Dantherm A/S was founded by Ejlert R. Olsen, who in 1958 began manufacturing a hot air unit that could be used in industrial companies. A few years later, the company had sales offices in several European countries. After a long history of development, Dantherm is still an active company in Skive, but is no longer in the hands of the Olsen family.
Early history
Ejlert Rosenkrands Olsen, who had trained as a potter and had been operations manager at the ” Dania” clay factory until its closure in 1952, had the idea for the production of air heaters during a stay in Portugal.
Ejlert Olsen was operations manager at the Isoket cork factory and in this connection he was to help the Swedish cork manufacturer Wicander start a cork factory in Portugal – on behalf of the boss Poul Møller. During his stay, he saw some Belgian WANSON hot air units designed for heating large rooms – units so simple that Ejlert Olsen could easily imagine how they could be put into production at home.
In Denmark, the transition from agricultural to industrial production was in full swing, the aftermath of the World War had subsided and trade restrictions were gone. Industrial companies were springing up and the need for space heating was increasing, so the market was there.
At home, work continued on the idea and Ejlert Olsen resigned from Skivehus Kork- og Asfaltfabrik.
Danterm in Roslev
Ejlert Olsen got help from master blacksmith K. G. Jensen, Ny Skivehus Maskinfabrik and master plumber Niels Stærk in Frederiksgade. In 1958, the first hot air unit was made at Niels Stærk’s workshop after work.
In the beginning, Ejlert Olsen and K. G. Jensen each owned 50% of Danterm, but after a few years K. G. Jensen ran into financial problems and sold his share. He later got a job as foreman at Dantherm.
In the fall of 1958, with the help of his wife and friends, Ejlert Olsen came up with a concrete project to establish a factory for the production of hot air units. Salling Bank granted a loan of DKK 30,000 and at the end of November, the purchased used machines could be set up in rented premises in Roslev. In December, the first production of 3 units could start.
The forecast was that 25 units could be sold per year, but by the end of 1959, 90 had already been sold and the space in Roslev was now too small.
Relocation to Jegstrup
The Jegstrup camp was a former German radar station built in 1942-43. After May 1945, the buildings were used as a refugee camp for 2500 German refugees until 1947. The asphalt and roofing felt factory, where Ejlert Olsen was previously employed, had their cork production in some of the buildings.
In 1959, Ejlert Olsen bought a 40,000 m2 plot of land with two brick buildings in the former Jegstrup camp. They occupied half of one of the buildings with production, warehouse, office, design studio and staff facilities. The following year, the other old camp building was already in use, but almost simultaneously, a large phased expansion designed by architect Erling Vind, Skive, was planned.
The extension was completed in 1963. There were now approx. 4000 m2 of assembly halls, a hall for the rest of the production and a new administration building. There were 60 employees, including 15 in the sales and administration department.
Dantherm gained a strong position in the Danish market, partly due to the wide range of applications of the hot air unit, and partly because an efficient sales organization had been built up from the start and after-sales service was at a very high level.
A sign of this was the opening of a department in Birkerød as early as 1963, where there was a sales office, design studio and shock absorber warehouse.
International name and growth beyond national borders
A new model was developed with less welding work, making it more suitable for rational industrial operations. In 1965, an additional 2500 m2 of factory space was added.
Danterm continued to grow and in 1966 prepared to enter foreign markets by adding an “h” to the name – Dantherm. By the end of the 60s there were 100 employees, making Dantherm Skive’s 6th largest company.
In the early sixties, Dantherm units had started to be sold in Norway via various ventilation contractors, but from 1966 there was regular cooperation with the engineering company J. K. Kristensen. In 1970, A/S Dantherm Norway was founded together with J. K. Kristensen.
In the late sixties, Dantherm entered the English market. First through agreements with local dealers, but in 1968 Dantherm was able to open a subsidiary in London. It was not without problems. The UK devalued and imposed import restrictions, making it unprofitable to sell the units at times. The first subsidiary closed in the mid-1970s, but in 1981 a new Dantherm England saw the light of day, where the second generation of the Olsen family, engineer Hans Olsen, was director until 1994. This time with agreements to sell cooling units to the growing markets for mobile phone base stations.
By the late sixties, Dantherm sold 18 different models of hot air units in 30 different variants capable of heating rooms from 500 to 20,000 cubic meters. 60-70% of production went for export.
5-year plans
Over the years, development and expansion had been guided by 5-year plans.
In 1969, the 3rd five-year plan was ready. With large exports and subsidiaries in Norway, England, Germany and soon Sweden, there was a need for training of dealers, sales and technical staff. In 1972, Dantherm’s own training center on Jegstrupvej was inaugurated. The course participants arrived by Dantherm’s own plane and were accommodated at Hotel Hilltop or later at Dantherm’s Skovgården property on Fur.
Ejlert Olsen had realized that to ensure the company’s survival, new products had to be developed and reorganized. In 1973, the company was divided into Dantherm A/S – the old company responsible for production and export, Dantherm Trading A/S – responsible for sales and service in Denmark, Thermo-Tec K/S – the engineering company, which was partly a development department and partly responsible for projects for ventilation, drying and heating, and Dantherm Holding – a financing and rental company.
On Jegstrupvej they expanded further, Dantherm Holding bought the neighboring factory – Isoket, Ejlert Olsen’s old workplace. Here they started A/S Skive Metalvarefabrik as a subcontractor to, among others. Dantherm.
The oil crisis
The oil crisis in 1974 led to a severe slowdown in the world economy. Demand for Dantherm’s products fell both at home and abroad. Ejlert Olsen defended itself by reducing activity and producing for stock, but liquidity was so tight that Dantherm had to lay off workers and stop production for periods. It wasn’t until the summer of 1977 that Dantherm had 150 employees again.
The oil crisis put the focus on energy savings and Dantherm developed heat recovery systems, condensation drying systems and climate control systems. The energy crisis led to fierce competition and Dantherm had to focus on development work. In 1977, a 1000 m2 development department was built with a design studio, workshops, offices, climate laboratory and test rooms.
Development work
The condenser dryer – the CD was developed together with engineer Svend Thøgersen who was responsible for the electronic control. In 1983, the company Stelectric was founded in Randers, owned equally by Dantherm and Svend Thøgersen. Dantherm divested its ownership share in 2010.
When the second oil crisis unfolded with the revolution in Iran and the war between Iran and Iraq in 1979-1980, Dantherm was developing systems for recycling waste heat – a Dantherm Cross Heat Exchanger, the later DAN-X.
In the late eighties, a contact from the Norwegian Armed Forces led to the development of a VA-M mobile heater. It has since been sold to many more countries and has been used in disaster situations all over the world.
In 1991, Dantherm became the seventh Danish company to be ISO certified.
Generational change
During 1983, the Dantherm Group was restructured so that Dantherm Holding A/S – where Ejlert Olsen was chairman of the board – became the main shareholder in the group companies.
1. on December 1983 – the 25th anniversary of the start in Roslev – Ejler Olsen stepped down as CEO of A/S Dantherm. In the period that followed, there were many changes of CEOs at Dantherm, and eventually Ejlert Olsen had to sit in the CEO chair again. It was not until 1990, a few months before Ejlert Olsen’s 70th birthday, that Alex H. Nielsen took over as Managing Director. He had been CEO of Dantherm Trading since 1977 and together with CEO Torben Brandstrup from Dantherm Holding, he would carry on the torch.
10. june 1991, Ejlert Olsen died at Skive Hospital.
Changing the company structure and style
In 1991, the companies in Denmark – Dantherm Holding A/S, Dantherm Trading and the production company A/S Dantherm were merged. In the following years, a number of initiatives were launched, which resulted in Dantherm achieving its best ever profit of DKK 19.7 million before tax in 1994/95. The number of employees had grown from 186 to 313 full-time employees.
Dantherm changed into a market-driven company, where customer demand determined what the company would sell, and product development took place in collaboration with customers. At the same time, Dantherm entered the new markets that opened up in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Dantherm began selling products to foreign customers under their brand and design (OEM production), and air conditioning systems were developed for the telecommunications sector.
Within 5-6 years, air conditioners for the telecom sector accounted for half of Dantherm’s turnover, gradually these activities were transferred to a new company Dantherm HMS (Heat Management System) Ltd. The profit in 1997 was 53 million before tax.
New factory on Marienlystvej
In 1998, Mayor Søren Andersen broke ground for Dantherm HMS’s new factory, headed by Poul Arne Jensen, Chairman of Dantherm’s Board of Directors since 1991. The factory was a 50/50 collaboration with Dantherm’s American partner Reltec. The architectural firm Ramvad og Thomsen, Skive, designed the building on the grounds of the old proprietary farm with magnificent views of Skive Fjord. Production took place almost simultaneously with construction on the building site, but they succeeded, and in April 1999 the 13,500 m2, DKK 110 million factory was inaugurated. More than 200 employees would manufacture 30,000 climate control systems for mobile phone exchanges per year.
In 2001, Dantherm HMS opened a factory in China in Suzhou, 100 km west of Shanghai. It started with just a few employees, but by 2007 it had grown to 400.
However, the ownership structure caused some uncertainty when American Reltec sold its stake shortly before the opening. The next owners sold again after a short time, and no one knew whether it was a hostile or friendly takeover. Eventually, Dantherm Holding itself bought back the original Reltec share and in 2002 became the sole owner of the HMS companies.
Crisis, capital and IPO
Back on Jegstrupvej, changes also took place after the relocation of some of the employees and parts of the production to Marienlystvej. The management had plans to upgrade the factory, but the simultaneous market downturn led to periods of layoffs and division of labor.
In 2001, there was a massive slowdown in the expansion of the mobile phone network and that same year, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Washington took place. The crisis hit the mobile market hard and Dantherm HMS’s turnover fell drastically, turning large profits into losses.
In 2002, Dantherm Holding merged with Dansk Industri Invest (90% owned by PKA and Lønmodtagernes Dyrtidsfond), with Dantherm Holding holding 70% and Dansk Industri Invest 30%. Poul Arne Jensen from Dantherm HMS became CEO of the new Dantherm Holding. The merger resulted in a total turnover of DKK 1.3 billion and 1100 employees.
12. july 2002, Dantherm was listed on the stock exchange and the shareholders could enjoy the best result in Dantherm’s history.
Expansion on Marienlystvej
In 2004, Dantherm embarked on an expansion on Marienlystvej in order to gather the entire production here in Dantherm A/S, which would have 500 employees and become Skive’s 2nd largest company.
In 2004, Dantherm A/S – the former Dantherm Holding – was a group with activities in 3 segments – products for air handling(Dantherm Air Handling) which covered the old Dantherm companies in the various countries, process ventilation(Dantherm Filtration with headquarters at Mariager) created from Dantherm’s acquisition of DISA Air from AP Møller and comfort ventilation and technology(Glenco) which was brought into Dantherm by the merger with Dansk Industri Invest and the acquisition of Siemens Danish installation business STS. However, the latter was divested in 2007 and a new area was created, Dantherm Power , which dealt with fuel cells powered by hydrogen.
The financial crisis had serious consequences for Dantherm
In 2008 and the following years, Dantherm’s CEO Poul Arne Jensen made several downward adjustments to the expectations for the financial year.
Dantherm had invested a three-digit million euro amount in Dantherm Power’s fuel technology. It was predicted that it would develop into a billion-dollar business. However, the financial crisis meant that there was a reluctance to adopt new technology. Furthermore, the production of cooling for the telecommunications industry caused major problems. In addition, growth stalled in many areas, including construction, so Dantherm’s other products were affected and banks became unwilling to lend money. Attempts to divest activities failed.
For several years, Dantherm accumulated debt, and with sales declining, the debt became a drag on the company. Dantherm ended 2015 with a loss of DKK 109 million. Revenue was roughly the same as the previous year – 432 million Danish kroner – but the negative result was almost four times larger than in 2014.
Sale to private equity fund
The listed company “Dansk Industri Invest” (formerly Dantherm) bankruptcy 2016
The company still owned a telecom company in China and shares in Dantherm Power, but most of the activity was gone.