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Historical Review of the Khnle, Kopp & Kausch Group
The year 2000 marked the marriage of two major, worldwide centrifugal compressor corporations into one large group, the roots of which can be traced to the late 1700's. The group, today, consists of the following corporations:
| AG Khnle, Kopp & Kausch |
Frankenthal Germany |
single-stage centrifugal process compressors |
| HV-Turbo |
Helsingor Denmark |
single-stage centrifugal air compressors |
| PGW |
Leipzig Germany |
single and multi-stage centrifugal compressors |
| Schiele |
Frankfurt Germany |
turbofans and blowers |
| Turblex |
North America sales |
assembly plant, and instrumentation specialists |
Khnle, Kopp & Kausch, PGW, and Schiele are world leaders in the production of centrifugal compressors, fans, and blowers for the industrial end-user. HV-Turbo is the world leader in the supply of single-stage turbocompressors for wastewater treatment. With HV-Turbo, the American subsidiary, Turblex, likewise joined the group, as the North American Manufacturing arm of not only HV-Turbo but now, the entire group's products. The genesis of these companies is steeped in history and tradition.
 AG Khnle, Kopp & Kausch
The genesis of AG Khnle, Kopp & Kausch begins in 1774, with a bell foundry and a factory for fire engine manufacture. In 1899, Khnle's Machine Fabric (machine factory), Koppsche Works (steam boilers) and Kausch's Boiler Forgery, all separate and successful companies, merged to form Khnle, Kopp & Kausch, creating a specialized company in the field of mechanical engineering. Throughout the early to mid 20th century, the construction of a new plant and a wide ranging engineered equipment technology lead to the development of turboblowers, steam turbines, multi-stage axial blowers with tremendous growth of turbines, during the war years.
The mid-twentieth century saw growth in turbochargers, steam turbines, and centrifugal compressors. In 1983, the prize-winning Formula One race car was equipped with a turbocharger made by AG Khnle, Kopp & Kausch, bringing the company much public notoriety. In the 1990's, annual output exceeding 250,000 turbochargers attracted the interest of Roger Penske Transportation International, who became a majority shareholder in 1994. In 1997 Borg Warner Automotive Europe Corporation purchased shares from the Penske Group, and became majority shareholder. In 1998, a strategic decision was made to concentrate the core business on turbocompressors. This resulted in the sale of the turbocharger business.
In late 1998, capital from the turbocharger systems' divesture was used to purchase the PGW and Schiele turbomachinery companies, both major players in the world wide manufacturer of turbocompressors, fans, and blowers.
The year 2000 marked the purchase of HV- Turbo A/S, located in Helsingor Denmark, doubling the size of the corporation
 PGW Turbo
The roots of this company begin in 1898, with the founding of the C.H. Jaeger Company, Pumpen-und Gebl￤sewerk Leipzig. Early products included centrifugal pumps and rotary piston blowers. In 1905, turbo- blowers were incorporated into the production program with the early 1900's marking the beginning of centrifugal compressor supply. The company grew in the war years, with 1946 marking the expropriation of PGW by the Soviet occupation forces.
In 1952, the company became the state property of the German Democratic Republic. The beginning production of integrally geared centrifugal compressors occurred in 1981, with growth of centrifugal compressors extending through this period, PGW being the major supplier of this equipment throughout the eastern block countries.
Fall of the iron curtain marked the conversion of PGW into a private company, with the merger in 1998 of the PGW and Schiele companies, into PGW Turbomachine GmBH.
Throughout this time, PGW became a world leader in the supply of industrial process turbocompressors, especially related to multi-stage, high pressure machines used in the chlorine, sulfuric acid, and petrochemical industries throughout the world.
 Schiele Company
Schiele was founded in Frankfurt Germany in 1865, manufacturing blowers, and exhausters for industrial use and forges. This product line experienced continuous growth throughout Schiele's history, with penetration of the petrochemical and sulfur industries in the 1930's. During the 1980's the ownership went from private to public, and this time also saw the first sale of Schiele turbofans for mechanical vapor recompression (MVR).
In 1997, the company was merged with PGW, with Frankfurt manufacturing shut-down, and moved to the PGW shops. 1999 marked the sale of Schiele (and PGW) to the AG Khnle, Kopp & Kausch Group.
After the war years of the 1940's, the J. Laurentsen Shipping Group, (one of the largest corporations in Denmark) established several equipment divisions at their Helsingor Denmark shipyards, including HV-Turbo, who manufactured turbochargers for ships' boilers. This business grew throughout the 1950's and 60's, with major technical advancements in efficiency and construction. The year 1970 marked the introduction of the integrally geared turbocompressor, into the European wastewater treatment market, with the efficiency of this machine immediately recognized as a vast improvement over positive displacement (PD) and multi-stage aeration blowers.
HV-Turbo's development of the dual vane, high efficiency technology in the early 1980's was a dramatic advancement of the art of efficiency improvement for these type compressors.
 Introduction of the HV- Turbo compressor into North America occurred in 1980, through a Canadian licensee. Slow growth in North America, through the 1980's was the antithesis of explosive sales of the HV- Turbo compressor throughout the worldwide market. 1989 marked a dramatic change in the North American sales of this machine with the establishment of Turblex, who began engineering, design, and assembly of packages, instrumentation and controls specifically for the North American market.
Turblex sales increased at a rapid rate in the 1990's with growing expertise in instrumentation and controls for compressors, and especially the downstream delivery and control of air and gas.
Passing the year 2000, almost 5,000 HV- Turbo machines have been sold worldwide, with almost 500 in North America, and HV-Turbo/Turblex becoming the dominant supplier of this type machine, in the worldwide wastewater aeration market.
Corporate Structure
Today's corporate structure emphasizes each operating company as a self-autonomous business unit with a small corporate staff located in Frankenthal, coordinating activities of research and development, and worldwide sales.
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