In December 2023, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the company’s founding, REHAU began celebrating 75 years of enhancing lives. With world-class engineering expertise, adaptability and a strong value-based foundation, REHAU has grown from a family-owned company into today’s family of companies that will continue to invest in sustainable growth.
The year-long celebration is dedicated to exploring the company claim “Engineering progress. Enhancing lives.” and to uniting employees around the globe—across times zones, languages and geopolitical circumstances—in a common experience of the REHAU Way.
“REHAU is now celebrating its 75th anniversary,” says Dr. Thomas Troeger, CEO of REHAU Americas. “Together with our customers, suppliers and employees, REHAU is looking back and drawing inspiration from the pioneering spirit and visionary power of our founder. But above all, the Group is looking forward to how we can create even better experiences for our customers.”
The foundation for the REHAU success story was laid by company founder Helmut Wagner in 1948 in the Bavarian town of the same name, when on the premises of the Franconian leather factory he, two other men and one machine began to replace conventional materials with polymers, thereby improving them. Building on the values of trust, reliability and innovation, he created a successful business. REHAU know-how and technical expertise is found in numerous applications and locations throughout the world: the Ariane rocket for space research, the turf heating in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium or the subway in Cairo, to name a few.
In 2000, sons Jobst Wagner and Dr. Veit Wagner took over the company as president and vice president, respectively, and consistently developed it further in the direction of today’s subgroups. In 2021, Jobst Wagner handed over the presidency to Dr. Veit Wagner and moved to the vice presidency. With Nils Wagner as head of REHAU New Ventures, the third generation is represented in a leading position within the group. In 2021, the pioneering and visionary company founder Helmut Wagner passed away at the age of 95.
Today, the REHAU Group is an international family of companies with 190 locations, more than 20,000 employees and an annual turnover of more than 4.5 billion euros. With Meraxis, REHAU New Ventures, RAUMEDIC, REHAU Automotive and REHAU Industries, the company unites five subgroups under one roof. The recipe for success is a pioneering spirit, a strong value-based foundation and the ability to adapt. In addition to thinking outside the box, the Group’s DNA includes a balance between experience and courage to take risks coupled with the will to continuously develop. Dr. Veit Wagner, president of the REHAU Group, is convinced: “Change provides fertile ground for new ideas and innovations that make us competitive in the long term.”
REHAU extruded the first polymer window profile in 1958. In 1987, the company introduced the first compression-sleeve fitting for connecting pipes and has since sold a billion units. Today, every third car in Europe contains components from the polymer specialist and 248,550 miles (400,000 kilometres) of REHAU micro cable conduits connect people all over the world. By filing approximately 100 patents per year, REHAU is one of the top patent applicants in Germany.
Moving forward, the focus is on attractive markets with growth potential. To name two examples: the company is currently expanding in Africa, where it recently acquired a South African company, and in Mexico: As a further milestone in internationalization, REHAU opened a production facility for the furniture industry in December in order to meet the increasing demand for REHAU products in North and Central America.
With sustainability firmly anchored in the strategic decision-making process, the company is shaping the future as sustainably as possible. As early as the 1950s, REHAU integrated polymer waste into its production processes. In the 1980s, the company initiated the development of concepts for disposal. Today, circular economy, future-oriented energy supply and the promotion of diversity are key corporate topics for becoming even more sustainable. For example, REHAU is aiming to increase the quantity of recyclates in production to 20 percent by 2025. More than half of REHAU window profiles already contain up to 75 percent recycled granulate. And by 2035, the company aims to have CO2-neutral production worldwide. This has already been implemented at certain locations.
Thus, for tomorrow’s generations, REHAU is working with a strong compass toward a sustainable and innovative future – in line with the claim “Engineering progress. Enhancing lives.”
