Today, we are one of the leading suppliers of environmentally friendly and sustainable wood protection and wood care products as well as silicate wall paints. Our manufactory from the Altmühltal Nature Park in the heart of Bavaria is holistically committed to sustainability, is a certified B Corporation and has a CO2-neutral, Scope 3 certified supply chain - from regional raw material extraction to production and all logistics.

Founded in 1970 by Peter Noack in the small town of Zandt near our current headquarters in Kipfenberg, we have since been located at what everyone in Kipfenberg considers the geographic center of Bavaria.

The PNZ company began with Peter Noack using oil from the local linseed oil mill to make functional wood coatings. Almost 100% natural products that could be used to oil floors and table tops to keep the wood fresh for a long time. And when these sold well, they developed oils for outdoor use that were not only easy to apply, but especially weather resistant. This was followed by a not quite typical German middle class story.

Our timeline

1982 PNZ-Produkte is founded as a GmbH

1986 Harmful aromatic solvents are fully removed form our products and substituted with dearomatised hydrocarbons.

1990 Development of an ammonia-free wax stain.

1992 The cooling water circuit of our crucible is brought into service to save drinking water.

1993 The heating system is renewed with state-of-the-art control system technology, which reduced heating oil consumption by 20 %.

from 1994 Continuous development and launch of solvent-free products such as:

• PNZ-Wood varnish
• PNZ-Impregnation primer W210
• PNZ-Wood wax W
• PNZ-Repair paste
• PNZ-Wood oil
• PNZ-Cleaners
• PNZ-Care products
• PNZ-Garden furniture cleaning system

1997 Decision to take part in the EMAS eco audit.

1999 Development of Ultra-High-Solid products (solvent-free).

2004 Structural modernisation, facade insulation to save heating energy

2005 Changeover to modern filling technology which helps to save resources during the filling process.

2008 First steps in Asia: Founding of a site in Malaysia with German raw materials for the Asian market

2009 We achieve certification according to ISO 9001 and 14001 for quality and environmental management and company principles.

2010 All floor oils are certified as low-emission products according to AgBB. The DIBt approves all floor oils. At the time this was still worth reporting, today it is a standard for us.

2011 Development, approval and establishment of a new VOC-free/low VOC product group of floor oils in the PNZ range.

2012 A real milestone: we have stopped developing individual products and switched to TVP. All our products are being developed permanently (see also this article in our blog).

2013 Premium Private Label. Private labels used to be cheap. We have fundamentally turned the understanding of private labels on its head ("...after all, your name is on it...") and were the first company in Europe in our segment to make exclusively top-quality best-of-class products and ranges for over 700 customers today.

2016 We have always developed and tested a lot. But our first major research contract from the Federal Ministry of Economics (...) for cobalt- and oxime free products still makes us particularly proud today.

2017 Our joint venture with the Vietnamese wood coatings manufacturer Techno Coatings is established. Environmentally friendly oils and coating systems become increasingly important in Asia, too and Techno Coatings is a pioneer in the field of water-based systems.

2018 We restructured our business areas to provide even clearer and better service to our trade and industrial customers. The second major research contract follows (and is still ongoing).

2019 As the first German and only the second paint company in the world, we have obtained the most demanding certification in the area of sustainability, which otherwise only companies such as Patagonia or Ben&Jerry's have: as of this year we are certified as a B-corporation with 115 points as the fourth best company in the area of industrial manufacturing worldwide!

2020 The PNZ-Oil is launched on the market. Over 95% renewable raw materials, cobalt and oxime free. Our most sustainable wood coating.

2021 We developed the PNZ Packaging Index, a tool for fact-based calculation of the footprint of different packaging types. From now on, all our packaging decisions will be based on this.

2023 Recertification as a B Corporation. As the fourth best company worldwide in the “Industrial Manufacturing” sector and the second best company across all sectors in Germany.

2023 PNZ wins the German Sustainability Award 2024 for the transformation of the chemical industry

Funded research:

In recent years, we have researched and developed some fundamental new technologies in our field. These include

2013 Development of a special water-based floor oil for parquet coatings (AiF)

2016 Development of cobalt-free products in various solid state areas with comparable drying properties to cobalt-containing products (ZIM)

2017 "Evolution" cobalt- and oxime free hardwax oil which as a 1 or 2 component product has excellent properties (drying, resistance); an almost solvent-free 2 component oil for interior use (ZIM)

2019 Development of a solvent-free wood treatment agent (exterior oil) for exterior use with a solid content of over 95% (ZIM)

2021 Development of a central platform for environmental data collection in various industries ("Eco-Hub") with Fraunhofer IPA, Stuttgart (ongoing project)

2022 Certification of the products "The PNZ Oil" according to Cradle-to-Cradle standards (ongoing project)

2022 Carbon to Coatings: Research project with the Max Planck Institute of Terrestrial Plant Physiology and the Charité in Berlin on the extraction of raw materials by bacteria from atmospheric CO2

2023 Marketing of the Wallpaint Without Waste starts. The name says it all.