Kaeser Compressors Breaks Ground on Major Expansion
Expansion will provide more space for assembly of the company's compressed air products.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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Kaeser Compressors, a U.S. affiliate of the German company that manufactures compressed air equipment, has been headquartered in the Fredericksburg area for four decades and has been growing almost constantly.
“Our growth demands that we do something about it,” said the company’s president, Frank Mueller, on Tuesday morning, before a ceremonial ground-breaking on an expansion project that will add 80,000 square feet to Kaeser’s footprint off Lansdowne Road in Spotsylvania.
The new space will be used to expand the area where the company’s enclosed walk-in air compressor stations are assembled. These structures can house multiple 300-horsepower air compressor units and are “turnkey-ready” for an extensive list of industrial uses.
The one toured by a group of visitors on Tuesday before the groundbreaking had been assembled for Waste Management, which uses compressed air to separate waste streams for recycling.
Air compressors also power pneumatic tools and hydraulics for a variety of industries, move materials through assembly lines, generate air pressure for HVAC systems, and run air-powered engines and turbines. They’re also used by data centers.
Kaeser’s products are “unique in the U.S. market,” Mueller said on Tuesday.
“No other manufacturer does anything like this,” he said.
Since establishing U.S. operations in the Fredericksburg area in 1982, the company has moved from the Four-Mile Fork area of Spotsylvania to its present site near the border with Fredericksburg City, and has expanded at that location at least twice.
The latest expansion adds 40% more indoor space, Mueller said. The company currently employs almost 300 people—most of whom live in Fredericksburg, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, or King George—and will employ at least 20 or 30 more when the expansion is complete.
Kaeser lately has partnered with Spotsylvania County Public Schools, hosting “externships” for students to get hands-on learning experience in manufacturing and even hiring some for full-time jobs after graduation.
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