Plasmatreat Completes 20th Year in Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Tech

 

Plasmatreat just had its 20^th birthday, celebrated at a party with over 300 guests at the company’s new headquarters’ site in Steinhagen, Germany. Considered the market leader in atmospheric plasma technology for the pretreatment of material surfaces, the company was formed by Christian Buske, managing partner of Plasmatreat GmbH and president/CEO of the Plasmatreat Group and his then partner, engineer and inventor Peter Fornsel.

 

Buske, who has a degree in cybernetics and automation technology, became fascinated with plasma in his late 20s. Together with Fornsel, he developed the Openair Plasma jet technology, filing a patent application of it in 1995, the same year he founded the company. Buske used the innovative technology to successfully apply atmospheric pressure plasma on an industrial scale for the first time.

 

Hella, one of the world’s largest automotive component suppliers for lighting technology and electronic products bought the first Openair Plasma system, and used it in a series production for the pretreatment of car headlamps. Many other large and smaller companies were to follow as Plasmatreat expanded around the globe. From the outset, the company’s planning strategy was also characterized by targeted cooperation with universities and research institutes.

 

“The one thing that typifies Plasmatreat is change,” notes Buske, referring to the fruitful change that his now medium-sized company  has experienced since its start. Plasmatreat has a workforce of 180 worldwide, and now operates in 35 countries, with 15 subsidiaries in 11 countries. Four of them are located in North America, chaired by Plasmatreat US in Elgin, Ill. In 2014, the company generated a turnover of around $32 million. Plasmatreat invests 12% of its turnover annually in research and development.