Waste to Energy : MARTIN and LUEHR FILTER: The right chemistry

What prompted MARTIN to acquire LUEHR FILTER – was this a strategically planned move or did the opportunity simply arise?

It’s always a mix of both, I think. On one hand, the opportunity has to present itself – without that, no acquisition happens. But the strategic fit has to come first. Flue gas cleaning is a topic we’ve been focused on for some time, and one we identified as strategically very important for us. When the chance came, we took it.

Was there already a working relationship between MARTIN and LUEHR FILTER before the acquisition?

We’ve known LUEHR FILTER for many years and have realised numerous projects together – sometimes side by side, sometimes in a supplier relationship. There’s also a natural familiarity between family-owned businesses: we’ve known the owning family for a long time, and there’s a certain exchange that happens between family entrepreneurs. A deep mutual trust had built up over the years. LUEHR FILTER had been preparing for the sale process carefully and well in advance – not a classic process with external outreach, but a project that MARTIN and LUEHR FILTER developed together over more than a year.

You integrated LAB SAS back in 2022, also a specialist in flue gas cleaning. How do the two companies complement each other?

Initially, we looked at it quite critically and asked ourselves whether a highly specialised firm like LAB might be sufficient for our flue gas ambitions. But we quickly realised that the two companies complement each other very well – both in terms of market geography and technology. Historically, LUEHR FILTER has focused on dry and semi-dry processes, while LAB comes strongly from the wet flue gas cleaning side. Those gaps can now be filled from within the group. Beyond that, LAB brings extensive know-how in carbon capture and already offers its own systems in that area – a field where LUEHR FILTER previously had virtually no solutions. LUEHR FILTER’s customers will now be able to draw on those capabilities directly from within the MARTIN Group.

What concrete synergies does the expanded product range create for customers?

As the MARTIN Group, our core promise to customers is what we call “chute to stack” – covering the entire process-engineering scope of a waste-to-energy plant. Our commitment is that all key technologies come from within the group. With the acquisition of LUEHR FILTER, the group gains additional expertise we didn’t previously have: LUEHR FILTER is active not only in the waste-to-energy sector but across many other industries with very different challenges – experience we can now draw on for our traditional markets as well. And of course, existing customers can continue to source individual technologies as before – established customer relationships stay exactly as they are.

The companies retain their individual brand identities. Is that a deliberate strategic approach?

Absolutely. It’s important to us that every company in the group operates with a high degree of independence. We preserve each brand and identity because doing so protects the highly engaged teams and the entrepreneurial spirit we saw before the acquisition. Both brands have been established in the market for decades and are respected names – and we want to uphold the promise that stands behind each of them. Certain activities, such as purchasing, are pooled – there are real synergies to be had there. But at the core, each company remains independent and accountable for its own results. That’s both a responsibility and a motivation.

What values guide MARTIN in acquisitions, and what role does company culture play?

Company culture is a central element for us in every acquisition – we would genuinely walk away from a deal if a company’s culture didn’t fit ours. The values we’ve defined as a family – and that matter enormously to us – revolve around respect, individual responsibility and entrepreneurship. Communication is equally important: internally and externally, as equals, clear and unambiguous. We try to avoid arrogance and foster a cooperative way of working. What pleases me is that all the companies in our group are similarly positioned – mid-sized, many with family-business roots. That creates a shared mindset. Collaboration within the group works better than we had even hoped.

How will the integration of LUEHR FILTER specifically advance the MARTIN Group’s innovation capacity?

We’ve drawn up a detailed project plan for this – internally guided by the principle “Best of both worlds”. The first step is a systematic benchmark analysis: we compare the products and technologies of LAB and LUEHR FILTER, facilitated by us as the group, with a clear commitment to adopting whichever solution proves to be the better one. Where technologies overlap, both sides are expected to learn from each other – the goal is to become better together than either firm could be on its own. Building on that, we’ll launch joint R&D projects. There’s already a long list, largely made up of initiatives that each company was simply too small to tackle alone before. Now we can approach them together. I’m convinced there are many exciting developments still to come.

What advantage do you see as a full-system provider compared to specialised competitors?

Over ten years ago, we made the decision to develop significantly in process engineering terms and to expand into flue gas cleaning – because you cannot look at the combustion process in isolation. Changes there have consequences for the flue gas cleaning system and the boiler in between; it must always be understood as a complete system. Today, we are considerably better positioned than we were ten or fifteen years ago. This is particularly evident in the digital space: solutions we develop for the combustion system can be scaled directly to the boiler, the flue gas cleaning system, and the plant as a whole – an advantage that a pure specialist simply cannot offer. And the reason why we always keep the entire plant in view.

Interview in cooperation with MARTIN GmbH.