AoFrio Celebrates 40 Years in Business

From motor maker to a global supplier of smart cooling technology.

Auckland, New Zealand, 5 November 2026 — Smart refrigeration tech company AoFrio is celebrating its 40th anniversary, having grown from a small manufacturing company on Auckland’s North Shore into the technology behind millions of the world’s connected coolers.

AoFrio now connects more than 3.7 million coolers, and global brands including Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Heineken rely on its technology to manage their cooler fleets.

“Forty years in commercial refrigeration has given us deep domain expertise, and that’s what lets us move into our next chapter with confidence. We’ve got there through a culture that values constant change and improvement, and a clear strategy built around what our customers need from us next. My ambition is to continue building AoFrio into a great Kiwi tech company,” said AoFrio CEO Greg Balla.

AoFrio was founded in 1986 as Clark Automotive Development by Auckland engineer Peter Clark, who patented an innovative motor design that was much more energy efficient than the shaded pole technology used for almost a century. By 2010, the company, then called Wellington Drive Technologies, was known as a global leader in energy-efficient motor manufacturing with a roster of international clients. Its ECR range of energy-efficient refrigeration motors became widely adopted in food and beverage retail and helped the company secure a foothold in Latin America.

In 2016, the company expanded from motors into IoT, launching SCS Connect, the world’s first smart and connected fleet-management solution for cold drink equipment. IoT is now the company’s largest business segment, and AoFrio holds more than 70% of the Latin American connected cooler market.

In 2022, the company changed its name to AoFrio, combining Ao, the Māori word for world, with Frio, the Spanish word for cold, to reflect its focus on refrigeration and shift into software, data and insights. Since then, AoFrio has expanded from making cooler components to giving customers insight into how their coolers perform, with the launch of its AoFrio iQ platform and new cellular and AI-enabled technology. Building on its strong base in Latin America, the company is now expanding into adjacent markets, such as food retail applications.

One of AoFrio’s longest-serving team members is Peter Barnes, who joined in 2003 as an electronics engineer. He has since held several roles, including Chief Engineer and Global Quality Manager, and is now Product Director for Motors.

“When I joined, I was offered a three-month contract. I didn’t expect it to turn into 23 years. What’s kept me here is the variety and change, and I’ve had the chance to work across different roles and be part of a global business. In the early days the motors we built brought something completely new to an industry that hadn’t seen much disruption, and we’re still focused on bringing in new technology and innovation to solve industry problems, especially in the newer parts of our business,” said Barnes.

For more information on AoFrio’s history visit https://www.aofrio.com/40th-anniversary