With research spirit and innovative strength - Rhenotherm:
From start-up to hidden champion in 47 years

With our sophisticated functional coatings for industry, we ensure that nothing sticks to surfaces – mostly made of metal or plastic – or that they can glide smoothly.

The start-up has become a market leader in the field of surface technology: Rhenotherm GmbH is a hidden champion thanks to its coherent company concept with a global customer network. The company, which has been based in Kempen for 22 years, coats components in such a way that their utility value is increased many times over. 

 

"With our sophisticated functional coatings for industry, we ensure that nothing sticks to surfaces - mostly made of metal or plastic - or that they can glide smoothly," says founder and managing director Dr.-Ing. Volkmar Eigenbrod.

Dr.-Ing. Volkmar Eigenbrod
Founder and CEO

With its innovative high-tech processes, Rhenotherm ensures that electric cars can be charged, water is saved in airplanes, flue gas escapes smoothly in power plants, liquids roll off components like water on a lotus leaf, and baked goods become crispy.

The relevant production areas relate to non-stick coatings, dry lubrication, corrosion and wear protection. Examples of where Rhenotherm's expertise is used: In addition to rollers for film manufacturers, the company coats components for wind turbines, for battery production or for the food industry.

At Rhenotherm, innovation meets tradition. The company's beginnings lie in Krefeld, where it was founded in 1977 as a specialist company for fluoroplastic coating. 25 years later, the company moved to Kempen, to the industrial park near the water tower. "Initially, the focus was on coating systems that corresponded to the legendary Teflon pan," reports Dr.-Ing. Volkmar Eigenbrod. Today, the engineer with a doctorate shares management with René Wilden, Ingo Guhl and Burkhard Dauenheimer.

In the first few years, Rhenotherm quickly found a niche to survive on the market and to attract the attention of experts with intelligent methods developed in its own laboratory. Thanks to its founder's seventh sense for chemical relationships, the field of application of fluoropolymers was expanded considerably.

A milestone was reached in 1985, when the American software and hardware manufacturer IBM was looking for a contract coater in Europe for a computer component and found Rhenotherm. This was the birth of Rhenotherm Mini Parts, the second pillar alongside Rhenotherm Kunststoffbeschichtungs GmbH.

The innovative power is and remains the basis of the successful business model. Thanks to its own research department, the company also masters processes that can be used to create PFAS-free coatings. "PFAS is water-, grease- and dirt-repellent and is chemically and thermally very stable. One of our goals is that we are now able to offer coatings without per- or polyfluorinated chemicals (PFAS)," says Christina Hensch, Head of Research and Development at Rhenotherm. The graduate engineer looks proudly at the six patents that the Rhenotherm laboratory has secured over the years.

Diversity in the service portfolio are strengths that set the Kempen-based company apart from its competitors and ensure the future of the company. Rhenotherm has grown healthily with this philosophy. Today, around 80 employees are employed at Peter-Jakob-Busch-Straße 6.

The semiconductor industry with big players in chip manufacturing relies on the know-how from Kempen, as do industry giants from the chemical, petroleum, hydrogen, circular economy, energy, lifestyle and automotive sectors. They know: At Rhenotherm, nothing is off the shelf. The Kempen-based company always finds an individual solution.

Please also note the article in the WAZ.

WZ Document_Strong Economy JUN-2024_WEB (1)