Draft:Klüber Lubrication

Klüber Lubrication is a globally operating manufacturer of lubricants headquartered in Munich.



History
The company was founded in 1929 by Theodor Klüber in Munich. Theodor Klüber's grandfather, also named Theodor, founded a pharmacy in Schweinfurt in 1869, which sourced and traded petroleum (so-called Pennsylvania oil) from the United States from 1870 onwards.

With the usage of the first stationary engines in increasingly motorized factories, the demand for oil and gasoline rose. The first cars also required fuel and lubricants, which were obtained from pharmacies or drugstores. The upswing in regional industry led to the Klüber pharmacy establishing a gasoline and oil depot. Theodor Klüber's son, Friedrich, expanded this business. Theodor Klüber founded a retail company for mineral oil products in Munich on April 1, 1929. This marked the beginning of a purely lubricant and mineral oil company. In 1938, he founded a mineral oil factory and produced products under the brands Univis, Penreco, Permalub, and others. Theodor Klüber recognized that the classic gasoline and heating oil business would be the business of major oil companies in the long term. Therefore, in 1955, he decided to sell the gas stations to Texaco. After that, he focused entirely on lubricants.

On March 31, 1959, the company was renamed Klüber Lubrication München KG and became a manufacturing and distributing company.

In August 1966, Klüber Lubrication became part of the Freudenberg Group. As a result, Klüber Lubrication continued to grow through acquisitions and the founding of new international subsidiaries: By 1993, Klüber Lubrication had 16 subsidiaries and three joint ventures in Japan, Korea, and Mexico.

In 2004, Freudenberg founded the new business group Freudenberg Chemical Specialties with headquarters in Munich, which includes, in addition to Klüber Lubrication, the companies Chem-Trend (Howell, USA) and OKS Spezialschmierstoffe (Munich).

In 2008, the group consisted of around 30 subsidiaries with 14 production sites and around 1,800 employees.

In 2020, Klüber Lubrication acquired Traxit International, headquartered in Schwelm, Germany.

Since 2023, Klüber Lubrication has been led by a new management team. Markus Murmann has been serving as Executive Vice President and Martin Schmidt-Amelunxen as Executive Vice President Technology and R&D since January 1. In January 2024, Wolfgang Sammer took over as Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing and Spokesman of the Executive Board (CEO).

Environmental Commitment
Klüber Lubrication received the Munich Environmental Award in 1997.

In the environmental declarations of 1996 and 1998, the company made it clear that environmental protection was given priority.

In 2023, Klüber Lubrication won the European Responsibility Care Award. The company was awarded in the category "Climate Neutrality" for its project "Climate Protection through Solvent Replacement" and for its climate action plan. While the proportion of solvents in production was still over 32,500 tonnes in 2019, it decreased to 1,937 tonnes by 2022.

In the same year, Klüber Lubrication was awarded the ESG "Transparency Award" in the "Excellence" category by the renowned organization EUPD Research. This award recognizes the outstanding transparency and quality of Klüber's sustainability report. Klüber Lubrication's report provides comprehensive insights into the company's sustainability initiatives, including measures to reduce its ecological footprint, promote a safe working environment, and strengthen supply chain ethics.