Verder Scientific Celebrates 20th Anniversary in the USA

Verder Scientific, a world leader in the areas of sample preparation and solids analysis, is now celebrating the 20th anniversary of success in the United States.

When Retsch GMbH, the German market leader for sample preparation equipment - mills, crushers, sieve shakers - became fully owned by the Verder Group in 2000, the decision was made to become active in the world's top economies. The United States, being the largest global market, was the obvious choice to set up a new facility.

Customer support, aftersales service, and a high-tech applications laboratory were the main focus to bring existing and new users access to the manufacturer's full knowledge and capabilities. A long term Retsch employee was sent to the US to manage the company and to implement the parent companies proven market approach.

Two partners greatly supported the start of Retsch Inc. HORIBA INC, a distribution partner of Retsch's sister company Retch Technology, hosted the newly founded company at their premises in Irvine, CA and helped with all of the necessities regarding infrastructure. Brinkmann, Retsch's long term sales partner for North America, also played an integral part of the new company's success in the US. After shifting their company focus to the life sciences, Brinkmann sent customer inquiries over to Retsch Inc. for many years. To this day, there exists a friendly business relationship beteeen both companies, and we are extremely grateful for their initial contributions.

After two years, it was time for a change. Retsch Inc. could "walk on its own feet" and decided to shift operations from the West Coast to the East Coast of the US. The new location in Newtown, PA greatly helped in overcoming different time zones and improved communication to both the parent company in Europe, as well as our many customers along the East Coast. With the expansion of the staff and widespread marketing capaigns, the name Retsch became well-known across the US and Canada -- where customers coined the phrase "I'll Retsch it" when referring to milling of their sample material.

Dr. Juergen Pankratz, CEO of the Verder Scientific Division, adds, "We never doubted the importance and necessity of our investment in the US and appreciate the contribution our employees and customers have made, adding to the strength of Verder Scientific Inc and the Verder Groups as a whole. We look forward to further expand our company with new products and an ever-increasing level of service to our trusted clients and partners."

As a result of the success, the Verder Group later acquired other reknowned manufacturers for its Scientific Division, and Retsch Inc changed its name to Verder Scientific Inc. In addition to the Retsch brand, today the company is responsible for marketing, sales, and technical support of:

• Carbolite Gero, manufacturer of high temperature laboratory ovens and furnaces, including vacuum solutions, with plants in the UK and Germany.
• Eltra, the German manufacturer for elemental analyzers for Carbon, Sulfur, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Hydrogen.

"I want to thank our customers who have been loyal over all those years as well as our distribution partners. Without your ongoing support over the years, we would not have been able to achieve a perfect match - our 20th anniversary, a group of 20 qualified staff serving our customers, and our business grown to $20 Million USD per year", comments Georg Schick, President of Verder Scientific Inc.

About Verder

The Dutch technology group VERDER is comprised of the Scientific Division (laboratory instruments) and the Liquids Division (positive displacement pumps).  The Scientific divisions comprises the manufacturing companies QATM (colutions for materialography and hardness testing) and Carbolite Gero (laboratory and industrial furnaces).  The VERDER GROUP, with approximately 2000 employees, is family owned and managed by Andries Verder.

For inquries, please contact:

Erin Lorensini

erin.lorensini@verder-scientific.com