Acquisition & Growth
Dexion is a prominent member of Gonvarri Material Handling, a family of brands whose origins date back to 1856.
In 2018, Gonvarri Industries acquired the Constructor Group, which included Dexion, Constructor, and Kasten. Gonvarri Material Handling was formed to become the new group parent.
The group brands include:
Dexion: Formed in London, UK, in 1937 by Demetrius Comino, a 50-year-old Greek-Australian. Comino developed the 'Dexion Slotted-Angle' (1947), which introduced the world to adjustable storage and would go on to blaze the trail for Dexion's purpose-built pallet racking and shelving systems. It became part of the Group in 1999.
Kasten: It was started in 1886 by Hjalmar Henrik Kasten, who established a metal works company in Helsinki, Finland. They manufactured their first shelves in 1951, and today, they are market leaders in Finland.
Constructor: Originally founded as Høvik Verk in 1856, it is a glassworks at Høvik, Norway, part of Christiania Glasmagasinas. Between 1970 and 2000, through mergers and acquisitions of Høvik Stål, Electrolux Constructor, Kasten, Krammer & Zeuten, ETH, and MTH, it grew to become Scandinavia’s leading company in storage, archive, and logistics solutions. The Constructor name was adopted in the late 1980s.
Stålteknik: Gonvarri Stålteknik AB has its closest origin in Canrena System AB. The company has been active since the 1980s and has expanded over time through active product development and mergers with, among others, former Stålteknik in Fellingsbro.
Gonvarri Stålteknik AB is an expert in selected products and customisations in material handling, such as pull-out units, cantilevers, and mezzanine solutions. Our products are mainly found in retailers in Scandinavia, but we are also represented in Germany and France. Sales are made to partners and resellers (B2B).
Kredit is a well-known brand in the European material handling industry and beyond, being one of the key players within the mobile racking segment. The company was founded by Petr Ševčík in 1991 and is headquartered in the Czech Republic, where its entire product line is developed and manufactured.
Towards the end of 2019, Gonvarri Material Handling announced an agreement to acquire 100% of Kredit's shares.
Dexion’s Audacious Beginnings
The Dexion company (from the Ancient Greek meaning 'Right') was initially forged from Comino's hunger for efficiency gains across his printing business. Namely, he needed paper and type storage racks that could quickly and easily be dismantled and reused.
Comino's persistence and tenacity paid off. By 1947, he had developed the 'Dexion Slotted Angle', a framing material that was, weight-for-weight, stronger than wood and that could be stored in a fraction of the space needed for wooden timbers.
The first adjustable storage system had arrived, blazing the trail for Dexion's purpose-built pallet racking and shelving systems.
Dexion quickly became the benchmark for innovation with several outstanding milestones:
- 1956 Slotted-Angle used to build the Olympic Stadium
- 1957 1st Mobile Pallet Racking Installation
- 1963 ‘Dexiongrad’ was built to support the Yugoslavia earthquake relief
- 1970 Production of Steel Shelving begins
- 1980 1st Paternoster installed
- 1999 Dexion was acquired by Constructor Group, and the P90 system was launched
- 2000 Hi280 system launched
- 2003 1st Tornado automatic storage installed
- 2011 Cantilever range launched
- 2014 P90+ system launched
- 2016 Testing Lab – in-house quality control
- 2018 (January) Dexion is acquired by Gonvarri Industries
- 2018 (April) Automation market - key supplier of Crane Racking and Mini Load solutions
- 2019 Major investments in manufacturing units
- 2020 Longspan Shelving 3 (LS3) and Full Warehouse Automation
- 2021 New Medium Duty Cantilever
It is a testament to those early pioneers that these systems are still in demand today.