Viessmann Generations Group Acquires KPS Global
By Angela Altass
The Viessmann Generations Group recently acquired US-based KPS Global. Viessmann has indicated that this investment is an important strategic expansion step into the North American market for their clean and cold solutions platform.
The Viessmann Generations Group is a global, broadly diversified company founded in 1917. KPS Global is a provider of custom enclosures for controlled environments.
“KPS Global and Viessmann are a perfect match,” says Max Viessmann, CEO of Viessmann. “KPS Global is a strong addition to our ecosystem. We look forward to expanding our clean and cold North America platform together with the experienced and proven KPS Global management team.”
Mike Eakins, CEO of KPS Global believes the relationship with Viessmann Generations Group will allow for significant growth while still maintaining the commitment to their customers, employees and vendors, including those in Canada and in the convenience store industry.
“Canada is very much an extension of our market,” says Eakins. “The convenience store side is a really important part of our business. We’ve really seen the convenience store industry evolve over the past 10-15 years to where there are customers out there who count on them for their daily food needs as well as the typical, traditional convenience store items. We’ve seen it develop over the years from a one-stop gas station concept to where you could buy soda and maybe a granola bar; that has now developed into a concept where they have a lot of food service. You can go into a convenience store and get prepared foods. You can buy complete dinners from some of our convenience store customers, along with drinks and everything to support it. We’re able to provide our convenience store customers with the equipment they need to preserve and store that product safely until the consumer is ready to collect it and take it home.”
KPS Global has a strong focus on transforming clean and cold solutions to increase energy efficiency and reduce food waste, says Eakins.
“The stability and long-term commitment of a family-owned investment firm is really exciting as it allows us to continue to innovate in the market and offer our customers leading edge sustainable solutions,” says Eakins. “We focus on innovation. It’s an ever-changing market. We have products that we’ve put out in the last three to four years that are better for the environment, saving energy costs and providing a higher insulation rate for walk-in coolers and freezers.”
The food storage and walk-in cooler/freezer market has been changing over the past few years, says Eakins.
“I’ve personally been in the market for 33 years,” notes Eakins. “It was stagnant. It was a very sleepy market with little innovation. That changed drastically with the recent pandemic. The government, as well as the pharma community, found out very quickly that we did not have enough cold storage distribution for the challenge of distributing a vaccine that required very strict temperature controls across North America to hundreds of millions of people. So, there’s been a lot of efforts to increase the cold storage network and the cold storage chain across North America and we get to participate in that.”
There is also a growing demand by consumers for fresh and organic foods and having fresh produce delivered directly to their doorsteps.
“Controlling the temperature chain from farm to
market used to be the challenge,” says Eakins.
“Now, we have to control it from farm to doorstop, which is another huge step in the cold chain distribution process. Consumers want fresh
and organic products, which plays well into our wheelhouse of being able to maintain the cold chain and the network to be able to provide those products.”
The KPS Global acquisition is Viessmann’s first foray into North America, says Eakins.
“Viessmann is a multi-billion-dollar company and has been a very large player in Europe in the clean and cold space and it’s common knowledge in our industry that Europe is light years ahead of North America when it comes to refrigeration technology so this acquisition gives us direct access to a lot of that technology.,” says Eakins. “We are excited about that. It’s a real opportunity.”
