Evapco founder Bill Kahlert passed away last year. Guy Waters, national sales manager of Evapco Australia, reflects on Kahlert’s legacy.
Evapco, a US-based global manufacturer of heat transfer products and services, was founded in 1976 by William ‘Bill’ Kahlert and Wilson Bradley.
With Bill Kahlert’s recent passing last year at the age of 85, Guy Waters, national sales manager of Evapco Australia, took time to reflect on Kahlert’s legacy and drive to ensure Evapco’s success in the market place around the world.
Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA, Kahlert attended school there and then served in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1945. After the war, he entered the University of Minnesota and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1948.
After graduation, Bill worked for McQuay in Minneapolis for three years and then for the Trane Company in LaCrosse, Wisconsin for four years. He joined Baltimore Aircoil Company in 1955, rising to chief design engineer, then president of the company in 1966 when John Engalitcheff died. Kahlert was appointed chief executive officer in 1970.
Bill left BAC in 1976 after it was sold and, on June 14, 1976, Evapco Incorporated was founded in Baltimore under the leadership of Kahlert, Wilson E. Bradley and financial advisor John A. Luetkemeyer.
Building on Kahlert and Bradley’s combined 46 years of industrial experience, Evapco began as a manufacturer of forced draft evaporative condensers for the growing industrial refrigeration industry. Evapco’s durable designs and focus on the different needs of each installation ensured acceptance of Evapco’s products.
A plaque dedicated to Wilson Bradley hangs on the wall outside one of Evapco’s research laboratories at its international headquarters in Taneytown, Maryland. This plaque shows Bradley sitting at a makeshift desk made with a door laid between two filing cabinets in his garage. This makeshift desk is where Wilson began drawing the initial range of Evapco products. Within three years of founding, Evapco opened a new facility in California and established a licensing agreement with CCT in Italy, later to become a wholly owned Evapco operation.
Currently Evapco products are produced by 20 factories around the globe: 10 in the US, one in Australia, three in Asia, two in Africa and four in Europe. The company supplies approximately 42 countries through a sales network of over 160 sales offices.
As Evapco grew Kahlert did not stand still, his list of pursuits outside of Evapco is extensive included hospital trusteeships; directorships of various charities including the American Red Cross; as well as membership of industry associations such as the International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration and American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air conditioning Engineers.
In 1985 Evapco established manufacturing operations in Sydney through a licensee agreement with F. Muller. This was a timely start as the mid-80s saw much change and growth with the company that continues today.
In 1986 Evapco introduced its induced draft, counterflow AT cooling tower. This design represented at the time the most efficient, space saving, easy maintenance evaporative cooling product and was subsequently incorporated into the evaporative condenser and closed circuit cooler product lines as the ATC and ATW models.
By 1990 Evapco moved its world headquarters from Baltimore to Taneytown, and set up its research centre. The 5,575 square metres facility is among the largest and most advanced of its type in the HVACR industry. It contains six environmental test chambers, three for testing HVAC and industrial process cooling equipment, one for pressure refrigeration cooling equipment and one for low pressure refrigeration cooling equipment and one for component development. There is also an ice coil test tank and a fan test wind tunnel.
The environmental labs are specifically designed for the purpose of analysing and testing cooling towers and closed circuit coolers up to 6,150kW capacity. The ammonia refrigeration labs consist of an environmental test chamber for testing high side evaporative condensers up to 3015kW and a unique low temperature evaporator laboratory. The low temperature evaporator lab is powered by a 186.5kW compressor with capabilities down to -40ºC saturated suction temperature.
These facilities offer the capability of simulating a wide range of environmental conditions to match those encountered in actual field applications. The computerised data acquisition systems ensure precise measurements of thermal performance and confidence in Evapco’s thermal ratings.
In 2005, new markets were opened up in power and water with the introduction of Evapco’s field erected division Evap-Tech.
This business unit is responsible for constructing cooling towers with FRP pultrusions and fill material produced at Evapco manufacturing facilities.
2007 saw an emphasis on thermal ice storage systems and then in 2009 a complete acquisition of Flex Coil in Denmark, a supplier of air cooled equipment.
Evapco’s global approach to manufacturing along with its emphasis on total control of its supply chain, provides self-reliance for critical components key to the performance of their products. This includes PVC fill, eliminators, inlet louvres and, importantly, FRP sections, manufactured at its Malaysian operation.
Its MSS cooling tower, popular in Australia, is a result of the combination of Evapco research and development in the US and Australian design expertise.
In the current tough economic times, Australia has become a major focus for Evapco, according to Waters.
Evapco has made an investment in Australia after taking a minority shareholding in Aqua Cool back in 2002, in 2009 Evapco increased their shareholding. This has meant an increase in overall employment of about 20 per cent on Aqua Cool numbers.
Evapco is still a privately owned company, the majority of the stock in Evapco in North America is held by the employees through equity sharing.
Evapco’s base product offering includes evaporative condensers, closed circuit coolers and cooling towers.