Sulzer (manufacturer)

Sulzer is a Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing firm, specializing in fluid engineering, developing pumping, agitation, mixing, separation, and purification technologies for fluids of all types. Headquartered in Winterthur, Switzerland, the company has a network of 180 manufacturing facilities and service centers around the world.

Sulzer operates through three divisions:

• Flow equipment
• Services
• Chemtech

The company was founded in 1834 when brothers Johann Jakob and Salomon Sulzer established a foundry with a turner’s and locksmith’s workshop in Winterthur with their father. With its beginnings as a small family business, the company has grown to over 15,000 employees and delivers revenues of CHF 3.3 billion (USD 3.6 billion). Sulzer operates thirty-six major subsidiaries and its shares are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: SUN).

The flow equipment division produces custom pumping solutions engineered for the specific processes of Sulzer's customers. This includes the following products:

• pumps
• agitators
• compressors
• grinders
• screens
• filters

Sulzer performs R&D in fluid dynamics and advanced materials to develop their flow equipment products. Their pumping solutions are used in a wide range of industries, such as water, oil and gas, power, chemical, and many other sectors.

The services division provides parts, maintenance, and repairs for pumps, turbines, compressors, motors, and generators. Sulzer services its own equipment, as well as associated third-party rotating equipment. The services division operates through a network of over one-hundred sites around the world.

The chemtech division provides mass transfer, static mixing, and polymer solutions to the chemical, petrochemical, refining, and liquefied natural gas industries. Products range from single components to complete process plants and technology licensing. Sulzer also develops bio-based chemicals, polymers and fuels, recycling technologies for textiles and plastic, as well as carbon capture and utilization/storage.

In 1834, through an exchange with the city of Winterthur, Johann Jakob Sulzer-Neuffert acquired 5000m² of land in Zürcherstrasse south of the city. The Sulzer Brothers Foundry was built, known today as “the 1834 building,” producing cast iron. The company also manufactured pumps for use in firefighting and textile machinery, later setting up a heating installation business.

By 1836, the company employed forty workers and in 1839 a new foundry was constructed. In 1851, English inventor and engineer Charles Brown joined Sulzer to develop new steam engines, with the first Sulzer steam engine being produced in 1854. In 1860, they opened the first sales office outside of Switzerland in Turin, Italy. By 1867 the company had over 1000 workers and the site at Winterthur had rapidly expanded. In 1881, the first Sulzer Subsidiary was opened in Ludwigshafen, Germany, with further international expansion in the following years including sales offices in Milan, Paris, Cairo, London, Moscow, Bucharest, and Kobe.

In 1914, the company became three joint-stock companies, one of which became the holding company.