This year, Electrolux Professional celebrates 120 years with Laundry solutions. To mark the 120-year anniversary, a permanent history exhibition is being opened at the Laundry factory in Ljungby, Sweden.
In Electrolux Professional’s factory in Ljungby, professional washing solutions have been manufactured since the 1970s, but the company’s history stretches back to 1902 when Värmelednings AB Calor started its operations in Stockholm. The business consisted mainly of the installation of heating pipes but also the manufacture of large belt-driven washing machines for industrial use. Today, Electrolux Professional produce professional washing solutions for the global markets in both Ljungby, Sweden, in Rayong, Thailand as well as a production of huge barrier washers in Troyes, France.
Ljungby’s laundry heritage on show
To mark the 120-year annversary, the Ljungby site is opening a permanent history exhibition on site, that illustrates the stories, machines and developments that have been part of the professional laundry journey since 1902. The exhibition also documents both societal and technological advancements that have contributed to the sustainable laundry solutions that Electrolux Professional manufacture today.
120 years – history in brief
- Värmlednings AB Calor installed large belt-driven washing machines for industrial use. It was eventually bought by CTC (Celsius-Tellander-Clarin), a water heater and boiler company that established premises in Ljungby in 1930.
- CTC grew its business by acquiring the sites of Coronaverken AB, a Gothenburg manufacturer of industrial washing machines that in turn owned a company developed by Osborn Walldén. He was the Swedish-American that helped create the Wascator brand.
- By the mid-1960s, CTC was Europe’s largest manufacturer of washing machines from domestic to industrial. The Calor production site was built in Ljungby while the profitable Wascator business became an independent company.
- Keen to grow in the white goods laundry segment, Electrolux Group bought Wascator in 1973, which went on to discontinue household appliances and profiled itself on professional machines.
- The Electrolux-Wascator brand disappeared in 2004 and Electrolux Laundry Systems became the forerunner of Electrolux Professional’s laundry business today.
Electrolux Professional today provides global markets with laundry equipment designed for a range of professional users, from self-service coin-ops, and the hospitality industry to healthcare providers and commercial laundries. Customers include hospital and hotel laundries, laundries in apartment buildings and launderettes. Learn more here