Wieland has acquired Onda S.p.A., an Italian-based manufacturer of advanced heat exchangers.
The acquisition will increase Wieland’s participation in the fast-growing heat exchanger and data centre cooling markets.
Onda will be part of Wieland’s thermal solutions business unit, which develops and manufactures sustainable and cutting-edge heating and cooling technologies such as high-performance tubes, heat exchangers, and solutions for electronics cooling.
Onda is a leading supplier of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) equipment and operates two manufacturing plants in Mussolente (Italy), one in Lonigo (Italy), one in Kangasala (Finland), and one in Delaware, Ohio (USA).
Wieland Group CEO, Dr Erwin Mayr, said Onda is a preferred partner for major chiller manufacturers and the acquisition adds capabilities and capacities to Wieland’s existing shell and tube heat exchanger operations.
“It also expands our product portfolio to include brazed plate and plate frame heat exchangers, as well as air heat exchangers including dry coolers and air condensers,” Mayr said.
Driven by digitisation and sustainability megatrends, Wieland expects strong growth for shell & tube heat exchangers as well as electronics cooling equipment.
Main drivers are the rapidly increasing demand for chillers to cool data centres and increasing power densities of electronics, which require cutting-edge technologies to remove the heat.
The acquisition of Onda offers great potential to combine Onda’s broad product portfolio and its capabilities to produce high-capacity heat exchangers for industrial heat pumps with Wieland’s leadership in heat exchanger technology such as spray evaporators and evaporators assisted by artificial intelligent technology.
Today, data centres account for an estimated two per cent of global emissions and are expected to reach eight per cent of the world’s power consumption by 2030.
By joining forces with Onda, Wieland can offer superior solutions that enable customers to fulfill their ambitious sustainability targets, according to Di Stefano, president of Wieland’s thermal solutions business unit.
“Data centres using Wieland cooling technology requires
considerably less space and materials than comparable solutions and show significantly lower CO2-emissions due to the reduction of up to 70 per cent of refrigerants in a chiller,” Di Stefano said.
Looking ahead, the combined companies will take a leading role in the industry’s ‘electrification of heat’ by offering highly efficient components for industrial heat pumps that are powered by electricity instead of fossil fuels like natural gas, oil, or coal to heat buildings.
“Customers are looking for innovative and trusted partners that can combine a wide range of technical expertise, state-of-the-art technology, and advanced manufacturing capabilities to deliver reliable, efficient, and sustainable heat exchanger solutions – and that’s exactly what Wieland offers,” Di Stefano said.