World market leader announces strategic cooperation with innovative start-up

Lauda-Königshofen, October 10, 2018 – LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER GMBH & CO. KG has concluded a comprehensive cooperation agreement with watttron GmbH from Freital. The cooperation between the world market leader for precise temperature control and the start-up company from Freital near Dresden, which is developing an innovative heating system for use in specific industrial processes, includes the exclusive sale of watttron products in North America and the analytical, biotechnology and laboratory technology industries worldwide, as well as the use of watttron technology in future LAUDA constant temperature equipment. In addition, LAUDA secures a prospective participation in watttron GmbH.

watttron GmbH develops and produces intelligent heating system, which enable precise heating at the right point and at the right temperature. In which a thin, ceramic heating plate is heated accurately down to one pixel, where each heating pixel can be controlled individually - like on a TFT display. This makes it possible, for example, to produce packaging in a much more resource-saving, flexible and controlled manner. Applications for watttron technology can also be found in the automotive, medical, additive manufacturing, chemical and biotechnology sectors. watttron was also awarded for its groundbreaking technology in the innovation competition 'Germany - Land of Ideas'. Company CEO, Marcus Stein, was the only representative of a German start-up to speak at the BDI's German Industry Day at the end of September.

»For our start-up the cooperation with LAUDA is a great asset. We are particularly motivated by the fact that LAUDA, a world-class medium-sized company, wants to break new ground with this partnership«, says Marcus Stein, CEO of watttron GmbH. »We are looking forward to the expertise of our new partner and hope to be able to bring our innovative heating technology even faster into new market areas and countries, especially in North America«. Ronald Claus von Nordheim, Head of Production (CPO) at watttron, added: «At the same time, we see great advantages of our technology in the laboratory area, which LAUDA's customers will also benefit from.«

With LAUDA and watttron, an established medium-sized company and a young start-up from the mechanical engineering sector are pooling their expertise to jointly advance the development of temperature control. With this cooperation, LAUDA is expanding its temperature control technology portfolio, while watttron in turn benefits from the experience and sales networks of the globally active temperature control equipment manufacturer.

»The most important driver for LAUDA as world market leader is our vision of exciting with temperatures. Through the cooperation with watttron and the use of this trend-setting technology in the field of temperature control, we are consistently continuing along this path«, explains Dr. Gunther Wobser, President and CEO of LAUDA. »With this comprehensive cooperation, we are building an innovation bridge to one of the most successful industrial start-ups in Germany today. We also want to use this opportunity to learn firsthand from our new partner. The cooperation with startups is an important part of our innovation strategy«, says Dr. Gunther Wobser.