About us

What Günther Früchtl founded in 1972 in the proverbial garage has developed to this day under the umbrella of the STAINLESS Group into a nationally and internationally esteemed and highly specialised stainless steel trader. From the very beginning, Früchtl has established itself as a specialist for stainless steel in Germany and is a competent and experienced partner for solution-oriented applications.

After the foundation, the company’s purpose quickly develops towards stainless steel sheets and semi-finished products. In 1975 Heinrich Breuning brings the know-how for the necessary orientation towards sales. Later, Heinz Hartmann and Dagmar Zenner, who later becomes managing director for many years, join the company.

However, those in charge soon realise that standard offers in the stainless steel sector are no match for the large and established market players. And so specialisation and consulting became the credo early on. This was also recognised by a neighbouring world market leader in pneumatics, who is looking for standard dimensions in length and diameter for the piston rods of his products, but has the highest demands on the surface quality, which are clearly above the usual market standards. Since Früchtl is able to deliver this exceptional quality, an intensive cooperation begins in the early 80s, which continues to this day. The associated stable growth can be characterised with a smile with the words: If it goes ‘Pfftt’ somewhere, Früchtl is most likely there.

Specialisation was pushed further in 1989, immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Through early contacts with a combine and with individual smaller companies that manufacture medical products, Früchtl supplies the required stainless steels. Later, when Boschgotthardshütte (BGH) took over the Kombinat from the Treuhand, we were able to supply the entire medical market through them. At that time, we began to focus on the medical technology sector, which still accounts for about half of our annual turnover of around 12 million euros.

Today, STAINLESS FRÜCHTL supplies implant and instrument steels such as 1.4441 or AISI 316LVM with their special requirements for quality and grade not only to the world centre of medical technology in the Tuttlingen area or in the east of Germany, but also to the whole world.

A lot has also happened on the supply partner side: Today, in addition to BGH and many other manufacturers and wholesalers such as Ugitec, Ravne or Breitenfeld, other industry giants are also among STAINLESS FRÜCHTL’s important partners. In addition, we also supply many industries and companies with pre-machined stainless steel parts by turning and milling.

When the STAINLESS Group took over all the shares of the founding family Früchtl in 2016, this opened up new opportunities for us and gave us a stable home for the future. This is shown by the current investments in the further expansion of the stainless steel service. This also includes the delivery reliability for which we are known. It is supported by warehousing and absolute availability, even in special times and situations.

This is also underlined by the environmental certification 14001 awarded in 2021 and, in particular, the certification according to the medical standard 13.485. It is precisely this compliance with the medical standard that makes STAINLESS FRÜCHTL one of the few exclusive suppliers to this hand-picked circle.

Furthermore, in 2021 we developed and built a measuring machine together with partners that is probably unique in the world. It uses radially rotating tactile measurements to determine the straightness of bar material from three to 30 millimetres in diameter over a length of four and a half metres with an accuracy of 0.1 mm per metre. The machine also measures roundness with a deviation tolerance of 1 µm and logs the results. Surface measurements with long travels and spectral analyses as part of material testing round off our range of services.

As you can see, we want to offer you much more than just stainless steel.