Bürkert

History

The history of Bürkert dates back to 1946. Company founder Christian Bürkert initially developed temperature controllers for incubators and kitchen stoves. In the 1950s, the company shifted its focus towards the development and production of valve technology, particularly solenoid valves, which at that time were used, among other things, in washing machines. In 1956, the first production facility abroad was established.

When washing machines began to be manufactured more cheaply in the 1960s, Bürkert developed plastic-coated solenoid coils and standardized cable connectors. With its valves equipped accordingly, Bürkert began producing primarily for industrial applications. Moving away from the consumer market turned Bürkert into a specialist. In France—where there was initially resistance to the market entry of German companies after the war—Bürkert established a production facility in Alsace with support from the French government. A local subsidiary was also founded in the United Kingdom.

In 1971, Christian Bürkert was killed in a plane crash. At that time, his wife, Dorothee Bürkert, asked the employees to stay with the company for at least one year. Companies such as Siemens were interested in purchasing the business at that point. A large portion of the workforce honoured her request, and operations continued.

In the 1990s, the production line was expanded to include process valves, sensors, and mass flow controllers, turning the company into a full-range provider of fluidics products. Components and systems for process automation were also added. Moreover, during this period the company developed small, media-separated solenoid valves for life science applications, which helped open up new fields of activity for dental practices and hospitals. Since 1993, the first of the company's Systemhaus facilities has been located in Großröhrsdorf near Dresden, where Bürkert manufactures complete systems on behalf of customers. Additional Bürkert Systemhaus facilities followed in Germany in Ingelfingen-Criesbach (2007) and in Menden near Dortmund. International sites were added in Charlotte in the US, Suzhou in China, and India.

In 2007, an innovation hub was established at the company's headquarters in Ingelfingen. In 2014, Bürkert internally introduced the Efficient Device Integration Platform (EDIP), marking the company's entry into Industry 4.0. One year later, Bürkert expanded its business activities in the field of filling ultra-pure and sensitive media. In 2016, the Criesbach Campus with a logistics centre, a production and manufacturing facility with an innovation hub as well as a training and development centre was opened. In April 2017, Bürkert opened its new U.S. headquarters in Huntersville, North Carolina, covering an area of approximately 16,000 square metres.

After working together since 2021, Bürkert acquired a majority stake in the Swiss company ReseaTech in 2023. Also in 2023, Bürkert opened a new plant in Taicang. In 2024, this was followed by the construction of a new facility in Pune. In 2025, Bürkert made a strategic investment in the start-up Green Elephant Biotech. Together, the companies are developing a production platform for cell cultures.

Christian and Dorothee Bürkert Foundation

In 1978, Dorothee Bürkert established the Christian Bürkert Foundation, thereby fulfilling the wishes of her late husband, Christian Bürkert. She later contributed her shares in the company's capital to the foundation to allocate returns to charitable purposes and to preserve the Bürkert Group as a whole. In 2024, the foundation was renamed the Christian and Dorothee Bürkert Foundation by its curators to honour the contributions of Dorothee Bürkert and to further develop the foundation's organisational structure. In addition, its legal form was converted from a non-profit limited liability company (gGmbH) into a civil law foundation, resulting in the establishment of a foundation council.

The Christian and Dorothee Bürkert Foundation is active, among other areas, in the field of education to support young people, as well as in social initiatives within the region. In 2022, a total of 91 scholarships were awarded to twelve schools, colleges, and universities in Germany. The funding volume for these students amounted to €128,000. In the area of social support, the foundation funded 23 projects in Heilbronn and Hohenlohe with a total of €130,000, including six projects that provided direct assistance to people who had fled Ukraine. Since the foundation was established, approximately 200 different projects have been supported (as of 2022).

The activities of the Bürkert Group include, among other things, mechanical manufacturing, pump technology, coil production, plastics engineering, welding technology, software development, and toolmaking. Products include solenoid valves, process and analytical valves, pneumatic actuators and sensors, microfluidics, MFC/MFM devices, proportional valves, and control units. Bürkert products and systems are used across various industries, from brewing technology to laboratory and medical technology and aerospace applications.

In addition, Bürkert supplies complete systems tailored to the needs of its customers, for example for water treatment or hygienic applications for pharmaceutical manufacturing. The company supplies, among other things, valves of various designs and types and builds complete ATEX-certified control cabinet systems for field automation.