DeLaval is a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 company

Corporation

A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...

, split in 1991 from Alfa Laval

Alfa Laval

Alfa Laval AB is a Swedish company, founded in 1883 by Gustaf de Laval and Oscar Lamm. The company is a leading producer of specialized products and solutions used to heat, cool, separate and transport such products as oil, water, chemicals, beverages, foodstuffs, starch and...

, which was founded in 1883 by Gustaf de Laval

Gustaf de Laval

Karl Gustaf Patrik de Laval was a Swedish engineer and inventor who made important contributions to the design of steam turbines and dairy machinery.-Life:De Laval was born at Orsa in Dalarna...

 and Oscar Lamm. The company is a leading producer of dairy and farming machinery. The company is part of the Tetra Laval

Tetra Laval

Tetra Laval is a private multinational corporation of Swedish origin, owned by the Rausing family. In the 1980s Tetra Laval relocated its headquarters to Lausanne, Switzerland....

 group, which also includes Tetra Pak

Tetra Pak

Tetra Pak is a multinational food processing and packaging company of Swedish origin. It was founded in 1951 in Lund, Sweden, by Ruben Rausing. It was Erik Wallenberg who invented the tetrahedral package, today known as Tetra Classic...

 and Sidel

Sidel

Sidel is a manufacturing company providing solutions for packaging liquid foods including water, carbonated soft drinks, milk, sensitive beverages, edible oil, beer and other alcoholic beverages. In filling and blow moulding, Sidel covers three main categories of packaging: glass bottles , plastic...

.

History

Gustaf de Laval contributions to the dairy industry, including the first centrifugal milk

Milk

Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...

-cream

Cream

Cream is a dairy product that is composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, over time, the lighter fat rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called "separators"...

 separator

Cream separator

A separator is a centrifugal device that separates milk into cream and skimmed milk. Separation was commonly performed on farms in the past. Most farmers milked a few cows, usually by hand, and separated milk. Some of the skimmed milk was consumed while the rest was used to feed calves and pigs...

 and early milking machines, the first of which he patented in 1894. It was not until after his death, however, that the company he founded marketed the first commercially practical milking machine, in 1918. Together with Oscar Lamm, de Laval founded the company Alfa Laval

Alfa Laval

Alfa Laval AB is a Swedish company, founded in 1883 by Gustaf de Laval and Oscar Lamm. The company is a leading producer of specialized products and solutions used to heat, cool, separate and transport such products as oil, water, chemicals, beverages, foodstuffs, starch and...

 in 1883, which was known as AB Separator until 1963 when the present name was introduced.

In 1991, Alfa Laval Agri, a company producing dairy and farming machinery was split from Alfa Laval when it was bought by the Tetra Pak Group

Tetra Laval

Tetra Laval is a private multinational corporation of Swedish origin, owned by the Rausing family. In the 1980s Tetra Laval relocated its headquarters to Lausanne, Switzerland....

. When Alfa Laval was sold, Alfa Laval Agri remained a part of the Tetra Pak group and was renamed DeLaval, after the company's founder.