Nilfisk-Advance

Nilfisk-Advance Group
Private
Industry Manufacturing industry
Founded 1906
Headquarters Brøndby, Denmark
Key people
 Jonas Persson (President & Chief Executive Officer)
Products Cleaning equipment and full cleaning systems
Revenue EUR 1.92 billion (2012)
Parent NKT Holding
Website https://www.nilfisk-advance.com/
The Nilfisk factory in Frederiksberg, Denmark (1954).
One of the early Nilfisk-models (English commercial from the 1930s).

Nilfisk-Advance is a supplier of professional cleaning equipment in both industrial, commercial and consumer markets.[1] The company is headquartered in Brøndby, Denmark, with sales entities in 45 countries and dealers in more than 70 countries. Nilfisk-Advance has manufacturing facilities in Hungary, Italy, Germany, Denmark, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and China. It has approximately 5,200 employees worldwide. The company's core businesses are the supply of industrial and commercial cleaning machines and professional high-pressure cleaning equipment. Nilfisk-Advance also markets vacuum cleaners and high-pressure cleaners to consumers. The Nilfisk-Advance Group's main global brands are Nilfisk, Nilfisk-ALTO,[2] Nilfisk CFM and Viper. The largest regional brands are Advance and Clarke. The company is owned by NKT Holding.[3] Nilfisk-Advance is a part of the United Nations Global Compact.[4]

History

Nilfisk-Advance was founded in Denmark in 1906 by Peder Andersen Fisker (1875–1975) and Hans Marius Nielsen (1870–1954) as Fisker & Nielsen. Originally the company produced electrical engines as the basic component in ventilators, kitchen elevators, drilling machines and, later on, the Nimbus motorcycle. The Nilfisk vacuum cleaner of 1910, weighed 17.5 kilos. Fisker took out a patent on this invention and later bought out Nielsen. The vacuum cleaner outsold the other products, and the other engine products were gradually phased out. By 1954, the company had sold 1 million vacuum cleaners.

In 1989 NKT Holding, listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, bought Fisker & Nielsen. In 1994 Nilfisk A/S acquires Advance Machine Company and in 1998 Nilfisk A/S is renamed Nilfisk-Advance. In 1998 Nilfisk-Advance merged with Euroclean/Kent[5] and between 2000 and 2011, Nilfisk-Advance acquired CFM, ALTO, Ecologica, U.S. Products, Viper, Hydramaster, Egholm, Plataforma and Jungo making Nilfisk-Advance one of the largest suppliers of professional cleaning equipment worldwide.[6]

Cultural references

Nilfisk is featured in a famous song from the Belgian singer Daan. The song 'Swedish Designer Drugs' opens with the sentence "I'm shot in the back by Nilfisk addicted cowboys". The clip shows the iconic Nilfisk vacuum cleaners.

References

  1. ↑ European Cleaning Journal
  2. ↑ http://www.cleanlink.com/sm/article/NilfiskAdvance-Acquires-ALTO--1220
  3. ↑ NKT Holding http://nkt.dk
  4. ↑ http://www.lios-tech.com/Menu/LIOS+Technology/Social+Responsibility/United+Nations+Global+Compact
  5. ↑ http://www.kenteuroclean.com/aboutus/companyhistory.aspx
  6. ↑ http://www.voxmeter.dk/index.php/cases/case-globally/?lang=en

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nilfisk.