COMPANY
Our history
In conversations with our customers, we are often asked where our name comes from, how it came about and what it means, as it could also be assumed to be in the electronics sector.
In principle, this is not such a bad combination. After all, most plastics are extremely good electrical insulators and are therefore often used in electrical, semiconductor and energy technology.
However, the name POLYTRON is derived from the suffix 'tron' of the plastics we sell (NYLAtron, ACEtron, TERAtron, etc.) and from the prefix 'poly' as an abbreviation for 'polymer' - plastic, but the name is actually intended to remind us of our roots. Our history goes back to the middle of the last century ...
Experience from history
1946
The American Louis Stott was the first to process nylon, i.e. polyamide, into technically usable semi-finished products and founded his company, the POLYMER Corporation in Reading, Pennsylvania, USA, based on this idea.
1960/61
We were founded as a subsidiary of this POLYMER Corporation in Cologne in 1960/61, trading as POLYPENCO - POLYmer PENnsylvania COrporation - Gesellschaft für Industriekunststoffe GmbH.
We have witnessed the history of plastics from the earliest beginnings and have also influenced it to some extent. We don't want to take centre stage with this. But it does show that we can look back on a considerable period of experience with these still new construction materials. And experience seems to us to be one of the key factors in the professional handling of plastics. Over 50 years of experience and knowledge in handling plastics that you as our customer can rely on!
1999
However, experience has shown that nothing lasts forever, and so in 1999 we were sold by our then owner, the Dutch company DSM N.V., to the private entrepreneur B. Henderkott. He repositioned the company and utilised the experience and knowledge, particularly in the minds of the employees, to transform it into a successful family business.
But we had to change the name for legal reasons, so today we operate under the name POLYTRON Kunststofftechnik GmbH & Co. KG.
2016
The ownership has changed again, but only within the family. Since 2016, the second generation of the family, F.A. Busen and Christiane Busen, have taken the helm.
Polypco
POLYmer PENnsylvania COrporation - POLYPENCO was the name of the foreign subsidiaries of the American POLYMER Corporation.
Founded in 1946 by Louis Stott, the POLYMER Corporation and its globally dispersed POLYPENCO subsidiaries were pioneers in the field of engineering plastics and the production of semi-finished products from the very beginning. Stott was the first to process polyamide, also known as nylon in the USA, into technically usable semi-finished products and thus set in motion a development that is still ongoing today.
The POLYMER Corporation with its POLYPENCO subsidiaries was the leading force in the market for semi-finished engineering plastics for a long time. However, like many large companies, it changed hands several times over the years and was more or less broken up at the end of the 1990s. Many good inventions and products were sold, decades of experience were given up and some of the subsidiaries were sold off.
Like many other POLYPENCO companies, the German POLYPENCO was split up and sold. The branch in Sinsheim near Heidelberg remained with the former owner DSM. The sealing business was sold separately to the Italian GAPI s.r.l. was sold. The Nylaflow® division (high-pressure hoses) was sold to Parker Hannifin and the granules business with the Plaslube® and Electrafil® brands was sold to Techmer sold.
The head office in Bergisch Gladbach near Cologne, including buildings, some of the employees and the Shapes & Parts business, was acquired in 1999 by the Wuppertal-based entrepreneur Bernd Henderkott was purchased. Since then, the company has been trading as POLYTRON Kunststofftechnik GmbH & Co. KG.
Today, POLYTRON is a successful family-run company, now in its second generation, and is recognised as the specialist for complex components made from special and high-performance plastics.
The remaining parts of the old POLYMER Corporation were sold in 2001 by the Quadrant AG and, together with further acquisitions in 2013, are now fully owned by the Japanese company. Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (in Germany: Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials).
Few inventions have changed the world as much as the discovery of plastics more than 100 years ago. Here you can get a brief overview of their History ....
The POLYTRON team in Bergisch Gladbach will be happy to answer any questions you may have about our company and portfolio!