Munters is a global leader in energy-efficient air treatment solutions and restoration services.

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Having invented the world’s first air-conditioning system that used evaporative cooling and dehumidification – along with hundreds of advancements through the years – Sweden-based Munters considers itself “a global leader in energy-efficient air treatment solutions and restoration services, based on expertise in humidity and climate control technologies.” In fact, founder Carl Munters was granted more than 1,000 patents before his death in 1989.

Munters and friend Baltzar von Platen invented the first cooling device with no moving parts in 1923, but sold the rights to Electrolux. However, the duo used “their global marketing organization for vacuum cleaners to also sell refrigerators,” the company says. In 1955, when the corporation was officially established, Munters began marketing large-scale dehumidifiers. He got his big break three years later when the Swedish Armed Forces ordered 200 dehumidifiers for their mobilization warehouses.

Not long after Munters retired in the early 1970s, the company was acquired by the Incentive Group and, over the next several decades, began to expand its distribution network globally as some of the patents were beginning to expire. For instance, in 1992, it built a plant in San Antonio, Texas, to focus on dehumidification products for commercial applications. Aside from more than 30 U.S. locations, the company also has operations in South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.

By 2005, Munters had grown to the point where it needed to be reorganized. Executives decided to split the corporation into three global divisions: Moisture Control Services, HumiCool and Dehumidification. “That change was successful and has resulted in higher gross margins and enabled a more coordinated sales process to be achieved, aimed at international customers,” the company says. “In addition, the new organizational structure has contributed to a more concentrated product portfolio and stronger service offerings.”

Recent Acquisition
After the reorganization, Munters underwent some fine-tuning and became increasingly conscious of its customers’ specific needs. “What every client has in common is the need to regulate both temperature and air humidity,” the company says. “For companies with business operations in different climates, it is important to ensure that products maintain the same quality, regardless of where they are manufactured.”

Today, Munters continues to grow through global expansions and acquisitions to benefit its product offering. For instance, in April, the company acquired 100 percent of the shares of Entrodyne Corp., a holding company of Buena Vista, Va.-based Des Champs Technologies, for $37 million in cash. Des Champs manufactures custom makeup air conditioning equipment for commercial buildings, which the company felt “complemented Munters’ Commercial Dehumidification product range,” according to Mike McDonald, president of Munters Dehumidification Division.

“This expansion aligns with our strategy as an innovation leader in energy-efficient indoor air quality solutions for our customers,” he said in a statement. “It enhances our expertise in energy recovery and indirect evaporative cooling, where Des Champs holds a technology-leading position. Our broad product range of unique energy-efficient cooling and dehumidification products allows us to provide energy-reducing solutions to our customers in all climates.”

New Product
The Commercial Dehumidification Division recently released Munters DryCool ERV, which “provides energy recovery and dehumidification in one small packaged unit,” the company says. “It utilizes exhaust recovery and condenser reactivation desiccant to provide the most efficient dehumidifier of outside air available. With [this product, customers] will reduce operating costs while creating a more comfortable indoor environment.”

What makes this product so unique, Commercial Dehumidification Division President Chuck Campbell says, is “this is the first time that energy recovery and condenser desiccant technologies are combined into a single-packaged HVAC system. The combination of the technologies provides dehumidification at an energy efficiency never achieved before.”

He says users will find this product more valuable than that of its competitors’ products because it uses less than 40 percent of the energy in conventional coil-based dehumidification systems that treat makeup air. In addition, it uses less than 60 percent of the energy of a conventional energy recovery system with coil-based dehumidification.

“The product raises the efficiency of dehumidification of outside air to a new level,” Campbell adds. “It allows designers and the end user to be able to dehumidify the building, utilizing the outside air only, at a very low operating cost.”