OBER-RAMSTADT. The Deutsche Amphibolin-Werke von Robert Murjahn Stiftung & Co. KG (DAW), more familiar as the Caparol Group, belongs to the 100 most innovative companies amongst German medium-sized companies. This has arisen from the current study within the scope of the nation-wide, across-industry comparison of the "Top 100" companies. In the 17th round of the renowned economy initiative this medium-sized company was convincing with its tailored innovation management. Lothar Späth, former Premier of the State of Baden-Württemberg, presented the coveted "Top 100" Quality Seal to the Hessian company on 26th June 2009 during a ceremony in the Guesthouse Petersberg in Königswinter.
The mentor of the medium-sized company initiative praised the merits of the Deutsche Amphibolin-Werke in the fields of "Innovation-Promoting Top Management", "Innovative Climate", "Innovative Processes and Organisation", "Innovation Marketing" and "Success in Innovation".

With its 4,700 workers the group generated a turnover of approximately one billion euros in 2008 and is the market leader for building paints in Germany, Austria and Turkey. It markets its products for the professional sector under the name "Caparol" and for the do-it-yourself sector under the name "Alpina". In the "Top 100" analysis the company also showed a convincing performance in the development of nano-quartz technology. Through the combination of nano-quartz grains with an organic polymer and the resulting three dimensional lattice structure the company has made a quantum leap in paint development. The Hessians have furthermore 14 national and 22 international patents as evidence of their innovative talents.  Another plus point is the turnover potential arising from the innovations with the "Caparol" brand. In total this adds up to 200 million euros. The family-owned company showed its innovative skills, for example, in the development of the "China Red" paint for the Olympic Stadium in Beijing with which it prevailed over world-wide competition.

To win the award the paints manufacturer had to undergo a stringent two-stage process carried out by the University of Economics & Business, Vienna. "Our results show that the 100 top innovators approach challenges vigorously and are, for example, well prepared for the current economic situation. With most of these companies innovation is a matter for the boss," the scientific manager of the study, Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke, comments on the analysis. For example, the winning companies generated two thirds of their turnover with innovations and innovative improvements in the last three years – with a comparative group of similar sized German companies this was only thirty percent. In addition the top companies can save a whole twelve percent of their costs through process innovations whereas "average medium-sized companies" only save four percent. The consequence: This year's "Top 100" includes 54 national market leaders, 22 of them even being the world-wide Number One in their field of activity.

Chairman of the Managing Board, Dr. Ralf Murjahn, is delighted with the success: "Our innovative talent has now been shown to be amongst the best that German medium-sized companies can offer. This increases our credibility and generates trust amongst our workers, partners and, of course, our customers. We could hardly be in better form for countering crisis periods." This year a total of 319 companies took part in the "Top 100".

All 100 top innovators are presented in Späth´s book "TOP 100 – The 100 most innovative medium-sized companies" and on the web site www.top100.de