Innovation as the basis for growth and secure jobs

Peter Huber Kältemaschinenbau AG from Offenburg has convinced with its innovative qualities and received the TOP 100 award 2023. This award is only given to highly innovative medium-sized companies. Huber is already part of the circle of top innovators for the 11th time. The company is based in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, but its products also supply numerous other industrial sectors, from automotive engineering to environmental research. The mechanical engineering company made a name for itself particularly with the introduction of the Unistat temperature control systems in 1989. Unistats are still the leading technology when it comes to highly dynamic temperature control processes.

"Hardly any other company can achieve such low temperatures as we can. Temperatures as low as -125 °C are possible with our Unistats," says Chairman of the Board Daniel Huber. For example: the new heating and cooling systems of the Unimotive series enable temperature control processes directly with water-glycol mixtures down to -50 °C. This product range was specially developed for the automotive industry to enable temperature-dependent stress tests to be carried out. "We give our employees many opportunities to make their own decisions," Huber points out. This innovation-promoting attitude of top management extends to the workbench. "Even small innovations can improve quality and effectiveness enormously," Huber explains.

Due to stable growth figures, Huber has considerably expanded the company premises with several new buildings in recent years. In three construction phases, a new administration building, a logistics hall and most recently a new production hall were built. As a result, the production area was almost doubled and new state-of-the-art office and meeting rooms were created in the administrative area. The innovations at Huber are also the basis for constant growth and secure jobs at the Offenburg headquarters and at the subsidiaries.

"The TOP 100 competition is focused on the question of how important the innovation aim is within the company," says Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke, scientific director of the competition. "Do routines and habits dominate or is the company capable of questioning the existing, thinking creatively and in a new way and successfully implementing it on the market? We analyse this ability using more than 100 test criteria," he explains.

To ensure that all applicants have the same chances, the seal is awarded in three size categories: up to 50, 51 to 200 and more than 200 employees. In the anniversary year of TOP 100 – the current round is already the 30th edition of the innovation competition – the interest was particularly high: 550 SMEs applied in total, 300 of them were successful and now bear the TOP 100 seal. A maximum of 100 companies per size category can be awarded.

On 23 June 2023, all top innovators of the year 2023 will come together in Augsburg for the award ceremony at the German SME Summit. There, Ranga Yogeshwar will personally congratulate them on their success at TOP 100.