German technology

Here you can see an example of German technology using isostatic presses

German technology

"Made in Germany" is a term for quality and "know-how"; this naturally also applies to the porcelain industry. Until the end of the 1980s, the production lines and manufacturing robots of large brand manufacturers were still well-kept secrets; hardly any visitors were allowed to look into these processes. Due to the spatial proximity and the structurally weak zone of the Franconian porcelain region, the ownership structures of porcelain manufacturers and machine builders were often very close to each other. It was not uncommon for these different industries to be in the hands of one family. Thus, since the post-war period, the production techniques of porcelain have been further developed in close and intimate community and a world-leading technical status has been achieved.

For many reasons, these ownership structures broke apart from the 90s onwards. The great "porcelain rulers" died out, often leaving behind too many heirs and fellow eaters. Others were restructured into joint-stock companies, and last but not least, the price decline also showed its traces.  

With the lack of sales of porcelain itself, people began to profitably export their own "know-how". In the beginning, this was often done with the aim of having goods with a German bottom stamp manufactured by third parties. But this was how the German porcelain industry sold its silverware. For example, the first fully automatic porcelain factory (Demowerk) from Schönwald (today bhs-tabletop AG) was almost completely dismantled in the mid-1990s and rebuilt in Thailand as Royal Porcelain.

The entire machinery of the former Mitterteich porcelain factory is now in Egypt, where it produces "German-Egypt Porcelain". The brand name "Mitterteich" went to Turkey and today stands for Kütahya Porselen. Production plants for porcelain from Dorst, Netsch, Zeidler, Bauer & Co. now manufacture to German standards in almost all porcelain-producing countries. The quality designation "German Porcelain" changed into the term "German Technology". 

Since 2002, these technologies, developed in Germany and matured over many decades, have been sold worldwide. This sell-out of know-how has played a major role in the decline of the German porcelain industry. It is not the imports "from cheap China" - as is often said - that have destroyed this once proud branch of industry! It is the German machines and kilns, hundreds of which are now in Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Turkey, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Russia, Portugal and many other countries, which produce porcelain of the same quality at much lower prices.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe describes it with the words: "Wehret den Geistern, die ich rief".