Alfa Laval celebrates 95th anniversary in Oceania

With a rich history and an abundance of significant milestones, Alfa Laval is proud to celebrate 95 years as an incorporated business in Australia and New Zealand, building on an indirect market presence dating back to the mid-1900s.

According to Bharat Bhola, Managing Director, Alfa Laval Oceania, Alfa Laval always saw the Oceania region as a key market.

“Alfa Laval builds on a proud history in Australia and New Zealand that demonstrates our commitment to delivering technologically advanced products and projects close to our customers,” Mr Bhola said.

Alfa Laval’s direct Australian presence started in Sydney in 1926 with the buy-out of a long-time distributor, and its New Zealand subsidiary was incorporated in 1927. Known back then as AB Separator, the company’s business focused on specialized equipment for agriculture and marine.

Despite the upheaval of the Great Depression and World War II, Alfa Laval managed to survive and thrive throughout the early years. Over the decades, the Oceania sales company diversified its product and industry portfolio while staying close to its customers with a strong local sales and service presence.

Strong market presence close to customers

In 1999, its regional headquarters in Sydney relocated from Homebush to its current Huntingwood site in NSW, to make way for the Sydney Olympics.

The move offered the opportunity to invest in a purpose-built, state of the art facility that houses one of Australia’s largest decanter centrifuge and thermal heat exchanger service centres as well as the company’s sales and administrative functions. Service and support staff are also based in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth.

Alfa Laval also maintained a strong presence in New Zealand over the decades. Today, the company’s service centre and sales office are located in Hamilton to serve a diverse customer base across the North and South Islands.

In addition, the company’s strong local field service presence allows deploying engineers to even the most remote locations in Australia and New Zealand as well as servicing offshore sites and customers in the South Pacific islands and Papua New Guinea.

Focus on sustainability

Mikael Dahlgren, Financial Controller, Alfa Laval Oceania, said Alfa Laval built its local identity on its Swedish roots. “Oceania and Swedish culture align well, for example with our focus on sustainability which is central for our local operations and our value proposition to customers.”

Alfa Laval recently achieved an important milestone in its Oceania operations on the journey towards Carbon Neutrality by 2030, by neutralising Scope II emissions with renewable energy (related news).

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Editor’s notes

This is Alfa Laval

Alfa Laval is a world leader in heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling, and is active in the areas of Energy, Marine, and Food & Water, offering its expertise, products, and service to a wide range of industries in some 100 countries. The company is committed to optimizing processes, creating responsible growth, and driving progress to support customers in achieving their business goals and sustainability targets.

Alfa Laval’s innovative technologies are dedicated to purifying, refining, and reusing materials, promoting more responsible use of natural resources. They contribute to improved energy efficiency and heat recovery, better water treatment, and reduced emissions. Thereby, Alfa Laval is not only accelerating success for its customers, but also for people and the planet. Making the world better, every day.

Alfa Laval has 16,700 employees. Annual sales in 2020 were SEK 41.5 billion (approx. EUR 4 billion). The company is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.

www.alfalaval.com