In 2022, a new application technology laboratory has been built in Lingen, Germany, for the SPA sector, and one for PVC applications in Akhisar, Turkey. No wonder, because application technology is the heart and secret behind Baerlocher's many years of success as a quality leader. Through them, Baerlocher knows every customer down to the last detail. This creates long-term and close relationships that last. The engineers and application technicians create trust and added value through special solutions, calibrate as required, react immediately to changes and make Baerlocher a "trusted advisor" for customers worldwide.

Beginnings
Application technology is already of central importance during Dr. Christian Rosenthal`s times when he enters the stabilizer business for the booming plastics industry. This is because he recognizes early on how important an awareness of customer problems is for success. The laboratory in Munich-Moosach is bustling with activity. Samples are mixed, roll tests are carried out for calenders, plasticorders and much more. The technicians are highly specialized and "out [...] day and night" at the customer's site. It is important for Christian Rosenthal to be able to deliver, and to do so as quickly as possible. The first years are therefore initially also a pioneering time of "trial and error".

This has come to an end with the generational change to Dr. Michael Rosenthal at the latest. Baerlocher is reorganizing production and customer relations. Everything is being put to the test, which will also be decisive for the increasing establishment of new international production sites. Because there, on site, solutions have to be developed. The focus is now increasingly on the consulting function, the discovery of problems and the forward-looking development of both economical and viable solutions. The worldwide exchange between Baerlocher technicians and engineers also contributes to this.

An important site is Lingen, where a new technical center was built in 1995. In the first year, work was carried out on Ca/Zn stabilizers and additives for environmentally friendly, low-solvent waterborne and powder coatings. The internal application technology department carries out around 33,000 individual tests for plasticizers and extruders, among other things. For these, 22 tons of PVC are processed. A large center for research and application technology is also built in 1998 at the new headquarters in Unterschleissheim. At that time, almost 7,000 raw materials are kept in stock for product simulations and material tests for 3,000 recipes, which are used by 20 application engineers at the time. For customers, they provide each sample with a certificate of analysis. For many manufacturers, discoloration of PVC window profiles, for example, is a problem. To provide the best possible solution here, Baerlocher built its own weathering plant in 2004. Comparable efforts are also made for other applications, for example in the SPA sector. Because that is what Baerlocher always aims for: Excellence and quality.

In line with this, application technology has been consistently expanded internationally at the numerous new locations since the 1980s - in Italy, for example, or in Great Britain, where the company set up its own laboratory for PVC applications as early as 1993 to serve customers there and in Northern Europe. And this was well before the start of the company's own production plant. But the same is true for Malaysia, where an applications technology center for the entire Asia-Pacific region was established at the end of the 1990s. The next step in Asia is India, where we have been working directly on site since 1997/98; Likewise in China, where a 360° site is gaining profile in the 2010s, and also in the USA, where investments are made in process simulation and in a raw material laboratory in 2013.

Recent investments and restructuring also show: The tradition of absolute customer proximity through application technology established by Dr. Christian Rosenthal is the backbone of Baerlocher. With the dismantling of the application technology laboratory at the Unterschleissheim site, where work has been successful for almost 25 years, application technology is now also moving closer to production in Lingen and in Akhisar. In April 2023, a new application technology center for the SPA area will be put into operation in Lingen. An application technology laboratory complex for the PVC area has already been implemented in Akhisar in fall 2022. Here, in the laboratories of Baerlocher worldwide and in cooperation with the customer on site, a perfect match is formed and proven each time anew for all parties involved.