Financial strength and industrial know-how

The timing couldn’t have been better. At the end of the '80s and early '90s, interest in golf skyrocketed, and in Sweden alone some 300 golf courses were built in only three to four years' time.

Today, Crysberg is a thriving company with a number of patents and record of major international successes. Roughly 25% of sales come from specialised electronic solutions for industry, but the lion's share of its business still comes from irrigation technology and related solutions.

Saves energy and costs

“The technology that Crysberg offers saves both energy in the daily operations as well as costs for labour and material for installation – especially copper tubing,” says Niels.

“For example, back when we started you needed 50 to 100 kilometres of tubing to irrigate an 18 hole golf course. With Crysberg's technology, it's enough with 10 kilometres.

Irrigation systems to the White House

“About 75% of the technical solutions that Crysberg sells today are for other commercial systems than golf courses and agricultural businesses,” Niels continues.

“These include parks, cemeteries, sport facilities, facilities surrounding shopping centres and large company headquarters. For example, we have supplied our solutions to the irrigation systems for Google's and Microsoft's headquarters as well as to the White House and the Statue of Liberty. The US is our biggest market, answering for nearly 80% of our sales.”

Technology at the heart

“After having run the business for 30 years, the time came to start thinking about the company's future,” says Niels.

“We had heard of Indutrade, as one of our board members had previously sold his business to Indutrade, and he had only good things to say about the company. So when we were contacted by Indutrade, it came as a positive surprise. For us it was a major plus that technology is also at the heart of Indutrade's business. They understand what we do and they are interested in our products. Indutrade provides financial strength and industrial know-how that strengthen our opportunities to grow further. Plus, we can continue to operate under our own name at the same time that the future for our talented people has been secured.

We can continue to operate under our own name at the same time that the future for our talented people has been secured.

Exciting future

“For me personally, the sale to Indutrade has also been better than I had expected,” says Niels.

“I have been able to stay on as Managing Director, and I really love my job. We have many exciting ongoing projects. With Indutrade as owner we see great opportunities to expand our distribution channels at the same time that we continue to steadily develop our products."

Favourable prospects to achieve long-term goal

“Product development is an extremely important part of Crysberg's business. The company has nine employees who work exclusively with development. In one to two years we will be launching our new product family, with web-based control solutions that feature a number of new functions.

“In a more long-term perspective our goal is to be the global market leader in irrigation control systems for golf courses as well as for the commercial and agricultural markets. We now have favourable prospects to achieve that goal.”