
In 1923, John Stadler began his consulting engineering practice in Shawinigan, Quebec. In May of the following year, he moved his offices to Montreal. In the same year, Alfred (Fred) Hurter, a Swiss-born civil engineer who had graduated from the University of Zurich in 1919, joined Mr. Stadler, eager to work with a man who had a reputation as a pulp and paper “genius”. They open up Stadler Hurter & Company.
In 1948, after the death of founder John Stadler, Fred T. Hurter and his son, Fred M. ( Freddy) took over the management of the company. Freddy, who had received his degree in chemical engineering from McGill University in 1946, was an imposing man and tremendously knowledgeable on the field of pulp and paper.
In 1958, Dr. Peter Oberleitner, a civil engineer, joins the company.
By the early 1970’s the company had designed pulp and paper mills in close to 40 countries around the world. In 1972, the company changed its name to Stadler Hurter Ltd.
In 1979, while on a business trip to Jakarta, then president Dr. Peter Oberleitner chanced to meet Rolf Neuwinger from Klocker INA – a German industrial plant contracting company. Over dinner that evening, Oberleitner raised the notion of Klockner INA purchasing Stadler Hurter. The new company Klockner Stadler Hurter (KSH) begins.
With a renewed mission and under the leadership of its new president, Dr. Gerry van de Weert, the company set about attaining a strong balance sheet, developing a core staff with the expertise to execute lump sum EPC contracting work, and a management team able to cope with the complexities of this type of contracting. This was the birth of KSH’s EPC and EPCM services, which has led to KSH successfully executing EPC and EPCM projects in North America, South America, Europe, and South East Asia.
In 1997, KSH established its consulting services to assist its clients in making positive, lasting, and substantial improvements in their performance. In the year 2000, KSH had restructured the company to provide consulting, engineering and EPC-EPCM services to clients worldwide. At the same time, KSH started its operations in Brazil focusing on pulp and paper clients interested in our EPC/EPCM approach.
In 2005, KSH expanded its name to KSH Solutions, thereby reflecting the values and culture of the company.
Over the years KSH Solutions has expanded its expertise from the pulp and paper industry into other industrial sectors including the biorefinery, energy, water & environment, chemicals, food & beverage, and metals & minerals.
Today KSH Solutions is 100% employee owned and expanding our reach through acquisitions and organic growth of the company. With more than 90 years of history, KSH Solutions is well positioned to provide our clients with the complete range of services and expertise to assist them in achieving their global business objectives.