Celebrating 150 Years
As KSB celebrates 150 years in the business of designing and manufacturing industry leading products, let’s take a look back at how we started: Our company, our primary factory, and our local company here in Canada.
KSB’s Beginnings:
Greater efficiency was the goal of Johannes Klein when he designed his boiler feed apparatus in 1871. His invention trapped the steam generated by steam engines and fed it back into the boiler as water. Together with the entrepreneurs Friedrich Schanzlin and Jakob Becker, Klein laid the foundations for today’s KSB Group with this innovative product. Our company name, KSB, still pays homage to our three founders, Klein, Schanzlin and Becker.
Efficiency, reliability and sustainability have been the driving forces behind the company ever since. Pumps and valves made by KSB have continually set new benchmarks in projects all over the world.
Beginnings of our Pegnitz Factory:
Jacob Klein, 24 years younger than his brother Johannes, was next to steer the company, and after him, Otto Kühborth. Together, Klein and Kühborth partnered with AMAG, a competitor valve and machine company with factories in Nuremberg and Pegnitz. In a move to prevent AMAG from merging with an even larger competitor, Klein and Kühborth slowly bought up shares in AMAG until they announced in 1930 that they held 54 percent of AMAG’s shares. For a number of years the two companies continued to operate externally as competitors, but in 1959 AMAG finally merged with KSB once and for all.
Today, our Pegnitz plant is one of the largest and most modern in the KSB Group, employing around 1600 staff. It is the pilot location for KSB’s digital transformation and metal 3D printing. A state-of-the-art foundry and materials laboratory are part of its competence centre for materials technology. In addition to manufacturing pumps and power station valves, the plant’s employees also produce mechanical seals.
Beginnings in Canada:
1959 marked KSB’s entrance into Canada as the first KSB pumps were sold into the pulp and paper, municipal and nuclear markets by a reseller. On June 29, 1989, Dr. Wiegand established KSB Pumps Inc as the Canadian arm of the KSB Group, and Clemens Blyl was appointed the first company president. The first KSB Pumps Inc office was soon set up in the Greater Toronto Area with a staff of 3. In 2005 the company expanded by creating a Service Department with the first Service Centre hire. By 2009 two regional sales offices were added to cover our vast country. Now, in 2021, KSB Pumps Inc includes nearly 40 staff in 5 offices across Canada including 2 SupremeServ service centres, one in Mississauga and one in Edmonton. All are dedicated to our mission of bringing the excellence of KSB products to the Canadian market.
Dedicated to you:
Worldwide, over 15,000 employees continue our company’s work guided by the principles of its founders. These are the people who are passionate about making sure that KSB’s customers enjoy outstanding performance.
True to our motto: People. Passion. Performance.