OVE Plasmatec celebrates 25 years of "Smooth Sailing"

The highly professional service provider for surface refinement of elastomers, OVE Plasmatec in Weil im Schönbuch, celebrates its 25th anniversary and looks forward with confidence. © Image source: OVE Plasmatec

OVE Plasmatec celebrates its 25th anniversary as a GmbH. The coating experts for elastomers took this occasion to celebrate extensively with employees and their families. The company's history actually goes even further back. Because what started in the proverbial garage in 1990 has developed so well that founder Bernd Friedrich turned it into a GmbH in 2000. Numerous innovative pioneering achievements ensure that OVE Plasmatec has developed into an experienced, innovative, and approachable company, on which manufacturers and users of seals can confidently rely.

With a celebration for employees and their families, OVE Plasmatec marked its 25th anniversary in September. In glorious late summer weather and with numerous attractions on the company premises, the management also looked back on the milestones of the family business. "I performed the first cleaning of seals after work at home in the washing machine," recalls founder Bernd Friedrich. His former employer, a seal manufacturer in Stuttgart, had problems with dirty products that were usually contaminated with oils, fats, release agents, or other manufacturing aids after production and often had burrs. This impaired their function because they were difficult to separate, hard to assemble, and did not work as desired.

Pioneering achievements: milestones that set standards

The cleaning of seals was the first milestone. Today, OVE Plasmatec has been a highly valued service provider for decades when it comes to technical cleanliness. The specialty is the pore-deep cleaning of elastomers. This was first achieved by the experts with plasma cleaning, a highly effective process for creating LABS-conformal surfaces. Later, a process was developed in which iodine hardens or artificially ages the surface of NBR seals. The so-called DF process reduces friction. OVE developed and built the iodine treatment systems themselves.

After investing in an initial coating system in 2002, OVE Plasmatec became the first company worldwide to coat series seals for the automotive industry with environmentally friendly sliding lacquer on an industrial scale. All innovations counteract high friction in seal situations and are milestones in the company's development. "Undoubtedly, this also includes the first successful application of an environmentally friendly, solvent-reduced sliding lacquer coating, which brought about incredible improvements," emphasizes Heiko Friedrich, managing director and second-generation family member. However, working with rubber products is not always standardized. "Rubber doesn't always do what it's supposed to; rubber lives. It takes a lot of experience," assures Bettina Kremer, managing director of OVE Plasmatec and cousin of Heiko Friedrich.

25 years of success through innovation and confidence

In 2025, the coating experts will surprise their customers with seven PFAS-free paints, offered in countless colors and "are the absolute hit." All this makes the employees proud, and they celebrated a joyful anniversary party. Furthermore, the management and all employees are pleased that everything has been running smoothly at OVE Plasmatec for 25 years. "And we want it to continue like this," emphasize Friedrich and Kremer in unison. The current development and the obligatory confidence are meant to solidify the leading position that the family business from Weil im Schönbuch has earned in Europe through its specialization in coating and refining elastomer surfaces.