Germany is a country of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) – and a country of “hidden champions”. Over the past decades, these often owner-managed companies have used their vision and creativity to develop innovative products that may seem inconspicuous at first glance – but on closer inspection have revolutionised entire branches of industry. One such company is Thermik Gerätebau GmbH from Sondershausen in the Kyffhäuser region of Thuringia, which has risen to become the world market leader in the field of thermal protectors and thermistors thanks to the inventive spirit of its founder, willpower and skill. From the vision of developing the best and most reliable thermal protectors in the world, an international company has emerged – and one of the leading innovators by far. The management of the group of companies in the second generation is certainly also responsible for this success. But what actually makes Thermik’s technology so successful?

The success story of one of the most successful medium-sized companies in Europe cannot be told without Peter Hofsaess. The trained toolmaker and autodidact founded Thermik together with Udo Witteck in Pforzheim in 1968. In the early years, the founders manufactured fuses for the electrical industry themselves – always with the aim of ensuring that the best quality available on the market was associated with the name Thermik. The company’s now world-famous logo – two separating T-shaped contacts within a force field – and the company colour also date back to the founding period. Peter Hofsaess was the first in the industry to choose a memorable red in reference to the entrepreneurial idol Enzo Ferrari and the founder’s favourite drink, Coca-Cola.

As early as the 1970s, Thermik switched to the development and production of thermal protectors and was able to register its first patents. With the first patent, a bimetal-based thermal protector in a round design, Hofsaess was able to solve the previously latent problem of current self-heating in bimetal switches. Incidentally, this early invention is the direct predecessor of today’s best-selling thermal protectors for applications within electrical windings.

Until the early 1990s, Peter Hofsaess led his company Thermik through turbulent times. From the first well-known customers, including AEG, Nixdorf, Miele and Bauknecht, to the founding of a production plant in the USA in 1984 and the establishment of sites in the new German states, Hofsaess led his company to success. Peter Hofsaess died suddenly and unexpectedly in 1992 – in the midst of the greatest upheavals the company had experienced to date. The untimely death of the founder opened up a gap into which no one seemed to fit for the foreseeable future.

One year later, Marcel P. Hofsaess, one of the founder’s sons, takes over responsibility for the continued existence of the company. With the courage to take entrepreneurial risks and an inventive spirit that is in no way inferior to his father’s, the young successor takes off. Numerous patents, new locations: Thermik enters the new millennium in the fast lane. Thermik’s product portfolio now includes PTC thermistors in addition to the thermal protectors, which are already highly regarded worldwide – and the company’s turnover skyrockets once again. In addition to expanding business activities abroad, the successor also initiates the relocation of the headquarters to Sondershausen in Thuringia – still the control centre of Thermik Gerätebau GmbH today.

Thermistors from Thermik: Indispensable components for temperature monitoring

Thermik Gerätebau GmbH also specialises in so-called PTC thermistors. Also known as motor protection sensors, PTC thermistors or simply PTCs, these sensors work by changing their electrical resistance through temperature. With PTC thermistors (Positive Temperature Coefficient), the electrical resistance increases with increasing temperature – a property that makes the components ideal for overheating protection of electronic assemblies or heat sinks. Thermistors offer extremely high temperature sensitivity and are used worldwide in almost all areas where digital temperature measurement is required. A classic field of application for Thermik Gerätebau GmbH thermistors is in the automotive sector, but end consumers also come into contact with Thermik Gerätebau GmbH products, usually completely unnoticed. In ovens or refrigerators, PTC thermistors reliably prevent overheating – and thus serve not least to ensure safety.

But how is it that a medium-sized company manages to set itself apart from the competition worldwide with a product that has a clearly defined technical function and can therefore be replicated at will? For Thermik Gerätebau GmbH, the answer is quite clear: quality. True to the vision of founder Hofsaess that the best quality on the market should be associated with the name Thermik, Thermik relies on a high proportion of precious metals in its Thermik products. The precious metals increase the electrical properties compared to competitor products, even if they are not cost-neutral. However, all competitors worldwide have only one selling point compared to the thermistors from Sondershausen: the price.

The quality of the PTC thermistors is ensured by fully automatic testing procedures in which each individual order is checked. System errors are therefore ruled out. The few complaints are exclusively due to human error – and not to the technology. A further advantage of Thermik Gerätebau GmbH over its market competitors is based on innovation protection through patents and industrial property rights. Thermik holds more international patents than all its competitors put together. In combination with a network of specialised suppliers with unique selling points, Thermik has access to reference parts that are simply not available to competitors.

Exclusively self-made products as the key to success

Thermik Gerätebau GmbH is the only market player in the industry that exclusively sells products developed and manufactured in-house. All other competitors also use commercial products – which means that quality is not guaranteed to the same extent as it is with the market leader from Germany. The use of merchandise by market competitors can be directly attributed to a lack of innovative ability. Instead of driving forward their own developments, market competitors have been following Thermik’s product programme for decades. Of course, considering Thermik’s numerous patents, this was only ever possible with qualitative compromises.

The majority shareholder and sole managing director of Thermik holds well over 1000 patents, putting him in the top category of German inventors. The company’s focus on development is therefore practically pre-programmed into its DNA – and is recognised almost annually with awards for exceptional economic performance.

Optimally positioned for the future

Despite the energy transition and the foreseeable end of combustion engines, PTC thermistors from Thermik Gerätebau GmbH are not a discontinued product without a future – quite the opposite. The energy transition in particular has triggered and continues to trigger numerous technologies that were previously irrelevant on the markets or were simply not needed. Green tech is currently fuelling a significant increase in demand for pumps, electric motors, electric heaters and circuit boards – assemblies and components that need to be protected by reliable thermocouples. The same applies to the production facilities that are currently being built or have yet to be built for the technologies of the future. Thermik Gerätebau GmbH has been positioned in all new areas right from the start – the best prospects for the future of this long-established company.