Danfoss

Danfoss A/S
Private
Industry Fluid control equipment, pump, seal, valve manufacturing, climate & energy
Founded Nordborg, Denmark
Headquarters Nordborg, Denmark
Key people
 Kim Fausing, CEO; Jørgen M. Clausen
Products Refrigeration, air conditioning, the control of electric motors, the heating of buildings, solutions for renewable energy such as solar power and heat pumps
Increase DKK 2,357 million (2012)
Number of employees
 25,000+ (2017)
Website Danfoss.com

The Danfoss Group is a manufacturer of products and services used in cooling food, air conditioning, heating buildings, controlling electric motors, compressors, Variable frequency drives and powering mobile machinery. The company is also active in the field of solar and wind power as well as district heating and cooling infrastructure. Danfoss employs approximately 24,000 people [1] worldwide with its headquarters in Nordborg, Denmark.

Danfoss was founded in 1933 by Mads Clausen, and is today almost entirely owned by The Bitten and Mads Clausen Foundation. In 2002 Danfoss joined the United Nations Global Compact, consisting of nine principles with social and environmental responsibility.

Danfoss has an annual sales turnover of 29.2 billion DKK (2016), and has sales companies in 47 countries and 56 factories in 18 countries around the world.[2]

Danfoss headquarters in Nordborg, Denmark.
Cutaway model of Danfoss's first automatic valve

Their distribution network for solar inverters covers 82 distributors and wholesalers across 27 different countries.[3]

Company history

  • Danfoss founder Mads Clausen was born in 1905 on a farm in the southern part of Denmark, near the German border. In 1933, after graduating in engineering, he returned to his birthplace and started up a company in the attic of his parent’s farm house.
  • In the 1930s, helped by high customs barriers and import bans on certain products, Clausen was successful in producing and selling a long list of automatic valves for refrigeration plants, which had previously been imported from the United States.
  • In the 1940s an expansion of the factory was completed, and Danfoss agents were set up in Belgium, Norway, Finland, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and England.
  • In the 1950s piecework was introduced at the factory and the number of employees rose above 2,000.
  • In 1966 Mads Clausen died of a heart attack at the age of 60. His widow, Bitten Clausen, continued to lead the company as chairman of the board with Andreas Jepsen as president and CEO.
  • In 1983 Danfoss celebrated its 50th anniversary and the 1,000th employee to reach 25 years of service.
  • In 1996 Jørgen M. Clausen, son of Mads Clausen, was appointed president and CEO of the Danfoss Group.
  • In 1997 sales exceeded €2,200 million and the number of employees reached 18,200.
  • In 2000 Danfoss’s business segment Mobile Hydraulics merged with the German company Sauer, Inc. to form Sauer-Danfoss. Jørgen M. Clausen became chairman of this company. Danfoss currently owns 55.4% of the stock, which is traded on New York Stock Exchange.
  • In 2007 the Danfoss group expanded its facilities in Denmark, Canada, China, United States, Romania, Poland and France  with about 130,000 sq m of production, warehouse and office facilities.
  • In 2008 Danfoss celebrated its 75th anniversary and the 40th anniversary of the VLT frequency converter. Jørgen M. Clausen retired as CEO at his 60th birthday. Niels B. Christiansen became the new CEO.
  • In 2010 Munich-based industrial holding company Aurelius AG acquired Danfoss Compressors GmbH from the Danfoss Group, Denmark. The agreement to take over the Danfoss Compressors business was signed in July 2010. In connection with the new ownership Danfoss Compressors has changed its name to Secop GmbH.

Executive leadership

References

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