, Coburg or Kauai, Kaeser is a family-owned company with strong ties to Germany; it views the entire world as its home turf and offers ‘Made in Germany’ quality from start to finish. The next innovative chapter is just waiting to be written.