History of Bürkle

How it all started

1950

Founding

In Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Otto Bürkle | Founder of commercial agency and wholesale business of pharmaceutical products Stuttgart - W.

After the turmoil of the second world war, Otto Bürkle went into business in Stuttgart as an independent commercial agent.
The office was set up in his 3-room private residence on the west side of Stuttgart.
The warehouse was located in the basement of his parents' house in Stuttgart Heslach.
A passenger car operating on wood gas served as the company car.

How it all started:

Pharmaceutical products for pharmacies and chemist's shops

The purpose of the fledgling company was to serve as a commercial agency for pharmacies and chemist's shops.
The product line included disinfectants for working animals, melissa spirits, analgesic tablets, razor blades and also intact grape sugar, which can still be found in pharmacies today.

OTAL® bottling device

for bottling aggressive liquids


Together with the chemical and pharmaceutical products, bottling devices were also sold that could be used in chemist's shops to dispense the household cleaning agents of the day (hydrochloric acid, bleach water, caustic soda, concentrated bleach/chlorine bleaching lye, liquid ammonia, water disinfecting agent, etc.) safely from large glass bottles. At the time these liquids, most of which are aggressive, were bottled from heavy glass carboys by tipping and pouring through a funnel, which was somewhat hazardous.
Otto Bürkle recognised this problem and offered chemists a solution with the OTAL® bottling device. These pumps are still produced today!

1952

Early trade show appearances of Otto Bürkle

1950s Achema trade fair in Frankfurt

The early trade show appearances in the 1950s brought customer contacts, some of which still continue to this day.

Trade shows such as INDROFA (International Chemists Trade Exhibition) have not been held for decades now. On the other hand, Achema, where Bürkle GmbH has always been represented since the 1950s, has now become the largest trade show in the world for chemical technology, environmental protection and biotechnology.

1972

Death of Otto Bürkle

His son Veit Bürkle assumes leadership of the company

Veit Bürkle was 24 years old at this time and had completed training as a tool maker specialising in injection moulded plastic at OTAL® in Lörrach.

Within a short time the commercial agency was terminated and business focused entirely on the bottling and laboratory equipment product groups.

1975

First general Bürkle catalogue

The first general catalogue was printed in 1975. It was typed on an IBM ball-head typewriter.

1981

Beginning of in-house production

Company moves to Lörrach

In 1981 Veit Bürkle bought his instructional business, a plastic processing company, and moved the location of the company from Stuttgart to Lörrach. Many new products were developed in the ensuing years in the area of laboratory devices and bottling equipment and die cast tools were manufactured.

Basler Strasse 83, Lörrach – birthplace of many innovative products.

1988

Printing of the first four-colour catalogue

Bürkle in colour

Introduction of DTP. Since the end of the 1980s print publications can be created on the computer with DTP (desktop publishing applications).

Printing of the first four-colour catalogue in the plastics laboratory equipment industry.

1988

Beginning of sampling

1998

First online shop

A webpage already existed in the year 1995. From 1998 it was also possible to shop on the internet, the first Bürkle Internet shop went online.

2008

Merger of previously separate business divisions

Move to Bad Bellingen

Bürkle GmbH expanded and moved to Bad Bellingen, about 20 kilometers away. Here, warehouses, production and administration are united in one complex. A total area of 18,000 m² includes a production building covering 1800 m² (tool manufacturing, plastic injection moulding and assembly), a 1800 m² warehouse (1000 pallet slots, 800 shelving racks) and an 800 m² modern office building. The production building and warehouse are cooled in the summer and heated in the winter using an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly groundwater heat exchanger.

2014

Acquisition 

of Company management of Bürkle GmbH

Acquisition of Company management of Bürkle GmbH by long-time Managing Director Martin Saint-Denis.

2015

Start of cleanroom production

The cleanroom with cleanroom class 7 (10,000) enables production, assembly and packaging in a controlled environment - the cleanroom-manufactured and optionally sterilised disposable products are particularly important for customers in the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries.

2016

Foundation of Burkle Inc.

Opening of the subsidiary Burkle Inc. in Bohemia, New York. The first international subsidiary is responsible for the distribution in the North American market.

2019

Warehouse expansion and merger with Bürkle Metall


Due to a generous enlargement the storage area was extended to 4500 sqm. This created space for the previously independent subsidiary Bürkle Metall. With the unification of plastic and metal production under one roof, Bürkle GmbH was merged with Bürkle Metall GmbH.

2021

Climate neutral

Bürkle is a climate neutral company

We are all responsible for protecting the environment. We as a company are also aware of this. Our aim is to act as resource-efficiently as possible and reduce emissions - and our sustainable actions have also led to us being certified as a climate-neutral company.

2023

ACT certification

The ACT label provides clear, independently verified information on the environmental impact of laboratory products and thus facilitates the procurement of environmentally friendly products. It stands for Accountability, Consistency and Transparency and shows how our products perform in various sustainability categories. Each product is assigned an Environmental Impact Factor (EIF). 

EcoVadis certification


Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility are of the utmost importance to us at Bürkle. We want to continuously grow, learn and implement new things in these areas. That is why we have been working with EcoVadis, a renowned external auditing organisation, since 2023 to carry out a comprehensive assessment of our CSR measures and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.