The award ceremony took place on Friday, June 27, as part of the German SME Summit in Mainz for all SMEs that were awarded the TOP 100 seal at the beginning of the year. Science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar accompanied the innovation competition, which was held for the 32nd time, as a mentor.
In the scientific selection process, Schlötter was particularly impressive in size category B (51 to 200 employees in Germany) in the Innovative Processes and Organization category. This is the second time that the company has been among the top innovators. One employee developed a method to prevent the harmful nitrous gases that are normally produced when stripping nickel-phosphorus alloys. He suggested using a special inhibitor that would completely prevent the formation of nitrous gases without negatively affecting the result. He carried out initial tests in the "Genius Hour" - an internal format in which employees can easily test new ideas in the laboratory. Convincing results are then passed on to the "Ideas Factory" at Schlötter, where a steering committee decides on their implementation.
