Danfoss

Danfoss is a Danish multinational company, based in Denmark, with more than 28,000 employees globally. Danfoss was founded in 1933 by engineer Mads Clausen.[1]

Danfoss headquarters in Nordborg, Denmark.
Cutaway model of Danfoss's first automatic valve
Danfoss A/S
Private
IndustryFluid control equipment, pump, seal, valve manufacturing, climate & energy
FoundedNordborg, Denmark
Headquarters
Nordborg
,
Denmark
Key people
Kim Fausing, CEO; Jørgen M. Clausen
ProductsRefrigeration, air conditioning, the control of electric motors, the heating of buildings, solutions for renewable energy such as solar power and heat pumps
Number of employees
28,000 (2019)
WebsiteDanfoss.com

Company history

The beginning 1933 - 1966

In 1933 Mads Clausen (1905-1966) founded Dansk Køleautomatik- og Apparatfabrik, later in 1946 the company name was changed to Danfoss. The first product was an expansion valve for refrigeration units, it was developed after studying imported valves from USA.[1]
In 1941 the activities are expanded to products for heating.[1] The thermostatic radiator valve was invented by Mads Clausen in 1943, later patented, and in 1952 promoted as an energy saving device.[2]
In 1962 the company started production of power electronics, the first product was custom built rectifiers, later in 1968 production of the VLT Frequency converter began, the first of its kind in the world.[3]
The company also expands its activities into hydraulics, the first hydraulic component is produced on the factory in Nordborg in 1964.[4]

Mads Clausen dies in 1966, only 60 years old. The sons are still too young to take over the company, so Bitten Clausen takes on the role as head of the board. At that times the company had yearly sales of 500 million Danish kroner, and the factory had grown to 10.000 m2.[5]

The office of Mads Clausen as he left it in 1962

1966 to now

Expansion into other countries started in 1956, when the company started to build a factory in Flensburg in Germany. The factory was complete in 1958.[6]

China is also an important market for Danfoss. In 2013 two new factories were opened on the same day, bringing the number up to seven. At that time the Chinese market was the third biggest for the company.[7]

Activities

The Danfoss Group manufactures products and provides services used in: [8]

Danfoss employs approximately 28,000 people worldwide with its headquarters in Nordborg, Denmark.
In 2002 Danfoss joined the United Nations Global Compact, consisting of nine principles with social and environmental responsibility.

Bitten og Mads Clausens Fond was established as a self-governing institution in 1971 by Bitten Clausen.[9] Today, the foundation is the biggest shareholder in the company.

Controversy


During WWII

In 2010 some Danish newspapers reported that Danfoss was selling their products to Nazi Germany during WWII. [10] [11] They quote the book Krigens købmænd (Mercents of War) by Christian Jensen, Tomas Kristiansen, and Karl Erik Nielsen, that states Danfoss sold goods to the occupuing forces for 408.850 Danish kroner. According to Ole Daugbjerg from Danfoss, they did not trade directly with the Germans.
Later in 2001, they have been cleared in the book Danfoss under besættelsen (Danfoss during the occupation) by Ditlev Tamm. But other critics have claimed the book might not be neutral because Tamm was paid by Danfoss to perform the investigations. [12] [13]

Cartel

On December 7, 2011, Danfoss was fined 90 million euros for exercising cartel cooperation with Embraco / Whirlpool Corporation, Panasonic, ACC and Tecumseh. The cartel cooperation was entered into within compressors during the period April 2004 to October 2007. The basis of this fine is that the cartel cooperation breaks with free competition and is therefore to the detriment of consumers. [14] [15]

Danfoss has previously been fined 16.5 million Danish kroner in the United States. During the period October 2004 to 2007, Danfoss' German subsidiary also entered into illegal price agreements with competitors. The case in the European Commission and the US is related.

Trivia

The site of the main factory in one of 25 sites on List of Industrial Heritage Sites of Denmark. [16]

References
  1. "Danfoss". denstoredanske.dk (in Danish). Gyldendal. Archived from the original on 13 Sep 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  2. Claus Møller Jensen. "Ikonisk Danfoss-opfindelse fyldte 75 år". jv.dk (in Danish). JydskeVestkysten. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  3. Niels Chr. Larsen (12 Sep 2014). "Sådan gjorde Danfoss frekvensomformere til et guldæg". ing.dk (in Danish). Ingeniøren. Archived from the original on 4 Oct 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  4. "Nordic Capitalisms and Globalization". Google books. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  5. "Tidsskrift for Ingeniør- og Bygningsvæsen" (in Danish). ing.dk. 2 Sep 1966. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  6. "Bitten Clausen - historier fra et liv". Google books. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  7. Bent Højgaard Sørensen (6 Nov 2013). "Danfoss buldrer frem i Kina". berlingske.dk (in Danish). Berlingske. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  8. Major Companies of Europe 1990/91: Volume 1 Major Companies of the Continental Europe Economic Community. Springer Science & Business Media. 6 Dec 2012. p. 69. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  9. "Bitten Clausen fylder 100 år". berlingske.dk (in Danish). Berlingske. Archived from the original on 19 Mar 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  10. "Danfoss handlede med nazisterne". borsen.dk (in Danish). Dagbladet Børsen. 20 June 2010. Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  11. "Danfoss handlede med nazisterne". www.bt.dk (in Danish). BT. Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  12. Marcus Rubin (23 Feb 2002). "Slaget om historien". politiken.dk (in Danish). Politiken. Archived from the original on 29 May 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  13. "Erhvervshistorisk Årbog 2013, 1". tidsskrift.dk (in Danish). 2013. p. 53. Retrieved 10 June 2020. Tamm, Ditlev: Danfoss under besættelsen, 2001. Ditlev Tamms undersøgelse af Danfoss var finansieret af virksomheden selv, der ville forfægte en artikelserie i Berlingske Tidende, hvor Danfoss blev anklaget for at have leveret armaturer til Tyskland. Af denne og flere kildekritiske årsager mødte juristen Ditlev Tamm siden kritik fra blandt andet historikeren Steen Andersen for sin fremstilling af virksomheden, som Tamm i det store hele frikendte.
  14. Rory Harrington. "Danfoss hit with huge fine over price fixing cartel". www.beveragedaily.com. Archived from the original on 7 June 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  15. "Danfoss hit by huge €90m fine". www.acr-news.com. 8 Dec 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  16. "26 fantastiske industriminer" (in Danish). Kulturstyrelsen. Retrieved 2014-12-05.

Further reading
  • Per Boje and Hans Chr. Johansen, En Iværksætter - Historien om Mads Clausen og Danfoss, University Press of Southern Denmark, 1994. In Danish. ISBN 87-7492-983-6
  • Hanne Steen Hansen, Danfoss - arven fra Mads, Schultz, 1994. ISBN 8756978642
  • Ditlev Tamm, Danfoss under besættelsen, Museet på Sønderbog Slot, 2001. ISBN 8787375044
  • Lene Shannon, Danfoss - Fra hønsehus til hele verden, Pressto, 2012. ISBN 9788790333416
  • Niels Lunde, DET NY DANFOSS - sådan forvandlede Niels B. Christiansen landets største industrivirksomhed, Gyldendal, 2016. ISBN 9788702168402
  • Niels Lunde, THE NEW DANFOSS - an exclusive insight into an industrial transformation, Gyldendal, 2016. ISBN 9788702192025
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