Company

The first step is the hardest

Dr Albert Klein founded “Cärrier Lufttechnische Gesellschaft Dr.-Ing. Albert Klein” as a one-man business on the 11th of October 1924. The company planned air-conditioning systems from its first office in Stuttgart’s Jägerstrasse. Klein travelled unremittingly to garner interest in his air-conditioning technology, which in Europe was largely unknown and regarded as superfluous. He found his first customers in areas where a stable climate helped save on production costs, such as the automotive, tobacco, shoemaking, porcelain, and later the textiles industries.

Early growth

The company soon outgrew its office in Jägerstrasse, and moved to new premises in Lange Strasse in 1927, where there was even space for a small research laboratory. The order books kept filling up and soon made it necessary to move again. By 1930, Klein had registered his business as a limited company and moved to Archivstrasse. Back then, LTG was delivering large systems for its industrial clients, but not yet producing the components itself. Another company, Hermann Remmele GmbH based in Stuttgart’s Zuffenhausen district, installed the systems for customers and was later acquired by LTG.

In-house production begins

Carrier’s individual system components initially came from Britain or the USA, and later from Remmele. LTG’s production facility was forced to move in 1937, when Stuttgart city council redesignated the land that LTG had gained from the Remmele takeover as a housing area. Klein bought the premises in Wernerstrasse and built his own factory. In early 1939, the company, now employing 180 people, moved into the new factory with its own sheet metal processing and metalworking facilities. At this time, large parts like fans, radiators and coolers were mostly provided by suppliers based in Saxony in the east of the country.

LTG in the Third Reich

Before the war, LTG moved its office to the Wilhelmsbau building in Stuttgart. In 1943, the company management decided to relocate it again to a small factory making gold borders and curtain rail in the town of Weil der Stadt. The company also built an air-raid shelter to protect both staff and its important documents and plans from bombing. This foresight benefited both LTG and many other towns and businesses after the war, whose plans for supply and disposal pipelines were stored here. LTG served industrial customers from all over Europe, which alongside the established industries also included big names in the chemicals and paper sectors. The comfort air-conditioning business also grew thanks to orders from film studios, cinemas, theatres, hospitals and office buildings.

Rebuilding and expanding production

By the end of the war, the workforce had shrunk to just 57 employees, who now moved back to their old home in Wernerstrasse. As many of LTG’s former suppliers were in eastern Germany and therefore behind the Iron Curtain, the company began developing and producing its own components. After the 1948 currency reform which introduced the Deutschmark, LTG enjoyed a rapid rise as Germany rebuilt its destroyed factories and constructed new plant and administration buildings, department stores, theatres and ships. The early 1950’s saw the start of exports – nowadays taken for granted – of air-conditioning technology for both industrial processes and comfort around the world. The office was initially housed in a former POW camp in what is now Dr.-Albert-Klein-Strasse, but had to move again twice as time went on. In 1959, the first section of the new administration building in Wernerstrasse was ready, and the chronic problem of insufficient office space was finally a thing of the past.

Construction continues apace

Construction work continued in the 1970’s: in 1971 the foundations of the engineering services division were laid with the building of the research and development centre in Zuffenhausen. In 1970, LTG bought land in Weil der Stadt and built a series production plant for its component range to ease the strain at the main site. This new facility started work one year later. The plant was extended after just four years, and was enlarged again in the 1980’s. LTG expanded its product range in 1978 with tangential fans from the former Heinkel Apparatebau. Between 1986 and 1987, LTG constructed another new building as part of an expansion in Zuffenhausen – which is the current building in Grenzstrasse. 7 for the research, development and experimentation division. LTG Projektservice, the predecessor to today’s engineering services – LTG Ingenieur-Dienstleistungen – was founded in 1993.

Restructuring

In 1997, LTG Lufttechnische GmbH – as it was then named – was restructured, with the previous divisions being spun off into independent limited companies. Among these were Lufttechnische Komponenten GmbH (air-conditioning) and Air Engineering Products GmbH (process air). LTG’s current structure as a joint-stock company (AG) has been in place since 1999, reuniting the two limited companies. In 2001, LTG expanded its portfolio of radial fans with the acquisition of the fan range of Schroeter ILA GmbH.

Aiding foundations

Just as its charitable founder would have wished, LTG is committed to aiding foundations. From 1960, the Dr Albert Klein Foundation supported cultural activities such as acquiring the Edvard Munch painting “Nude Seated on the Bed” for the Stuttgart State Gallery. Since 1984, the foundation has been supporting research and science in the field of air-conditioning technology.