Knauer and Labomatic Instruments Enter Into Strategic Cooperation

On Monday, February 3, Labomatic Instruments AG and Knauer Wissenschaftliche Geräte GmbH announced a new strategic cooperation to offer a larger instrument portfolio to their customer bases (1). Under the terms of this new collaboration, the companies will offer each others product portfolio to their customer bases to buy, and will also provide service for these systems.

“This cooperation enables us to make our products accessible to a wider audience and strengthen our market presence,” said Labomatic CEO Claude Marchand in a press release.

This partnership is just the most recent of various collaborations Knauer has taken undertaken over the last year. In August 2024, the company announced a collaboration with Evonik Industries to improve the upscaling of lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulations. Evonik, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in liposome-based formulations (2,3). In October 2024, Alexandra Knauer, CEO of Knauer, received the Family Entrepreneur of the Year Award from “Die Familienunternehmer” (The Family Entrepreneurs), which represents family business in Germany across different national divisions and regional groups (4). According to the press release, Knauer was able to position the company, which was first founded by her parents in 1962, in a competitive market while pushing for responsibility and sustainability in everyday business life.

For more than 60 years, Kanuer has been developing and manufacturing high-tech laboratory instruments in Berlin Zehlendorf. The company is well-known for creating high-tech laboratory instruments for research, routine analysis,quality assurance and other applications. Most notably, they have created analytical liquid chromatography systems for a flow sate range from 0.001 to 10 ml/min at up to 862 bar pressure. Its preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) systems can enable continuous operation in a flow range from 5 to 200 ml/min up to 100 bar pressure, albeit in non-permanent operations up to 400 ml/min. The company has a sales network extending to over 70 countries and approximately 200 employees.

Labomatic Instruments has specialized in the field of liquid chromatography (LC) for more than 40 years. The company specializes in preparative and process high-performance and medium-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC and MPLC) systems and components, for use in areas like “atmosphere explosible” (ATEX) and good manufacturing practices (GMP) (6). Its expertise in preparative systems is in higher flow rate ranges of 0.28 to 2.0 l/min at pressures up to 600 bar. Their process HPLC systems are claimed to deliver a flow rate of up to 9.0 l/min at pressures of up to 380 bar. As part of their efforts, Labomatic works with leading manufacturers and laboratory equipment users to further evolve their products. Further, they work with major pharmaceutical and chemical businesses and characterizes themselves by the high quality of their products and services.

Both companies serve end users, sales partners, and OEM customers. According to their press release, LC segment customers are most likely to benefit from the companies’ mutual expertise, especially in terms of flow rate and pressure ranges. Knauer can offer higher maximum flow rates and pressure ranges, while Labomatic can offer analytical solutions. While the future of this cooperation remains to be seen, each company’s credentials hint at a potentially bright future.

“The partnership with Labomatic enables us to expand our product portfolio and offer our customers even more comprehensive solutions in the preparative segment. The collaboration will improve both our market positions,” said Carsten Losch, managing director at Knauer.

References

(1) Labomatic Instruments AG and KNAUER Wissenschaftliche Geräte GmbH Enter Into Strategic Cooperation.KNAUER 2025. https://www.knauer.net/en/labomatic-instruments-ag-and-knauer-wissenschaftliche-gerate-gmbh-enter-into-strategic-cooperation/n48931 (accessed 2025-2-3)

(2) Solved: What Is a CDMO (and Why Do You Need One)? Ascendia 2021. https://ascendiacdmo.com/newsroom/2021/06/30/pharmaceutical-cdmos (accessed 2025-2-7)

(3) Bailey, M. Evonik and Knauer Collaborating on Scaleup of Lipid Nanoparticle Formulations. Chemical Engineering 2024. https://www.chemengonline.com/evonik-and-knauer-collaborating-on-scaleup-of-lipid-nanoparticle-formulations/ (accessed 2025-2-7)

(4) Alexandra Knauer Receives “Berlin Family Entrepreneur of the Year 2024” Award. KNAUER 2024. https://www.knauer.net/en/alexandra-knauer-receives-berlin-family-entrepreneur-of-the-year-2024-award/n48636 (accessed 2025-2-3)

(5) Who We Are. Labomatic 2025. https://www.labomatic.com/en/about-us (accessed 2025-2-3)

(6) What is ATEX? Simona 2025. https://www.simona.de/en/service/atex/definitions/what-is-atex/ (accessed 2025-2-10)