Company history

Company history

Dentaurum's company history is part of the history of the successful dental industry in Germany. As early as 1886, the Swiss dental technician Arnold Biber laid the cornerstone for today's business group in Pforzheim, Germany. In a company history spanning more than 130 years, there have been gerat innovations and successes, but also difficult phases.

 

 

1886

Company founder.

Arnold Biber from Horgen on Lake Zurich, Switzerland established a dental laboratory in Pforzheim. As a goldsmith he had moved from Switzerland to what was then the centre of the jewelry industry in 1880. He became interested in dentistry and worked as a dentist, manufacturing very high-quality gold crowns and condensed gold fillings for his patients. His expertise in dental technology quickly became known in his professional circle and the demand for Biber crowns steadily increased. He developed dental materials and products to meet the steadily increasing demand for denture materials. His dental laboratory ultimately became the Arnold Biber company. After the death of Arnold Biber, Dr. Fritz Winkelstroeter purchased the company in 1908 and it continued to operate under the well-known name of Arnold Biber.

1908

Foundation of Dentaurum.

The company started mass production of complete dental practice fittings, dental chairs, drills and instrument cases. New production facilities in Karlsruhe-Durlach and Lössnitz in the Erzgebirge region of Germany were added to the original establishment in Pforzheim. The company grew fast and expanded beyond the borders of Germany, becoming internationally successful. It partially merged with the Ritter Dental Company, Rochester, NY, USA, in 1924, to manufacture dental equipment. Ritter-Biber AG was founded with more than 1000 employees, but the economic crisis of the 1920s caused great difficulties for the company, resulting in the sale of the equipment manufacturing division. Precision manufacturing and chemical production in Pforzheim remained the property of Dr. Fritz Winkelstroeter. From 1923 this division of the company operated under the name “Dentaurum formerly Arnold Biber”.

1935

Turbulent times.

Hans Peter Winkelstroeter with his wife Lieselotte Winkelstroeter took over the company Dentaurum in a time of economic crisis. Gold was scarce and different materials were sought for dentistry. The introduction of non-precious metal dental alloys under the name remanit® laid the foundation for the remanium^® alloys, which are now used worldwide. The factory in Pforzheim was totally destroyed shortly before the end of the Second World War, and in October 1945 Dentaurum had only 29 employees. The Winkelstroeter family rebuilt the company over the following years and in 1953 they were able to move into new production facilities in Pforzheim.

1968

The path to becoming a globally active dental company.

Jochen Peter Winkelstroeter became Managing Director and managed the company with his wife Ulla Winkelstroeter. With investments and their entrepreneurial talent the company grew in the following years along with the general world economy. The rapid expansion of the company meant that the facilities in Pforzheim were soon inadaquate. A new factory for production, research and administration in Ispringen near Pforzheim was opened in 1968. Dentaurum had 110 employees at this time. In the following years the company grew steadily to become a modern industrial business.

1994

Setting course for the future.

The appointment of Axel Winkelstroeter and Mark Stephen Pace into the management team paved the way for a generation change. The acquisition of the implant division of Cerasiv in 1995 added the TIOLOX^® implant system to the company's range of products. In the same year the Dentaurum Group acquired the French company Sofraced S.r.l., a manufacturer of dental ceramics. The Centrum Dentale Communikation also opened its doors in Ispringen in 1996 with a wide range of courses for implantologists, orthodontists, dental technicians and dental assistants, and the range was successively expanded over the following years. In 2004 the new ecologically designed administration and logistics building was opened with state-of-the-art warehousing and materials handling technology in the logistics center. The fully automated small-parts warehouse has space for more than 8100 standard containers.

2011

125 years Dentaurum.

In 2011 Dentaurum celebrated its 125th anniversary. In 2010 Jochen Peter Winkelstroeter retired from the management team and the company name was changed from Dentaurum J. P. Winkelstroeter KG to Dentaurum GmbH & Co. KG. The owner-managed family company is now managed by the fourth generation: Mark Stephen Pace, Axel Winkelstroeter and Petra Pace.

2019

Shaping the digital future.

The developments and challenges brought on by digital transformation are diverse. Dentaurum is aware of these changes and has been investing in new technologies for many years. Injection-molded brackets are produced with the help of special robots, fully-automated machines and the MIM (metal injection molding) or CIM (ceramic injection molding) process.

Dentaurum is the first dental company worldwide to package its brackets itself in blister packaging. From October 2018 the discovery^® smart brackets are machine-packed under robot control in new, white acrylic blister packaging.

Work processes within the company are intelligently connected and optimized. Today already, Dentaurum successfully uses e-commerce and the diverse possibilities offered by online marketing. All areas in the company have experienced digital transformation, making it of central importance.