HC Kunststoffwerk Rülzheim named innovation champion

Überlingen – Letting go of the old and daring to do the new: innovative medium-sized companies like HC Kunststoffwerk Rülzheim are not afraid of change, but see it as an opportunity. This is how the company impressed in the 27th round of the TOP 100 innovation competition. HC Kunststoffwerk Rülzheim officially belongs to the TOP 100 as of June 19. In the scientific selection process, the company impressed in particular in the size class A (up to 50 employees) in the categories “Innovative processes and organization” and “Innovation success”.

Water drainage hoses are inconspicuous, but installed in every car. Whether sunroof, fuel filler flap, rear view camera or spoiler: In these places, water would be a problem in the vehicle. That’s why the TOP 100 company produces ready-to-install hoses of all kinds for its customers in the automotive industry and other sectors, whether straight or bent, extruded, injection-molded or preformed, whether extremely heat-resistant or cold-resistant.

Precisely because the demands on water drainage systems are diverse and even sometimes contradictory, clever innovations are part of everyday life for the experts from Rülzheim in southern Palatinate, so that they can create the optimum system. For this purpose, a small but dynamic team of engineers conducts research in an in-house technology lab: “We translate our customers’ problems into the laboratory and are thus usually able to present product innovations in a very short time,” explains Managing Director Fabian Schwarz.

One groundbreaking innovation is a water drainage system manufactured with an in-house robot cell (a kind of “cage” housing the robot). This globally unique system was developed in-house by the top innovator’s team. The result is a manufacturing process that reduces the individual processing steps from four to two. “Such automated processes guarantee high-quality products and are our answer to low-wage countries and poor quality,” says Schwarz.

TOP 100: the competition
Since 1993, compamedia has been awarding the TOP 100 seal for special innovative strength and above-average innovation success to medium-sized companies. Since 2002, scientific management has been in the hands of Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke. Franke is the founder and director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. The mentor of TOP 100 is the science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar. Project partners are the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research and the BVMW. As media partners, manager magazin, impulse and W&V accompany the company comparison. More info at www.top100.de