Here’s to you with the colorful elephant

The 8th SEC Technology Tour took place on October 4th, 2017 to the Deutsche Amphibolin-Werke (DAW SE) in Ober-Ramstadt, east of Darmstadt. As before, the pensioners of the VAA in Hanau-Wolfgang were also invited.

DAW is a large medium-sized company with around 5,600 employees, including 1,300 in Ober-Ramstadt alone, and a turnover of around €1.3 billion. Most people know the DAW from the Caparol brand, the colorful elephant trademark. The company's best-known product is Alpina White - Europe's best-selling interior paint. (The Alpinaweiß brand has existed since 1909!)

The company founder, Eduard Murjahn, originally wanted to mine manganese ore in the Odenwald in 1885. During test drilling, however, he came across hornblende minerals (calcium amphiboles). He develops paint and plaster powders based on these minerals and calls them “amphibolin.” Based on casein, paraffin and oleum (a Chinese wood oil), the son of the company founder, Robert Murjahn, developed an emulsion binder "Caparol" in 1928 that revolutionized the painting trade.

Innovations like these are now consistently being continued in the fifth generation. They make the DAW, now under the direction of Dr. Ralph Murjahn, to a company operating across Europe.