Internally, Baerlocher communicates mainly in English, but always understands the client's language. Meetings spanning time zones are part of the daily routine. The corporate values of respect, integrity and excellence unite the many-voiced Baerlocher family around the world with its customers and partners.

Bavaria's first sulphuric acid factory, Baerlocher's cradle, produces primarily for southern German markets in the 19th century, but is already embedded in supply chains as far reaching as South America. Dr. Christian Rosenthal, a polyglot, takes over in 1946. The metallic soaps now produced also find international customers. In 1956, the first distribution contract outside the German-speaking world is signed in Finland. The broader world becomes appealing with the entry into the new lucrative additives business for plastics and especially PVC.

Take-off
The 1970s bring momentum. Licenses are granted to Turkey, Spain, Argentina, and Peru. The first joint venture in South America for the production of stabilizers is established with the Brazilian company "Estabilizantes Baerlocher". 1980 Baerlocher becomes a shareholder in the Italian Commer in Lodi, which later becomes Baerlocher Italia. In the year of Christian Rosenthal's death, it is clear: The bear is making substantial advances into the wide world.

The next generation, with Dr Michael Rosenthal, continues to push this forward. The management of the foreign subsidiaries remains in the hands of locals, and this still characterizes Baerlocher today. They know their industry, their market and, above all, the people in their country best. One path leads to the Asia-Pacific growth market with extensive fact-finding tours. Those days, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines were considered particularly promising. Baerlocher is thus ahead of most competitors, but at the same time faces unknown new ones. "We didn't know: How capable are they after all?" recalls Rainer Grasmück. A first success is the sale of a few containers of additives from Lodi in Italy for pipe production for a customer in Indonesia.

Advancing internationalization for the customer
But it needs customer proximity to be able to fully play to Baerlocher's strengths. Long delivery times, no application engineers on site, travel costs - all these are challenges when entering the market. Therefore, since the 1990s, the export business has been followed by the establishment of production facilities. Baerlocher convinces with quality, reliability, and know-how-driven expertise. The focus is not on the company's own products, but on the market and customer needs. From the late 1980s onwards, a great wave of expansion follows. 1989 marks the birth of Baerlocher USA in Dover (Ohio) with the founding of a joint venture for mixed metal stabilizers. By the mid-1990s there are seven sales and nine production companies in Europe, South, Central and North America as well as in Southeast Asia. The most important foreign market at that time is still Great Britain, where Baerlocher sets up its own production in 1997. In 1998, Baerlocher is present in more than 50 countries, including India, the market of the future.

Today, the Asia-Pacific region is one of Baerlocher's largest markets. The breakthrough came in 1994, when production of stabilizers for Southeast Asia and China began in Malaysia, south of Kuala Lumpur. At the time, it was the largest investment outside Europe and the second plant after Lingen to be built on a greenfield site. One-packs, which were not yet widespread in the market, turn out to be a competitive advantage. The regional headquarter was initially located in Singapore, while the application technology center was built in Malaysia. In the 21st century, the global Baerlocher family is growing further with strong national companies and new production facilities in China and Turkey.

Today, a binding Code of Conduct applies to the entire group, which sets the same quality standards and a foundation of values, but at the same time respects the many local characteristics. Networking, know-how exchange and cooperation create a "we-feeling" among people from different cultures. Accordingly, solutions from Baerlocher are not "quality made in Germany", but always simply "quality made by Baerlocher" and that locally, worldwide, for all customers.