Nilfisk-Advance

The Nilfisk factory in Frederiksberg, Denmark (1954).

One of the early Nilfisk-models (English commercial from the 1930s).

Nilfisk-Advance is one of the world's leading suppliers of professional cleaning equipment. The company is headquartered in Denmark, with sales companies in 43 countries and manufacturing facilities in Brazil, China, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Mexico and the United States. It has approximately 5000 employees worldwide. Nilfisk-Advance’s core businesses are the supply of industrial and commercial cleaning machines and professional high-pressure cleaning equipment. Nilfisk-Advance also markets vacuum cleaners and high-pressure cleaners to consumers. The Nilfisk-Advance Group's main brands are: Advance, Clarke, Nilfisk, Nilfisk-ALTO, Nilfisk CFM and Viper.

Nilfisk-Advance was founded in Denmark in 1906 by Peder Andersen Fisker (1875–1975) and Hans Marius Nielsen (1870–1954) as Fisker & Nielsen. Originally the company produced electrical engines as the basic component in ventilators, kitchen elevators, drilling machines and, later on, the Nimbus motorcycle. The real breakthrough came with the Nilfisk vacuum cleaner of 1910, which was revolutionary at the time in weighing merely 17.5 kilos. Fisker took out a patent on this invention and later bought out Nielsen. The vacuum cleaner became a big success, and the other engine products were gradually phased out. In 1954 a really big milestone was passed - by then the company had sold 1 million vacuum cleaners.

In 1989 NKT Holding, listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, bought Fisker & Nielsen. In 1994 the name was changed to Nilfisk A/S and in 1998 to Nilfisk-Advance A/S.

References

External links

• Nilfisk-Advance