History

1916 - 2016: 100 years at the service of HVAC professionals

At the end of 2015 VIM employs 180 people for a turnover of 50.4 million euros.

The company has more than 3,500 active installation and HVAC engineering customers, including large French groups, the main groups of installers and regional independents.
Thus, tens of thousands of ventilation air treatment and smoke extraction installations are carried out each year in France and Europe with VIM equipment.

Building on significant development, VIM building its new 16,000 m2 head office².
More than 10 million euros are invested in buildings, industrial facilities and logistics.

The first rotary heat exchanger air handling units (CAD O Integral) developed by the VIM R&D team rolled off the lines in 2013.

At the end of 2000, the multinational electrical equipment ABB, then owner of VIM sold the company to the Spanish group Soler & Palau (S&P), a pure player in the ventilation sector.

S&P, already present in the VMC and VMP residential market, is thus strengthening its position in order to become one of the leaders in France.

VIM completes its own ranges with those developed by S&P, in particular for axial fans, ventilation boxes and technical fans.

Founded in 1969, this company develops and manufactures single and double flow ventilation units with heat exchanger for residential use. It will also market heat pumps and thermodynamic water heaters on extracted air in the 1980s following the second oil shock.

The Aubergenville factory was definitively closed in 1989 and manufacturing transferred to Azay-le-Brûlé, the cradle of Aéroplast. The VIM organization will be ISO 9001 certified from 1995 and the production site ISO 14001 from 1998.

In 1985, VIM bought the series ventilation division of Jeunont Schneider and thus strengthened its expertise in ventilation of professional kitchens.

In 1961 VIM made one of the first VMC installations in collective housing in the Towers of La Défense.

Following in particular the takeover of Solyvent-Ventec in 1970 by the group, the commercial and then industrial activity of VIM is refocused on ventilation and smoke extraction in residential and non-residential buildings.

In 1936, VIM was bought by Svenska Fläktfabriken, a Swedish industrialist created in 1918 who completed the French range with filtration, heating, humidification, air conditioning, dust removal and drying equipment.

VIM will remain under the Swedish flag (Fläkt / Asea) then Helvético / Suédois (ABB) until 2000.

The factory is based in Aubergenville (78). It will house over 25,000 m² covered, the manufacture of industrial fans, air handling units, air heaters, water coils, metal CMV boxes, but also axial fans, ducts, accessories, etc.

At the start of the 1930s, VIM several cinemas with air conditioning, including the Normandy on the Champs Elysées.
Many hospitals and department stores followed until 1940 when activity ceased to resume after the war.

VIM Ventilation Industrielle et Minière was founded by Jules Beuzit and a centralien Raymond Laponche to supply ventilation equipment to mines, heavy industry and later to ships at that time.