Brüel & Kjær (Sound and Vibration Measurement A/S) is a subsidiary of UK-based Spectris plc. Brüel & Kjær is a manufacturer and supplier of sound and vibration measurement apparatus. [1]
The company headquarters is based in Nærum, Denmark. Brüel & Kjær has sales offices in 55 countries and more than 1.150 employees working within sales, service and support, worldwide.
The Managing Director is Lars Rønn (from September 1, 2008).
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Brüel & Kjær was founded by Per Vilhelm Brüel (b. March 15, 1915) and Viggo Kjær (b. June 5, 1914) on November 28, 1942. The two men met while studying at the The Polytechnic School in Copenhagen (now The Technical University of Denmark). After receiving their M.S. degrees in 1939 they decided to start a company developing instruments for acoustic measurements. Holger Nielsen joined the company as third partner in 1945, and was with the company until his death in 1978.
The successive addition of products to the company's line is as follows:
In 1992 Brüel & Kjær was sold to AGIV (a German holding company), and split into a number of separate companies:
After the division of the company, a number of former employees formed G.R.A.S. Sound and Vibration. AGIV formed the Spectris Division, which included Brüel & Kjær, Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik GmbH (HBM), and BTG Instruments GmbH. In July 2000, the Spectris Division was sold to Fairey Group Ltd. (a British Company), and in May 2001, Fairey Group changed its name to Spectris Plc.
Brüel & Kjær acquired LDS Test & Measurement in January 2009. [2] In February, 2009, Brüel & Kjær acquired Lochard Ltd. [3]