Bauer Kompressoren

What they do

Bauer Kompressoren develops and builds medium and high-pressure compressors and complete compressed-air systems. The best-known application is breathing air: mobile and stationary units that fill the cylinders worn by scuba divers, firefighters and civil-defence teams, typically at pressures between 220 and 500 bar. The group also supplies compressors for natural gas and biogas filling stations, the plastics industry, oil and gas, and military and nuclear applications. Compressor blocks are made at its Uniccomp plant in Geretsried, south of Munich.

Why it matters

When a firefighter enters a burning building with a full air cylinder, the air inside it has very likely passed through a Bauer machine, or one built on the same principles. The company describes itself as a world market leader in medium and high-pressure compressors. The chemistry portal chemeurope, drawing on company data, goes further, stating that Bauer's share of the market for breathing-air cylinder compressors exceeds 70 per cent and that about 90 per cent of output is exported. Its network spans 22 subsidiaries, more than 350 sales partners and over 600 service stations.

Products to know

• Portable breathing-air compressors: for dive centres, boats and fire services.
• Stationary filling stations: for fire brigades and dive schools.
• Industrial high-pressure systems: for gas filling, plastics moulding and testing.

The German angle

Bauer is a classic post-war Mittelstand story. Hans Bauer founded the company in Munich in 1946, starting in his private home. It is still family-run: according to Wikipedia, Monika Bayat, the daughter of Heinz Bauer, took over in 2012 and leads the group with her husband Philipp Bayat, the third generation. Its first site outside Germany opened in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1976, and the group now reports around 1,350 employees and annual sales of roughly 435 million euros.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Bauer Kompressoren
• Bauer Kompressoren: Company
• chemeurope: Bauer Kompressoren GmbH
• gasworld: Interview with Bauer Compressors