Kelvion’s 100th Anniversary

Kelvion Heat Exchangers Celebrates Its 100th Anniversary

When Otto Happel founded Gesellschaft für Entstaubungs-Anlagen (GEA) in Bochum in 1920, he laid the foundation for a success story that continues to this day.

Today, 100 years later, Kelvion Heat Exchangers is a global player with 5,000 employees at 47 locations worldwide and is celebrating its 100th anniversary under the slogan ‘Embrace the past, build the future!’

The beginnings as Gesellschaft für Entstaubungs-Anlagen (GEA)

Otto Happel would have been delighted by Kelvion’s success. An entrepreneur with exceptional technical skill and expertise, he founded Gesellschaft für Entstaubungsanlagen in Bochum at the age of just 34.

Just two years later, driven by a desire to continue innovating, he invented the first elliptical finned-tube closed-circuit cooler. This initial product development laid the foundation for the company that would be named GEA Luftkühlergesellschaft GmbH three years later. In 1935, many further products followed, including the air-cooled condenser.

Happel’s death in 1948 left a major void.

From the GEA Group segment to the Kelvion brand

The company’s initial public offering made 1989 a milestone in GEA’s history. The steadily growing company was acquired by MG Technologies AG in 1999 and renamed GEA Group in 2005. Continued growth since its foundation brought a need for change. In 2010, the group was divided into different segments, the largest of which was the Heat Exchangers (HX) segment. Nevertheless, a decision was made in 2013 to sell the Heat Exchangers segment. It was a highly attractive business, but it did not meet expectations in terms of the group’s core competencies. In October 2014, the investment company TRITON initially acquired the segment’s operating business, and one year later Heat Exchangers became an independent company. Since 2014, Kelvion has been writing its own history…