Thermik Gerätebau is one of the world’s leading developers and manufacturers of thermal protectors and thermistors. Since the late 1960s, the family-owned company has developed into one of the most efficient German industrial companies. Thermik’s products are used worldwide for temperature protection in household appliances, industrial machines and cars. Thermik’s patented, innovative products can be found in almost every German household – and yet hardly anyone outside the industry is familiar with the company. Thermik Gerätebau is one of the many medium-sized “hidden champions” from Germany that are leading the world markets with their entrepreneurial spirit and innovative concepts. Thermik Gerätebau has now been selected by an expert advisory board as one of the most innovative and resilient German companies. “Best of German Industry” is an award from the “German Standards” project – part of the ZEIT publishing group’s SME initiative. Thermik Gerätebau impressed the jury with its impressive development lead, well thought-out production processes and creative innovation team.
“The German Standards network them in an unprecedented way: the highlights of German entrepreneurship” – this is how the initiative describes the approach of the award, which has been presented by the ZEIT publishing group for several years. In the foreword to the book “Best of German Industry” – in which Thermik Gerätebau is one of around 60 companies presented as part of the award – the publisher Dr Florian Langenscheidt describes the relevance of German industry, the private sector and SMEs (small and medium-sized companies) in particular. “Who has been the locomotive for growth, prosperity and innovation for decades and has generated all the wealth that is currently being so generously distributed?” The publisher, author, speaker and venture capitalist sees the current development in Germany as anything but rosy: “Whether in football or athletics, our competitiveness is slowly declining in many areas of life. If we don’t pay attention and counteract this with all our ideas and skills, we will fall from some of the top positions we are used to in the world. I love our country, but I’m a little worried.” The problems in Germany are complex for the publisher. Key German industries are faltering due to competition from China, energy prices and strategic mistakes. At the same time, “the economy is starving for labour, while the state is making it easier to settle down comfortably in transfer-financed islands.”
The industrial SME sector as the core of success is a popular and frequently used image when it comes to Germany as an economic nation. And indeed, SMEs are still Germany’s economic and employment engine. According to the BVMW – The Mittelstand association, 99.3 of all companies in Germany are small and medium-sized enterprises. They train 75 % of all apprentices, are responsible for 49.3 % of net value added, employ 51.3 % of all employees subject to social insurance contributions and realise an export turnover of 227.7 billion euros per year. At the same time, Germany’s energy-hungry SMEs in particular are suffering from the challenges of today. “Our energy policy is without system and reason,” writes Dr Langenscheidt. “Important and proven forms of energy are being radically reduced, while wind, water and sun are not always and everywhere available as substitutes.”
The ZEIT publishing group has launched the broad-based “Best of German Industry” campaign to give SMEs a platform. According to Dr Langenscheidt, the companies featured in the campaign “hold top positions in global competition. They are frequently world market leaders (and often hidden champions) made in Germany. This is where you start instead of discussing forever. Here, people focus on the opportunities and learn from their mistakes. It’s not a place ruled by doubters, but by responsible, innovative and risk-taking entrepreneurs,” who are the “heroes of our time” for the publisher. And, Dr Langenscheidt is certain, Germany “needs role models in times like these. So that Germany doesn’t decline, but flourishes and becomes even stronger.”
Thermik Gerätebau: A success story “made in Germany”
Thermik Gerätebau GmbH is undoubtedly one of the German industrial companies that has taken a leading position in global competition. Since 1968, Thermik has been focussing on protective temperature limiters based on bimetal. The technical components are installed in electric motors, transformers or heaters and protect the devices from overheating, thus ensuring trouble-free operation. The company’s current success can be traced directly back to the creative inventiveness of founder Peter Hofsaess. With an innovative design, he solved the problem of current self-heating in bimetal switches, which had been unresolved until the 1960s, applied for the first patent for his invention and since then has done everything in his power to develop the best and most reliable thermal protectors in the world. With the courage to take entrepreneurial risks, the founder led Thermik through the decades and was able to make the company the innovation driver of an entire industry with numerous other patented inventions.
The Thermik Gerätebau GmbH of today has long since outgrown its infancy. The family business has become part of Hofsaess Holding GmbH & Co KG with four subsidiaries and is managed in the second generation by Marcel P. Hofsaess, the son of the now deceased founder. Under his leadership, the success story of Thermik has continued – with numerous innovations and unconventional, unconventional solutions. Marcel P. Hofsaess has inherited his father’s inventive spirit and is number one in the global inventor rankings for thermal protectors. The inventor holds more industrial property rights than the next six ranked inventors and, with over 1,000 patented inventions, is one of the top five inventors living in Germany who have founded and run their own company.
The Managing Director’s passion for innovation is directly reflected in the success of Thermik Gerätebau GmbH. Thermik Gerätebau has registered around 1600 national and international patents to date. That is more industrial property rights than all competitors worldwide hold in total! The company is also “one step ahead” in practical applications: More than 4.5 billion products from Thermik are in use worldwide – and the trend is rising daily. Thermik Gerätebau GmbH has managed to conquer a market share of 70 % in Germany in just a few decades. With awards as “Future Champion” (2019) or the “TOP 100 Innovation Award” (2023 for the fourteenth time in a row), Thermik Gerätebau GmbH is one of the most successful medium-sized industrial companies in Europe. “Courage comes before success. Only then is it possible to make progress,” Marcel P. Hofsaess is quoted as saying in the book “German Standards”. And the future looks bright for the global market leader. Because the new, green technologies in particular will not be able to do without thermistors and thermal protectors. Thermik has already responded to the needs of the near future. By pooling expertise and skills from the development, design and quality assurance departments, the company has sustainably increased its development energy. For several years now, the company’s “IQ” innovation department has been fulfilling specific customer requirements and driving forward internal basic research into new technologies and materials. This innovative spirit has not only guided Thermik safely through the difficult years of the coronavirus pandemic, but has also allowed the company to grow even when supply bottlenecks caused major difficulties for the competition. Thermik has been able to significantly increase its share of new customers again since 2020 thanks to an early, skilful change in production and optimised warehousing. The company is optimistic about the future. And it is precisely this entrepreneurial optimism that publisher Dr Langenscheidt believes will secure the future of Germany. “No company would exist if there weren’t entrepreneurs who optimistically believed in the possibility of their product’s success. And if there were no companies, there would be no jobs, no economy, no pension, no citizens’ or children’s allowance.”
