The ultrafilter success story

“What I offered as a management consultant from my office in Düsseldorf was essentially sales support.” Dirk G. Kronsbein provided advice to English and American companies wishing to establish themselves on the promising German market. The products they wanted to market included filters, in particular for compressed air treatment. As a sales specialist, Dirk G. Kronsbein not only had an ear for consumers, but also had the necessary technical understanding of the product himself. For the second time in his life he was sure that he could do it better. In 1972 Dirk G. Kronsbein founded ultrafilter GmbH in Düsseldorf, and thus created a family tradition: after studying process and environmental technology, in 1986 his son Dean joined the company too.

Up to then his father had put in a superb performance as an entrepreneur. Dirk G. Kronsbein tirelessly familiarised himself with the topic of filters, brought scientific advisers on board, and optimised the range of products and services. Amongst several inventions patented worldwide, two stand out: the first three-piece aluminium filter casing from 1979, and above all the development of the patented, binder-free filter medium which in 1983 sparked the international success of ultrafilter GmbH.

Privately Dirk G. Kronsbein was struck a heavy blow by fate during this time. In 1980, after eight years of marriage and only four months after the birth of the twins Sarah and David, his second wife Sigrid was fatally injured in a car accident. Dirk G. Kronsbein was 40, and was a father, mother and entrepreneur all in one. The tragedy made him more sensitive, but also stronger: “Everything else that might happen afterwards was nothing in comparison.”

Life stages