All Images by © RACA Journal www. refrigerationandaircon. co. za RACA Journal I August 2025 23
Events and Exhibitions
BITZER CUSTOMER EVENING DURING FRIGAIR
By Eamonn Ryan
Coincident with FRIGAIR, BITZER hosted a customer evening in appreciation of their support for the BITZER brand in South Africa and beyond.
Managing director Torsten Steinborn welcomed a packed house. Driving the growth and solidifying its essential role in the local HVAC & R industry is the strong trust and partnership fostered with its collaborators. The company expressed its gratitude, especially with the timely arrival of two esteemed colleagues from Germany for the FRIGAIR show: Erik Bucher, VP sales EMEA, and Tobias Fuhrer, head of the centre of expertise for commercial refrigeration. Their invaluable support for this special event was highly appreciated. The local team was also strongly represented, with Jo-Anne, Johann, Ronald and Jose attending from the Johannesburg branch, Francois and Clinton from the Cape Town office, and Enny from BITZER Nigeria.
Steinborn continued:“ Before I hand over to my colleague Erik to share a few words, I would like to highlight some of BITZER South Africa’ s recent milestones and successes:
• Market Innovation: We successfully introduced the IQ CM-RC-02 compressor control and monitoring module— replacing the previous SE-B protection module. Since its rollout in January 2024, we have already sold more than 1,300 IQ compressors in South Africa.
• Sustainable Growth: We achieved double-digit yearover-year growth in sold CO₂ compressors, largely driven by commercial supermarket projects for major retailers and industrial cold storage facilities across South Africa, including Durban, the Eastern Cape, and Cape Town. This highlights our commitment to supporting our customers in their transition to natural refrigerants.
• Enhanced Customer Experience: In 2024, we successfully launched the BITZER webshop for selected key customers, further improving service levels and the overall shopping experience.
• Plug & Play Solutions: Over the last two years, there has been increased local demand for our BITZER ECOSTAR CDU units in retail. These plug-and-play systems, along with the ECOLITE, showcase our dedication to energy efficiency and smart solutions.
• Expansion into Industrial Refrigeration: With the successful introduction of Ammonia Compressor Packages( ACP) in South Africa and Namibia, BITZER has entered the industrial NH₃ refrigeration market, unlocking new business opportunities and reinforcing our support for sustainable refrigerants.
• Digitalisation Strategy: We marked a key achievement in 2022 by selling our first BITZER Digital Network( BDN) license— enabling new digital, remote monitoring, and troubleshooting services for our compressors. This initiative aligns with our broader digitalization strategy, helping customers optimize installations and implement preventative maintenance.
• Strengthened Local Support: As of March 2025, we have extended our GP service network by partnering with MAS as a BITZER GP Authorized
Audience at the BITZER customer evening.
Erik Bucher, BITZER VP sales EMEA.
Torsten Steinborn, BITZER SA managing director.
Service Center( ASC) in Cape Town. This means BITZER compressors will now receive expert servicing, with only genuine OEM parts used and repairs conducted to BITZER’ s global standards.
“ As you can see, BITZER has grown beyond being just a compressor supplier— we continue to innovate, expand, and support our industry while remaining firmly grounded in the market for the market,” he concluded. RACA
All Images by © RACA Journal www. refrigerationandaircon. co. za RACA Journal I August 2025 23