Stefan Lenzer took over responsibility for the Pretreatment Business Unit at Chemische Werke Kluthe GmbH in Heidelberg in June 2022. This deals with products and processes for the surface pretreatment of metals. The company's pretreatment products provide corrosion protection and prepare the part surface for subsequent coating. As a system supplier for chemical pretreatment, Kluthe helps its customers save process energy. "We have analyzed, report and optimize the CO2 footprint for our process chemicals. This allows our customers to determine and reduce their carbon footprint," says Lenzer.
The company's research and development department is currently focusing on developing energy-saving low-temperature processes. In doing so, Kluthe takes into account sustainability factors such as the selection of raw materials based on the CO2e calculation unit, freedom from heavy metals, longevity of the process baths and consumption optimization. To support customers in process testing, Kluthe also invested two million euros in a new technical center, which will open shortly. Among other things, it includes an industrial pretreatment plant for immersion and spray applications.