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Year of production 2013

Friedrich Freek GmbH is a family business with its registered head office in Menden, Sauerland, Germany; the company operates worldwide. We develop, produce, and sell electric heating elements for industrial applications; when it comes to heating operations in the plastics industry our products really set the standard. We have a global reputation as specialists in process heat technology; ever since 1950 we have been providing reliable, top-quality products "Made in Germany" from a single source. Freek supplies heating elements to numerous reputed manufacturers and market leaders in all sectors - both the traditional and the young and expanding. Our customers are not only from plastics and packaging industries but also companies involved in medical and laboratory equipment, air-conditioning, canteen kitchens, solar and wind energy, aviation and aerospace.

Today our core business is the production of highly innovative HotMicroCoils - often used as electric nozzle heating elements for hot runners in injection moulding. But our product spectrum is much broader than that - offering customers all sorts of industrial-standard heating elements. This does not only include HotMicroCoils but also a wide range of heating elements - tubular heaters, cartridge heaters, infrared heaters, flat heating elements, foil heaters, and air heaters, and also the complete range of measuring and controlling technology. With our intelligent value-added system, our flexible machines, our innovative product and production concepts, and our various specialist competences Freek now serves more than 1000 customers worldwide every year.

All this could not be achieved without our highly motivated staff. They make all the difference! They sustain our tried and tested quick response system. For our customers that means short delivery times and maximum flexibility.

Freek stands above all for sustained growth through innovation. We develop new ideas - ideally in co-operation with our customers and our many international partners and with the support of numerous scientists - also within the framework of joint research projects under the auspices of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

"We offer innovative solutions, customized for your application in plastics and packaging technology and wherever electric process heat determines product quality and process speed."
Stefan Kaiser, Managing Director Friedr. Freek GmbH

"Our competent employees are at your service. This is what you can rely on."
Wolfgang Kaiser, Managing Director Friedr. Freek GmbH

Year of production 2010

The idea of our Freek movie goes back onto our LEAN project, in which we established until the beginning of year 2008 a comprehensive business model for the manufacture of our simple standard heating elements. At that time the Project Management Agency Karlsruhe (PTKA) assigned the Berlin filmmaker Renate Teucher to produce a film documentation about the project results.

This was how we happened to achieve the first edition of our Freek movie. And the first edition could have easily been the current one if not the upcoming world economic crises would have reversed economic realities completely. So the words at the film‘s ending "... The order books are full and Freek is once more expanding" sounded somewhat misplaced and could impossibly be left. This is how it came we approached Mrs. Teucher just one year later to produce an updated edition of the movie.

The result received its premier at the occasion of the company‘s 60th anniversary in June 2010. And due to the overwhelming positive resonance from our guests we decided to have a short trailer (3 min) besides the more essential but longer documentation, too. We would be pleased if you like our Freek movies, and thank you in advance for any comments.

Year of production 2002

Original extract from www.milestones.nrw.de:

Category: Turnaround, Group: medium-sized and small enterprises

Friedr. Freek GmbH, Menden: impressive market success by horizontal co-operation

Founded in 1950 in Menden as a single enterprise and converted into a Ltd. company in 1970, today Freek manufactures and distributes with 45 employees electric heating elements and heating systems for industrial and household appliances. The turnover in 2001 exceeded 5 million Euro.

As a typical subcontractor, specialized in niches, Friedr. Freek GmbH was confronted by considerable problems in the nineties: concentration on customers‘ side resulting in demands for price reduction, a larger performance spectrum and increased quality standards pressed the company hard. The dependance from the stagnating ‘white ware‘ industry and missing monopoly characteristics led to a 34% decline in business from 1993 to 1996.

As a way out the management looked for an intensified co-operation with other small enterprises with a similar need of action. Yet, merger and acquisition were ruled out. In 1997 Freek initiated the horizontal R&D co-operation EUCOPET, which is meanwhile joined by five carefully selected international partner companies. Main target was the mutual completion of resources and abilities, especially for joint Research & Development followed by the promotion of innovation power and the orientation towards export markets. The co-operation proved to be most successful. New products became money-spinner, among them heating elements for hand and hair dryers. With this example Freek and its co-operation allies showed that it is possible, with intelligent value adding concepts, to produce even Low-Tech-products in highly industrialized markets profitably. A Million-order deal for Infrared-heaters followed.

The intensive exchange in all relevant technological and organisational matters as well as the exploitation of synergy effects paid for all parties involved. Apart from new products, lasting process improvements in administration and production have been achieved. Together with extensive marketing all partners achieved visible improvements in turnover and outcome. Since the foundation of EUCOPET Freek celebrates great sales successes. The export rate "jumped" almost from a "standing position" up to 35%, upward tendency. The number of customers increased tenfold. From 1997 to 2000 the turnover grew by more than 130%. All co-operation partners succeeded in catching up with the sector‘s world-wide market leaders and partially even in overtaking them . Already in 1999 awarded as a particularly innovative company by the initiative TOP100 NRW, Freek offers a large part of its gained co-operation know-how in seminars and publications to other interested parties.

Year of production 2000

The successes of our co-operation caused the First German TV Station (ARD) to produce a 7-minute report about EUCOPET. After the first shootings at Freek‘s 50th anniversary in May 2000, they went to Ceramicx in Ireland and finally a second time to Freek. With such exact investigations it is not surprising that ARD-reporter Michaela May succeeded with her report an entertaining and apt portray of EUCOPET. The report was telecast in the programme "Europamagazin" on Saturday, 02. December 2000, 16:35h.