Donaldson Filtration Systems, (Pty) Ltd

This is the story of Donaldson Company and its people. In 1915, Donaldson started as a three-man shop manufacturing simple air cleaners for farm tractors. Today, we have expanded our product portfolio and grown into a worldwide corporation with over 11,000 employees. Over 85 years of experience Donaldson Company was founded in 1915 when Frank Donaldson Sr. developed a simple air cleaner to solve a farmer’s tractor problems. In the late 1920s, crop fires caused by engine sparks fueled our diversification into exhaust products. Success and innovation in agricultural equipment led directly to opportunities in the construction and mining markets and later to the over-the-road truck market. Global presence By the 1950s, Donaldson had established worldwide sales and distribution through licensing agreements with overseas manufacturers. Our strong client relationships accelerated our international growth nearly 40 years ago. Donaldson established operations in England to support Caterpillar in 1958, and today we service the needs of our customers through operations in 19 countries. This includes our operations in South Africa. From South Africa a broad customer service footprint extends well into Sub-Saharan Africa. Diverse product portfolio The acquisition of Torit® Company in the early 1970s propelled Donaldson into the dust collection business, which was further expanded in 1987 with the acquisition of the Day Division of Carter-Day, another leader in the dust collection market. Our industrial air filtration technology is now applied to a variety of industries and environments, including: welding, pharmaceuticals, woodworking, chemical, metal fabrication, foundries, food processing and composites. Technology leader During the 1970s, we applied our technology to create innovative filtration solutions to clean inlet air for gas turbines. Today, we create and manufacture air filtration systems for stationary gas turbines and other rotating equipment used in power generation, oil and gas production and transmission and petrochemical industries. The emergence of computer disk drive technology in the 1980s prompted us to apply our disciplines to micro-filtration problems. Resulting technology has enabled Donaldson to provide new products for diverse applications such as cleanrooms, semiconductor processing and automobile and aircraft passenger cabins.