List of the 50 largest heating-cooling technology companies Germany [2024]

List of the 5 largest heating and cooling technology companies in Germany

Heating, cooling and air conditioning technology is a field of activity strongly characterized by lots of Mittelstand companies. There are numerous craft businesses, but also around 500 larger industrial companies in this sector. Here are the 5 largest:

1. Valeo GmbH, Bietigheim-Bissingen

Valeo is a major French automotive supplier headquartered in Paris. The German subsidiary Valeo GmbH employs 7,100 people. One of Valeo’s business areas is thermal systems. In Germany, heating/air-conditioning units for cars, commercial vehicles and buses are developed and produced at several locations in this sector.

2. Viessmann Climate Solutions SE, Allendorf

Viessmann has been involved in heating technology since 1917. In the meantime, the company sees itself as a heating expert with the goal to further establish themselves as a provider for heating, cooling and ventilation. The group, with 12,300 employees, is active in over 30 countries.

Update 2023: What has long been speculated is now official – Viessmann is selling its air conditioning division for twelve billion USD. The deal also includes the heat pump business. The buyer is the North American giant Carrier Global, which is regarded as the inventor of modern air conditioning and has been operating on the market since the early 1900s.

3. Vaillant Group, Remscheid

Founded in 1874, Vaillant has written heating technology history. Among the numerous Vaillant inventions is, for example, the central heating boiler first presented in 1924. Today, with around 15,000 employees worldwide, the Group covers a wide range of solutions and products for heating, cooling and water heating.

Update 2024: Personnel change in the Sales, Marketing and Service division: Dr. Andree Groos (50) left the company at his own request at the end of 2023. The Vaillant Supervisory Board has appointed Dr. Andreas Meier (55), previously President Region Europe of the BSH Hausgeräte Group, as his successor.

4. Wilo SE, Dortmund

Wilo began in 1872 as a copper and brassware factory. Later, the company shifted its focus to pumps. Wilo produces pump systems for building services, water management and industry. Wilo pumps are also used in heating and cooling systems. The company has over 7,700 employees and operates worldwide.

5. STULZ GmbH, Hamburg

STULZ was founded in 1947 as an electrical engineering company and today deals with air-conditioning technology for data centers and industrial plants. The company produces air-conditioning systems and offers maintenance services for them. STULZ is also a sales partner for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries air conditioning systems. The company employs around 1,200 people.

Heating-cooling technology sector

Heating and cooling technology is an important field of activity in Germany. We will present it here in our list. The heating and cooling technology industry is an merger of companies that are active in the fields of heating technology or cooling technology. Since the two areas are closely related and many companies are active in both industries, we have combined them in our list. This includes Valeo GmbH from Bietigheim-Bissingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, which generated sales of more than €19.4 billion in 2019 and manufactures heating and air conditioning equipment for cars and commercial vehicles, among other products.

This information will be included in the list

• Company name
• General contact data (address, e-mail address, telephone number, URL)
• Name of the management
• Serial letter suitable for addressing the management (e.g. “Dear Dr. Müller”)
• Sales figures for the years 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 (taken from the annual and consolidated financial statements)
• Employee figures for the years 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2018 (taken from the annual and consolidated financial statements)
• Sector classification & Field of activity

Note: If the sales and employee figures are not included in a company’s own financial statements but in the parent company’s consolidated financial statements, the data from the respective consolidated financial statements are provided.

Picture source: Achudh Krishna, Elimende Inagella via Unsplash