In the tranquil town of Bechhofen, once the center of brush manufacturing in Germany, much has changed in recent years. Global competition and the accompanying growing price pressure led to more and more business closures in brush manufacturing. A traditional craft was in danger of disappearing. The young managing director of Zahn Pinsel GmbH , Mr. Daniel Zahn, who is the 4th generation to lead the family business, wanted to actively counteract this fate. The company is a developer and manufacturer of customized, innovative brushes and applicators for art, cosmetics, personal care, crafts, dental technology and other industrial applications. Since first getting to know each other in 2015, Zahn Pinsel GmbH has been accompanied by the experts of the Enterprise Europe Network, exchanging ideas, discussing challenging ventures and getting suggestions and tips for implementing new projects.
Image credit: Zahn Pinsel GmbH
Aware that existence in the market is closely linked to the highest quality and high-tech, the first joint innovation-management-assessment some uncertainties were identified and solutions were jointly developed. After careful consideration, one of the options was to relocate the old multi-story site, which had been in use for generations, to a newly developed industrial park in the town. The planning phase and construction were already characterized by a high level of problem-solving competence, which ultimately laid the foundation for the redesign of the entire production facility under optimal conditions for customer-oriented, high-quality production. A sophisticated goods management system was created and the entire warehousing system benefited from the improved infrastructure. A showcase company was created, which has managed to reconcile tradition and modernity, and today looks back on a successful recent past.
The corporate culture at Zahn Pinsel is characterized by a strong togetherness of the "team", although the term is not to be understood literally due to the high proportion of women in the workforce. The company was open to new challenges, such as at the beginning of the Corona pandemic, when customers around the world fell away and the volume of orders reached a historic low.
Together with the innovation experts of the Enterprise Europe Network, new ideas and business models were devised. Quite specifically, the topic of digitization was placed at the center of efforts and steps were initiated for the next phase of the company's digital development. So we were particularly pleased when Mr. Zahn told us that 2020 was one of the most successful business years in the company's history.
The combination of high-tech and traditional craftsmanship gives rise to an almost inexhaustible supply of high-quality artist brushes, shaving brushes, and technical and cosmetic brushes for a wide variety of uses that are in demand worldwide.
We as the Enterprise Europe Network are happy to continue to accompany and support Zahn Pinsel GmbH on its successful path.