GEA was founded in 1920 by German engineer Otto Happel senior in Bochum, Germany. Initially the company specialised in the manufacture of dust removal systems. Its name: Gesellschaft für Entstaubungs-Anlagen, from which the abbreviation GEA was derived. Today the GEA group consists of more than 150 companies operating in over 50 countries worldwide, employing approximately 17 000 people. The main business fields include thermal and energy technology, air treatment, refrigeration, liquid processing, powder technology, mechanical separation and dairy farm systems.

Over the years the company's activities expanded into fields of thermal and energy technologies, food and process engineering, air-treatment, refrigeration and environmental technology. GEA developed and pioneered the direct air-cooled steam condensation system and became the world leader in this field, as well as in the design and manufacture of finned tube heat transfer equipment. To supplement and complete this speciali