Atlas Copco, the Swedish-headquartered multinational manufacturer of equipment ranging from compressors and air treatment systems, to construction and mining equipment, whose US arm, Atlas Copco USA Holdings, acquired medical gas system specialist, Beacon Medæs, in 2006, last month marked ‘140 years of innovation’, with celebratory activities in over 90 countries.
At its UK and Irish sites, it marked the anniversary with ‘a special celebration’, while in the US, President and CEO, Ronnie Leten, rang the opening bell at the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York (pictured). The shares of Atlas Copco, the biggest industrial company by market capitalisation in Europe’s Nordic region, are listed on the NASDAQ OMX in Stockholm, the site of the company’s global headquarters. Other worldwide events to mark the date include the inauguration of a new compressor manufacturing plant near Pune, India, a £38,000 donation to safe drinking water projects from Atlas Copco’s Water for All organisation in the US, and customer events across the globe. The Group’s many notable achievements include the manufacture, in 1905, of the world’s first portable air compressor. Atlas Copco established its first UK sales office and production plant in 1919 in central London.
