He has self-confidence. Even at a young age, Dr Michael Rosenthal doesn`t just want to play along, but to be at the forefront. After completing his doctorate in chemistry, he joins the company in 1977. His beginnings as sales manager are not easy. The first test comes when his father Dr. Christian Rosenthal unexpectedly gives him responsibility for the "liquid" division on his way back from the Netherlands. Then the unexpected death of his father in 1980, which changes everything. Overnight, the second generation takes over responsibility. At that time still Head of the Sales Department, Michael Rosenthal now has to reinvent himself and also the company. He focuses on the portfolio, pushes the relocation of production to Lingen, transforms, expands and internationalizes. And he finally turns Baerlocher into a family business that is at home all over the world.

Inventory
After the initial shock, the 34-year-old stands in production: "Now let`s tidy things up here first ... everything goes out!" The company already has clear strengths in metal soaps and additives. Therefore, full concentration on the "liquid division" and the "powder division". Because Michael Rosenthal realizes that "it is not possible to produce 5,000 products in a constantly high quality with the possibilities of the times". Accordingly, the decision is made to continue on production only where quality can be delivered. Smouldering patent cases are settled, work processes are put to the test, employees are involved in new and different ways. For him it is a renewal, not a reinvention: "I have simply focused on what lay before me and trimmed it for success", he says. At the same time, Baerlocher specializes much more strongly not on individual products of its own, but on individual customer needs in the market. In 1987, Baerlocher is already one of the three largest stabilizer manufacturers.

Measurable quality is a priority for Michael Rosenthal. Thus begins a certification marathon for plants, production and management methods. The focus is on occupational safety, cost efficiency and environmental standards. A management buyout follows in 1990. Bärlocher GmbH is now fully in the hands of the Rosenthal family. This allows for more long-term thinking and ventures, such as setting up their own stearic acid production in Lingen.

Michael Rosenthal's demands for quality and the will to achieve top performance are condensed in the ultra-modern company headquarters, which are inaugurated in Unterschleissheim in 1998. Michael Rosenthal also focuses on diversifying the portfolio with the division of activities into PVC and special additives for non-PVC applications, e.g. for polyolefin/thermoset production and processing. BAEROPOL for polyolefin production, which requires, among other things, antioxidants or metal soaps such as calcium stearate, combined up to ten additives in the mid-1990s in premixes in the form of rod granules. BAEROLUB lubricant one-pack systems are developed for the then new Wood Plastics Composites (WPC).

Internationalization
At this point, however, the most important production sites have long been Lingen in northern Germany and, outside Germany, Lodi in Italy. The most groundbreaking development under Michael Rosenthal is the internationalization which he has pushed. Through a strong distribution network, joint ventures and new production facilities built on greenfield sites. The decisive factor is that the new members of the Baerlocher family are trusted and given personal responsibility so that they can operate successfully on site as locals for locals. Thus, Baerlocher is expanding into other European countries, the American continent and above all Asia. In 1998, almost 50 % of the turnover comes from plants outside Germany. In 2023, the turnover of over 600 million Euro is divided equally between Europe, North and South America and Asia.

Lead processing industries have been in the public eye in Germany since the 1970s. PVC and the entire plastics industry come under pressure in the following two decades. Therefore, in the 1980s, Baerlocher begins to campaign for the entire industry at association level, Michael Rosenthal at the forefront. At the beginning of the new millennium, he and his Baerlocher staff play a leading role in the voluntary commitment to phase out lead. A milestone for an entire industry.

Rainer Grasmück remembers that Michael Rosenthal had "an eye for the big picture, for the essential". Long-term thinking also characterizes the design of his own exit in 2004, though it is not easy to put the fate of Baerlocher into other hands after 24 years. When Michael Rosenthal steps down, Baerlocher is one of the largest manufacturers of PVC stabilizers with 800 employees at 13 production sites worldwide and a sales network that represents the company in 40 countries. In his formative era, Michael Rosenthal makes excellent quality, unconditional customer proximity and corporate responsibility for society and the environment the cornerstones of Baerlocher's philosophy.

With the transition of the operations to a non-family executive and his new role as chairman of the advisory board, a period of transition begins. In 2010 Arne Schulle becomes the CEO, who has all the characteristics and commitment to lead the company into the future while Michael Rosenthal continues to provide strategic guidance and support. In 2023, Dr. Tobias Rosenthal take over the responsibility as Chairman of the Advisory Board form his father – finalizing the transition to the third generation while Baerlocher remains a family business since Dr. Christian Rosenthal.