Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, the cards have been reshuffled many times in numerous markets. The global impact of the pandemic severely tested many companies and their people, partnerships and supply chains in 2021 too. Lockdowns, material bottlenecks and regulatory requirements, as well as inflation spikes, produced unprecedented challenges - but also opportunities. Opportunities that were not even conceivable in the past for many were now brought within reach by changed conditions and circumstances. Companies that had already done their homework were able to overcome many unforeseen difficulties and, through flexibility, willingness to adapt and technical advantages, once again assert themselves ahead of others and emerge stronger from COVID-19.

The entrepreneurial side of corporate organisations speaks above all for their ability to withstand extraordinary market fluctuations while remaining economically stable. Notwithstanding the fact that the Thermik Group closed the 2021/2022 business year with a new turnover record, the CrefoZert that was awarded again (granted by Creditreform to only the first 1.7% of all German companies with the best credit rating) also highlights the unbroken course of success, even during the pandemic. Thermik was also once again able to maintain its place among the TOP 100 most innovative German companies thanks to its inventions and new developments. What's more, Thermik was listed by DDW (Die Deutsche Wirtschaft), in its ranking of the 10,000 most important of all German companies at the end of 2021, as one of the 10 biggest climbers (from rank 9,411 to rank 4,084, as at December 2021) and was awarded the seal of approval "Exzellenzunternehmen" (Company of Excellence).

Values that are lived by and entrepreneurial foresight have always been and still are the prerequisites for continuous success in medium-sized businesses. Because of this, Thermik was once again able to increase confidence in itself this year, despite the general downward trend of the economy:

• For the 11th time in a row, Thermik received the TOP 100 award as it was ranked among the 100 most innovative German medium-sized companies.

• For the 6th time in succession, Creditreform's CrefoZert creditworthiness certificate was awarded to Thermik after being placed among the 1.7 per cent of all German companies with the best credit ratings. Furthermore, Thermik's credit rating index was given the top mark of 100. Only 0.25 per cent of German companies achieve this.

• The international rating agency Plimsoll lists Thermik among the TOP TEN of the most economical TOP companies in Germany.

• For the first time ever, takeover purchase offers, which have been received regularly over the past years by Thermik, exceeded the 100 million euro mark. Despite all of this, the company remains a 100 per cent family-owned business.

• Due to his entrepreneurial success and Thermik's continuous positioning as a world market leader, Marcel P. Hofsaess was appointed as senator in the Senate of Economy in Germany as well as in the Senate of Economy Europe on August 5, 2019. Both bodies, which may not comprise more members than the number of seats available in the Bundestag or the European Parliament, are composed only of leading business experts and entrepreneurs.

Right on time for its 50th anniversary year, Thermik gleams with the second best operating result in the company's history. Today's group and company management has succeeded in increasing the value of the company twenty-five fold since it took office - and this through their own efforts and without going into the red or drawing on outside capital.
Thermik is now arranged at home and abroad in such a way that every product can be delivered from any factory to any address around the world. This also strengthens Thermik's position as a proven single source supplier, which most customers have placed their sole trust in for decades.
New fields of application, new products, and further patents allow Thermik as the market leader with a high competitive advantage and thus also the entire engineering team to move forward with motivation under leadership that not only commissions innovation, but also exemplifies it. Coming to the end of the year, at least in Europe, there is no living inventor entrepreneur who has been granted more patents in a particular field worldwide than Marcel P. Hofsaess.
Thermik is also a trendsetter in terms of organisation and personnel. Employees from 17 nations and 4 continents ensure that the state of the art can be continuously and significantly expanded on. Intercultural management is an advantage - company employees from all 5 world religions are working for a common goal. And the equality of women has never been an issue, it is only a question of competence. Today, 50 per cent of management functions at Thermik are performed by women.

The rating agency PLIMSOLL assesses Thermik as the world's most successful manufacturer of temperature limiters and among the 50 most successful medium-sized companies in Europe.

New development of the world's most powerful patented H5 temperature limiter for in-winding applications. Once again, the company has succeeded in meeting the demand for ever higher performance in ever smaller spaces.
The first SMD switch is also developed and patented for fully automatic application by means of potting on printed circuit boards.

Innovation and aesthetics

The R & D team brainstorming

• Amortisation of all relocation investments achieved after only 2 years
• Largest rationalisation achieved in the company's history
• 3 times as many patents as in the comparable period before the relocation
• Personnel cost reduction through lean management of a double-digit percentage
• Increase in sales and profitability
• Significant increase in the qualification matrix of all employees
The Group's relocation is proving to be a milestone that has been a success along the entire line and exceeds even the best expectations. In addition, Thermik is repeatedly included in Langenscheidt's lexicon of German world market leaders. This award is only given to German companies which are the No. 1 in the world in their respective market segment.

There are many entrepreneurs who own patents, but very few of them from their own inventive activity. It's different with Thermik: from the very beginning, the managing partners were not only the innovative minds of the company, but also leaders in the industry. More than 4/5 of the company patents are based on their ideas, driven by the challenge of taking on every conceivable technical problem themselves as prudent entrepreneurs.
Marcel P. Hofsaess, owner and managing director of Thermik, is the world's leading inventor of temperature limiters. With more than 600 granted patents, he holds more intellectual property rights on his inventions than the 7 following inventors worldwide, among which the founder of Thermik, who died in 1992, is still listed. Measured by the number of his patented inventions, Marcel P. Hofsaess is officially one of the TOP 3 living German inventor entrepreneurs. The common cliché that inventors do not know how to market their ideas has been refuted by him for decades.

Thermik is the first and only company in the industry to receive the CrefoZert certificate for outstanding creditworthiness. This certificate is given regularly and only to companies that maintain their position among the 1.7 per cent of all German companies with the best credit ratings. Since the introduction and award of the certificate, Thermik has been able to hold it uninterruptedly.

A company relocation is one of the most challenging entrepreneurial challenges and rarely succeeds without serious problems. At Thermik, on the other hand, a plan was worked out in advance that hardly anyone thought possible at first, but which was then meticulously adhered to and implemented in a spectacular fashion.
The auditing company Ernst&Young names Marcel Hofsaess one of the 75 most successful medium-sized entrepreneurs in Germany in the "Entrepreneur of the Year" category.
In addition, Thermik is officially included in Langenscheidt's encyclopaedia of German world market leaders. This honour is only given to German medium-sized companies that occupy the world's leading position in their product field.

The new company building will be built in just 14 months, according to the architectural specifications of the managing director.

The company headquarters is moved to Sondershausen, where a production plant already exists. Thus, customer supply can be seamlessly continued. Thermik Thüringen GmbH merges into Thermik Gerätebau GmbH, like ellipson GmbH and MAMITEC GmbH before it. With the merging of plants and the relocation of corporate headquarters from Baden-Württemberg to Thuringia, the company is realigned for the future. In the presence of the Prime Minister of Thuringia, the new main plant is opened.
With the merger of the plants and the relocation of the corporate headquarters from Baden-Württemberg to Thuringia, the company is completely reorganised and focused even more successfully on higher efficiency and profitability. The most important top performers from Pforzheim are won over and move with the company. Production has to be shut down for only 4 weeks because of the relocation, as organisational measures taken in advance make it possible to supply all customers without interruption. This eliminates the greatest risk. The opening of the new plant is the most significant milestone in the company's history to date.

TOP 100 - Innovation Award: Thermik gets nominated for the first time as one of the 100 most innovative German medium-sized companies. The prize is presented by former Prime Minister Lothar Späth, who, after his career as a politician in Baden-Württemberg, once followed a no less successful career as an entrepreneur in Thuringia. For the TOP 100 Innovation Award, the hundred most innovative medium-sized companies are selected once a year by a consortium of leading economists and entrepreneurs. But this award is not enough! To date, Thermik has been awarded the TOP 100 prize 10 times in a row and is thus one of the 3 most awarded medium-sized companies in Germany.
At the beginning of the year, Hofsaess develops the strategy concept to give the company a further boost. This involves completely relocating the head office at the Pforzheim location in order to open the door to the future from a new location with a new workforce and new organisation. All other production plants are to be incorporated into the continuous supply of materials and revenue in order to carry out the scheme as quietly as possible. No deliveries are to be cancelled or postponed. A comprehensive solution emerges.

The decision is made at Christmas time, 2009. According to the US study "Global Best of Invest Rating 2010", the state of Thuringia was determined to be "currently the best investment location in Europe" shortly before. How fortunate, Thermik already has a production site in Thuringia. Assuming successful preparation, this makes a holistic shift possible in one step and saves a long-term transition with all its conflicts and risks.

Thermik's 40th anniversary celebration falls right in the middle of the global economic crisis. And it is worth celebrating, because it is thanks to forward-looking corporate planning that despite the global economic crisis and negative economic sentiment, the company doesn’t drop into the red or lay off employees at any time. Yet something must be done.
The analysis of a renowned auditing firm confirms the assumption that the management at the Pforzheim location would become more and more complex in the future, since there would be different levels of understanding according to generation and long-established forces would no longer be able to surpass past successes, but would always use these to counteract innovations. The stagnation phase during the time when Hofsaess was no longer in the company confirms this assessment. But a successful restructuring would take half a decade to a decade and place a heavy burden on management capacity. This was partly due to a shortage of skilled workers that lasted for decades. A different, unconventional, and riskier way must therefore be found, but one that, if successful, would allow for a flying start. In addition, a move from Pforzheim would also abruptly cut off the many unofficial information channels to local competition and thus improve another strategic position. In fact, since the departure of Thermik from Pforzheim, local competitors have no longer developed economically, and in some cases have even had to be restructured. The relocation of the company headquarters begins to take shape. At first, however, only in the head of the managing director. All options in German-speaking countries, including Switzerland and Austria, are initially open.

Establishment of the development centre
Since the group now operates 5 plants on 3 continents, development capacities must be centralised in order to meet the global demand for innovation. Foundational research is also to become a greater focus in the future. State-of-the-art application laboratories for all possible customer applications are also installed. For this purpose, the "Research & Development" department is established in a specially designed, expressive Art Deco building.

During the extension phase, an incident occurs that brings back old memories and attests to Thermik’s desirability: when the wall panelling is removed from the managing director's office whilst removing a wall, bugging systems with tracking transmitters are discovered. The criminal investigation department intervenes and examines the entire building - only the boss's office was affected. After a lengthy investigation, it appears that these bugs were produced in the GDR and were commonly used by the Stasi (The Ministry for State Security). At Thermik, however, they were not installed until several years after the reunification and became defective after only a short time. In the end, it is not possible to officially clarify who is responsible and Marcel Hofsaess only has this to say: "Whoever it was and whatever he heard, it obviously did him or them no good."

Marcel Hofsaess and the members of the advisory board Reiner Augenstein and Wolfgang Daum toast the forthcoming change.
When he left Thermik not 4 years prior, many suspected that he would return. The performance of the established, less competent management at Thermik was the strategic basis for the foundation of the ellipson Group. From the outset, this had no other purpose than to initiate a forward-looking change of management and partnership at Thermik by way of a takeover in order to reform the company.
Marcel Hofsaess takes over the controlling majority and the sole management of the Thermik group on 08 May 2006 with the participation of the house bank. All co-partners leave the management and the company or relinquish shares. For the first and only time in this industry, a competitor succeeds in acquiring an established company. The ball is picked up again and all projects are immediately dusted off. In addition, a specialist controlling department and an advisory board are introduced for the first time. This and the contribution of several hundred patents as well as the production capacities of ellipson and Mamitec enable Thermik to achieve even stronger leadership in innovation and on the market. Hofsaess Holding is founded as a holding company. The business trend is immediately on the rise again. Trust is back. After years of stagnation and decline, a new record result was even achieved in the following financial year!

Only 3 years after its foundation, ellipson has already been listed among the TOP 5 European manufacturers of temperature limiters by the renowned Appliance Magazine.
The Mannheim Regional Court, where Thermik's shareholders made an effort to deny ownership of his patents, awards Marcel P. Hofsaess sole ownership in the millions. In addition, it is ruled that he was the de facto managing director of Thermik from 1992 to 2001 and that the Employee Invention Compensation Act therefore does not apply. But his fellow partners hadn't even granted him that. The Inventor Remuneration Act thus applies, and with it the right to considerable royalties which have been accruing for years. But Thermik must go on...! Discussions between the partners are only now taking place again after several years. And the doors to a sustainable solution for Thermik open again.

Various alliances against Thermik are brought to ellipson by it’s competitors. Many want to take advantage of the opportunity to gain market shares from the market leader with the help of the former boss. In vain! Marcel Hofsaess has his own calculated plan and it is initially called ellipson. So while others continue to attack a paralysed Thermik and bring about a drop in its sales, they inadvertently and unknowingly set the stage for the return of the former boss. Meanwhile, he discreetly takes over further shares of Thermik and soon has a blocking minority.

Marcel P. Hofsaess no longer works for Thermik, but proceeds to found the trading company "ellipson electric" in Freudenstadt as well as the production plant "ellipson" in Sibiu, Romania, in order to integrate them into the Thermik Group together with the patents and production capacities realised there at an appropriate time.

Marcel Hofsaess leaves the management of Thermik at the end of the year due to family differences. His youngest and closest employees are also removed. A payment for his shares and patents is denied him. In addition, despite his 20 per cent shareholding, he is banned from the company building and employees are banned from making contact with him. He founds the company MAMITEC GmbH as a development and laboratory centre for overheating protection. There, temperature limiters are to be developed for a wide variety of applications and producers. Thermik rejects cooperation. Replacing the loss of the entrepreneurial and creative head at Thermik, however, does not prove successful. A successor specially hired for this purpose gives up after just a few weeks. Thermik is now led solely by the women of the family as well as by long-established division managers in the spirit of the company's founder as they have interpreted it, which is now conveniently interpreted in such a way that one reverts to the traditional and doubts the new. The previously extremely successful principle of continuous organisational adjustment is suspended. Rationalisation projects that are already in progress or about to be implemented are put back on the shelf. Inventions and patent applications are not made at Thermik for the next 4 years. Never before and never after has there been such a standstill in innovation. Production achieves overcapacity for the first time. The culture of discussion and debate therefore experiences its heyday. But the lack of decisive entrepreneurial leadership is having an impact - for the first time in the company's history, there are several consecutive financial years with a decline in business and earnings. The semiconductor plant in Thuringia is lost. Market shares acquired with difficulty must be temporarily relinquished, at least in part. Strangely enough, this does not cloud the mood of those responsible. On the contrary, an apparent euphoria is spreading...

The partners accuse Marcel Hofsaess of having made the company too dependent on his personal performance. Many long-time executives are said not to be able to keep up. Therefore, he should transfer his acquired shares as well as his patents free of charge in equal shares to his co-partners. In addition, they provide him with the services of an external management consultant, who has been appointed by the renowned Stuttgart auditing firm Ebner, Stolz & Partner, and who is to monitor and supervise him - a typical process in German family businesses in which too many partners with different views are active in one management team. However, after meeting his clients and stating that the company's driving force must not be blocked, he is abruptly removed again. A leadership crisis looms. Marcel Hofsaess is released from his duties at the end of the most successful financial year to date. He is promised he may return as soon as he accepts the above conditions. He refuses.

Marcel Hofsaess acquires further company shares. Numerous investments are made to make the company even more efficient. Due to the strong growth of the past 10 years, the ERP system has already been changed for the 3rd time. In Malaysia a new, larger company building is erected and an extension has to be added at the headquarters in Pforzheim to increase the production area by 50 per cent. In addition, the property rights analysis of a renowned Stuttgart patent and trademark law firm shows that 75 per cent of Thermik's turnover is now affected by patents of Marcel P. Hofsaess. This is the "lion's share" across Europe in terms of industry and market shares. Some people think it's too foolhardy and too fast.

The M1 is the first temperature limiter on the market that fully automates all work steps. The basic patent for this also comes from Marcel P. Hofsaess. The M1 is the successful answer to coordinated attacks by numerous competitors using dumping prices. Technically superior and just as inexpensive, it ensures that Thermik does not lose market shares, but gains them.

Thermik is listed among the European 500 - the 500 medium-sized companies with the most dynamic growth in Europe in the past 5 years. In addition, a neutral market survey confirms the leading position of the company.

As Germany's first medium-sized entrepreneur, Marcel Hofsaess establishes the "Patent Bank Offensive Strategy" (PBOS) he developed. In the following years, Thermik extends its technological lead over the competition and at the same time secures its leading market position into the present.
Due to the unexpectedly favourable state of business, Thermik and its owner family completely repay all bank loans that were considered insurmountable by most only four years earlier. Since then, the company has continued to develop from its own resources, completely independent of banks. What no one initially wanted to believe, he predicted precisely and announced as a goal. At this point, Marcel P. Hofsaess has established himself as the sole strategist in the company.

P1, the world's first latching switch for in-winding applications. The first PTC resistor in an enclosed switchgear. Relevant for special safety demands where it is desired that the temperature limiter can only cool down and switch back when the device to be protected is disconnected from the mains. This is made possible by the PTC heating resistor above the bi-metal switch mechanism.
(Special feature: PTC cover - highlighted blue here)

Since the death of Peter Hofsaess, there has been no further impetus from the development department, Marcel Hofsaess now also takes over this department, which he immediately reforms and orients towards results. Up to this point Thermik held about 150 patents. Today, in the comparable period thereafter, the number stands at more than 1,000.

The project of founding a company in China, planned by Peter Hofsaess, is not pursued further, rather the establishment of a production plant in Malaysia. Instead of capital participation by third parties, the family relies on the only possible alternative - increase in sales through competitive displacement and thus creation of an adequate cost structure. Marcel P. Hofsaess takes over marketing and sales and thus the responsibility for this strategy. He initiates an immediate organisational restructuring and sets a new course. The risk pays off: Thermik can more than double its turnover in the following years.
In the same year, Marcel P. Hofsaess is also sent to the USA by the co-partners in order to prepare an analysis of the future of the plant there, which has been making steady losses since it was founded 8 years prior. He replaces the management immediately and the plant is renovated within a year. Since then Thermik has remained profitable in the USA. Fred Gockerman becomes the location manager, he manages the company successfully to this day. In addition, Marcel Hofsaess filed a patent application for his first invention in 1993.

In the midst of these upheavals within the company group, the founder of the company and the recently sole managing director dies unexpectedly without testamentary provisions. He leaves his family a renowned company, but without a capital base and with a private mountain of debt which many consider unmanageable without outside capital participation. His early death leaves a gap into which no one seems to fit in the foreseeable future. But it also left an entrepreneurial vision and a workforce that shows its true value in this situation and, with a few exceptions, is loyal to the company and the family. The latter accepts the challenge and assumes responsibility.

With the acquisition of a part of "Keramische Bauelemente" (“ceramic components”) in Hermsdorf/Thuringia which is worth millions, Thermik gains a further location in the new federal states as well as new strengths and know-how in the semiconductor and sensor sectors. As a result, Thermik achieves a synergetic-technological leap forward and gains technology that no other competitor has had to date. However, the owners of Thermik made the purchase as investors without the then Treuhandanstalt ("trust agency") in Berlin... The purchase price paid in the millions has a heavy impact, as it soon turns out that the acquired company is a fake and the due diligence forged. One condition of the Treuhand was, among other things, the named takeover of staff members who, after research several years later, proved to be partly politically involved or active members of so-called combat groups of the working class. Before the fall of communism, some were even directly subordinated to the Prime Minister of the GDR, Willi Stoph. The fact that Siemens, among others, had previously refused to acquire this company for only DM 1 was only discovered years later. Regarding the acquisition, the Treuhand made Thermik believe that it had gotten there before Siemens.
High investment obligations under full liability are now faced by a company without a basis for business. Now there are only two options: either to reverse the purchase contract with the Treuhand on the grounds of fraudulent misrepresentation and accept a process lasting many years - for which the resources would not be sufficient - or to face the situation and quickly advance the technology and open up a new market so that the period of losses of the ceramic components would remain manageable. At the same time, this would mean greatly increasing in the profits of the parent company in order to obtain the corresponding compensation money and not borrowing further resources.
Some start to get "cold feet". Hofsaess pays out his partner and becomes the sole shareholder in the same year. The resulting shortage of capital forces him to look for new equity investments, and contracts have already been drawn up. But fate takes the decision away from the boss.

Founding of Thermik Thüringen GmbH

Before the reunification of Germany, Thermik Thüringen GmbH was founded in 1990 in the former GDR. Due to a lack of infrastructure, a dilapidated school building is renovated and used until a new production hall becomes available a few years later. The establishment of the site not only enabled additional capacities to be expanded at the production site in Germany, but also created a strategic starting position that would bear fruit in subsequent years. Due to the tremendous state-sponsored investment facilitation for "Rebuilding the East", it was now possible to invest in production processes and new products with much less financial expenditure than before or at other locations. As a result, Thermik experiences faster growth than companies of comparable size and for the first time significantly increases its competitive edge in production technology.

In its 20th anniversary year, Thermik moves into its first very own building at its headquarters in Pforzheim. The construction was planned over many years. The efforts were also rewarded with an architectural award.
The area of customer-specific solutions for numerous market leaders in various industries is increasingly becoming the company's growth driver.

Thermik Corporation was founded as the first foreign subsidiary in New Bern NC / USA. Right from the start, the focus has been on customer-specific product solutions for the US market. To this day, Thermik is the only European manufacturer to produce products directly on site in the USA.

Dipl. Ing. Franz Meier joins Thermik from the American watch manufacturer Timex and establishes a Europe-wide sales network. The first sales department and the first advertising measures as well as trade fair appearances provide a rapid increase in brand recognition. Thanks in part to Meier's performance, sales increased fifteen-fold in subsequent years. He stays on as authorised signatory at Thermik until his surprisingly early death in 1991.

Still without a sales department, customers are initially very hesitant. Word of the unrivalled quality of Thermik gradually spreads... AEG, Grundfos, EBM, Miele, Bauknecht, and Flygt are the first well-known customers, soon to be followed by others.

Thermik switches to the development and production of temperature limiters. In the course of the 70s, the company applies for its first patents.
With the W1000, the first patented invention by Peter Hofsaess, Thermik launches the first temperature limiter on the market which, with the 2-disc construction, solves the previously latent problem of current self-heating in bi-metal switches.
"Just as in nature, the ideal and most adaptable form in technology is round." This insight from Archimedes inspired Hofsaess’ first patent, the first bi-metal-based temperature limiter in a round design. But this innovation alone would not prove sufficient for the inventor: with the W1000, Thermik launches the first temperature limiter on the market that is round and flat and can therefore be better adapted for in electrical windings than previous designs. Another novelty: A 2-disc construction solves the problem - which had previously remained unresolved everywhere - of current self-heating in temperature limiters by using a spring-loaded disc to avoid direct current flow through the bi-metal disc, so that the switch only reacts to actual ambient temperatures. The W1000 is the predecessor of the S01, today’s best-selling temperature limiter worldwide for applications within electrical windings.

The toolmaker and autodidact Peter Hofsaess founded the company in Pforzheim after serving in the German Armed Forces and started the production of fuses for the electrical industry. His vision right from the beginning was that the best quality should be connected with the Thermik name. In this way he established a distinguishing feature that is still the programme today. He was the first in the industry to choose the company colour red, based on his entrepreneurial idol Enzo Ferrari and the car he considered the best in the world, as well as his favourite drink Coca-Cola. For decades Thermik has been a pioneer within the industry under this colour, today most of its competitors have followed suit. At the same time, he also created the memorable company logo, made up of two separating T-shaped contacts within a force field and which together form the letter "H". One T stands for temperature, one for thermal and the "H" for the name of the entrepreneur. Today, the logo is a trademark protected worldwide and well-known among experts.

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THERMIK HISTORY

The history of Thermik is the history of visionaries who have led and shaped the company for over 50 years. They were two men who could not have been more different as entrepreneurs and yet have a lot in common: both started their entrepreneurial careers at the age of 26, both were and are inventors and the creative-innovative minds of their company. Nonconformist, unconventional, and therefore successful. One of them made the statement "There has never been an conformist market leader!"

A long, arduous career was followed by the early death of the company founder and this test was a stroke of fate for the continuity of the company: one of the founder’s sons emerged unexpectedly from the shadow of the family. Not only has he seamlessly continued the success story of the company, but also increased it and, with his willpower, consistency and ability, has led Thermik to new record results almost every year since, including that of its 50th anniversary. The 25 most profitable years in the company's 50-year history lie in the 26 years of his work.