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Working by hand: Assembling the individual pumps requires great skill on the part of the employees.

Locations

Charting a New Course – KNF Conquers the World

Establishment of affiliates and breakthrough in the industrial sector

Independence and international standing: these were goals discussed by Erich Becker as early as the mid-1960s, before the word “globalization” had passed anyone’s lips. He was always thinking one step ahead – not just in terms of sales across national borders, but also in terms of marketing diaphragm pumps across a wide range of sectors. The 1970s and 1980s were a turbulent period during which many new strategies were adopted. Several new branch offices were opened, innovations were tweaked and fine-tuned, and countless hours were spent on airplanes, at exhibitions and abroad. Two of the key factors underpinning KNF’s success today are the diversity of its customer base and its global presence. But as the saying goes: The first step is always the hardest.

Freiburg-Munzingen, early 1970s. Erich Becker spends a lot of time on the road. Whenever he is in Munzingen, he stops by the testing workshop where work is underway on a new type of double diaphragm pump. KNF has high hopes for this innovation, which is intended to dispel the reservations still held about diaphragm pumps, especially by those in the industrial sector. The integration of two diaphragms, a working diaphragm and a safety diaphragm, is intended to make this pump even safer for transferring aggressive, explosive or even radioactive gases. “Erich Becker regularly used to visit us and ask how the work was getting on,” recalls Josef Waibel, who was working in the testing laboratory at the time. If the answer was ‘It can’t be done,’ he would just say, ‘There’s no such thing as can’t. Try it out!’”

The long-awaited breakthrough in the industrial sector is in fact achieved in 1972 with the introduction of the double diaphragm pump. After KNF’s breakthrough into the laboratory sector, its diaphragm pumps also prove useful in nuclear power plants, earning the company the vote of confidence that it has worked so hard to achieve. Other companies and new sectors in chemical process engineering as well as environmental and food technology follow suit. This diverse range of applications continues to be KNF’s strong suit to this day.

At the same time, KNF pushes ahead with the expansion of its international sales network. The first branch office is opened in France in 1968, followed by one in Italy in 1972. Just a few years later, Erich Becker boards an airplane to the USA to expand the company, and additional KNF affiliates are set up in Europe and finally in Asia.

Visible success: Continued growth in production.

Building up the worldwide KNF Group costs money, effort and time, but in doing so, KNF gains valuable experience at an early stage and develops new strategies for success such as centers of expertise, where knowledge is applied in a focused manner to ensure the highest standards. KNF Flodos in Sursee, Switzerland, for example, becomes the product center for liquid pumps. France becomes home to the company’s own state-of-the-art winding center for KNF’s in-house developed motors. Freiburg-Munzingen becomes the head office for the design, production and marketing of gas pumps. Manufacturing locations such as those in the USA meet country-specific requirements, providing expert support for international markets while maintaining close links with customers.

The hard work done in the individual subsidiaries has paid off: KNF has established itself in a wide range of countries, earning an international reputation for itself. The numerous KNF companies have grown into a global network of affiliates, employing more than 800 staff members at 17 locations with 5 production facilities in its big anniversary year of 2021.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the foundations are laid for the company’s broad positioning, across various sectors and across the globe. The company has continued to benefit from this strategy through to the present day, underscored by KNF’s brilliant endurance of difficult economic phases such as the 2008 financial crisis. In the coming years, KNF intends to further expand its role as a global technology leader, to continue to grow and to increase cooperation in all locations. Or as Erich Becker would say: “There’s no such thing as can’t.”