SPARTA, Wis. - Multistack, a leader in modular chillers, has announced that 2009 represents the 20th anniversary of the Wisconsin-based company. After spending a number of years working at Trane, Bill Bast, Dick Campbell, and Monte Holman partnered to form Multistack Inc. in 1989. This move facilitated them taking over North American sales, marketing, engineering, and product support of an Australian-invented modular chiller.

The early 1990’s saw the team redesign the modular chiller, establish distribution throughout North America, and establish a manufacturing facility in southwest Wisconsin. The company’s small modular units could be brought into a building through a typical front door and moved on a freight elevator. Once gathered in the mechanical room they could be connected, or “stacked,” to form a much larger machine without the need for demolition or a crane for installation.

In 1995 and 1996, Mark Platt and Charlie Kenyon respectively became part of the Multistack team. In 2002, Platt and Kenyon, along with a group of private investors, took ownership of the company.

“Being a part of the growth Multistack has seen in the last decade has been really exciting,“ said Kenyon, Multistack chairman and CFO. “This rapid growth has brought many challenges and I am most proud of the fact that throughout this period of growth we have continued to be an industry leader in product innovation and speed to market. It’s very rewarding to look at where we are today when we think back to our early years in the West Salem facility.”

The company noted that its core business is still modular chillers, but it also produces dedicated heat recovery chillers, heat pumps, the new Virtual Moveable End Cap allowing modular chillers to produce simultaneous heating and cooling and, a new design, a 120-600 ton flooded chiller utilizing MagLev™ technologies. And, according to the company, it is aggressively pursuing environmental consciousness in all facets of its business, from environmentally friendly refrigerants to zero fossil fuel heating alternatives.

For more information, visit www.multistack.com.

Publication date:03/30/2009