Editor's Note: Lehigh Valley Suite Spot is an interview series featuring Lehigh Valley executives from a wide range of industries and company sizes.
To explain the technology, JULABO USA President Ralph Juchheim demonstrates with a rose.
He dips it into the company’s proprietary temperature-controlled unit, freezing the flower in seconds, and then drops it, the petals shattering across the floor.
To explain the technology’s potential, Juchheim looks toward the heavens.
Producing temperatures between -95 and 350 degrees Celsius, JULABO’s units can replicate extreme conditions on the moon or Mars.
“When we start exploring other planets, there will be new challenges,” Juchheim said. “As human beings advance into the universe, we will need to produce temperatures in a laboratory representing those of other worlds or space. Without the correct temperature, we don’t exist. It’s as essential to life as carbon.”
From its headquarters in the Lehigh Valley, JULABO USA has spent the last three decades building a thriving business in the niche market of liquid temperature control equipment in North America where Juchheim counts NASA and private space companies among his customers.
Those notable clients are part of a broader portfolio of customers using JULABO technology to drive innovation across diverse industries. The units are used in the food and beverage industry, including for developing products like meat substitutes and CBD- and THC-infused edibles. The devices were essential during the pandemic for the production and distribution of vaccines, which must be stored at cold temperatures.
And now, as the nation looks to ramp up its microchip production, JULABO’s units provide the high and low operating temperatures needed to manufacture integrated circuits, chips, and photovoltaic solar panels.
With its U.S. operation headquartered in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, JULABO traces its history back to Germany in 1926 when Ernst Juchheim, a master engineer of glass instrumentation, invented the world’s first glass contact-thermometer with variable temperature adjustments.
Four decades later, his son founded JULABO, initially using the same glass contact thermometers for liquid temperature control equipment, in the Black Forest region of Germany. The company name is a mashup of the family name Juchheim and laboratory. JULABO expanded its global reach in 1993 when it landed in eastern Pennsylvania near many other German companies, and later expanded into the Lehigh Valley near B. Braun Medical.
JULABO USA is headed by Juchheim, a mechanical engineer with a passion for American classic cars. Raised in western Germany during the Cold War, Juchheim had developed a love for everything American and became enthralled by the luxuries of air-conditioning in U.S. cars. German counterparts did not have air conditioning at the time. That piqued his interest in refrigeration and the family business.
Juchheim assumed his leadership position in the company in 1996, moving the business from Kutztown to the more populous Lehigh Valley to tap a larger labor market. The Lehigh Valley, among Pennsylvania’s fastest-growing regions, ranks as the nation’s 65th largest regional economy and is located in the heart of the lucrative Northeast market, within a day’s drive of a third of the population.
Today, as JULABO USA is poised to celebrate its 30th anniversary, Juchheim sat down with Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation as he discussed the family business, its innovations, and where the industry is heading.
JULABO was founded on a single invention of your grandfather’s in 1926. Tell us about it.
It was a thermometer that can keep a temperature like a temperature controller. They were very simple devices then, and he advanced a simple thermometer to a device capable of controlling temperatures in wide ranges. It was like a thermostat but just for fluids.
He was the first one to develop it and patent it. His patented thermometer is on display in the Deutsches Museum in Munich. He was a pioneer and a legacy in his industry. I am very proud.
How did that single invention turn into the company JULABO?
The contact thermometers were produced by Ernst Juchheim, and his two sons, Guenter and Gerhard. JULABO GmbH was founded in 1967, using those contact thermometers for water baths to maintain a stable temperature. It is similar to a cooking pot with a heater cycling on and off in order to maintain a constant temperature. It was used in many industries in science and research.
How did you get involved in the business?
I graduated with a mechanical engineering degree. After that, I studied at the Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences in Germany.
On the side, in the late 80s and early 90s, I had an American car shop in Germany where we were restoring cars. Some were from the 1950s, like the ’59 Cadillac with the fins.
I realized quickly that American cars had air conditioning. At the time in Germany, we didn't have air conditioning in every car because the climate is not as hot.
The idea of air conditioning in cars was intriguing to me, and that piqued my interest in refrigeration. And that's how I then moved into the company. By that time, JULABO had expanded into the U.S. two years in Kutztown, Pennsylvania.
Why had JULABO decided to locate there?
A former employee from B. Braun was managing it. B. Braun, [which has its U.S. headquarters and major manufacturing facility in the Lehigh Valley], is related to our industry. They operate in science and have a medical division.
How did JULABO get from Kutztown to Allentown?
In 1996, I took over and moved JULABO USA to the next bigger city, which was Allentown, because I wanted access to employees and to be in a larger area. Back then we only had three people – an office manager, service tech, and me. We were expanding.
How has the operation changed since you took the helm?
I realized rather quickly that units that cool were much more in demand than heating units because of my background with the American cars and air conditioning,
I believed that we should have refrigeration in-house. I started doing that in Kutztown by assembling the refrigeration so that we could take the temperature medium which is a fluid below ambient temperature or much lower. That I was really pursuing like an entrepreneur -- just like my grandfather Ernst.
We were getting the components that were from Germany from the parent company in Germany. And we were assembling here.
Is that operation still done in the Lehigh Valley now?
A lot of the production is now consolidated in Germany.
Here, we have about 39 employees right now. In Germany, there's around 450 employees and everything is done in-house: sheet metal working, welding, and so on.
What are some of the critical occupations at JULABO’s Lehigh Valley facility?
For the most part, it is the sales people and service technicians. The service technicians have very broad knowledge. They operate in refrigeration, electronics, and can service any of our units.
How can the technology be used for space research?
For example, if you have a missile or rocket, it’s going through rapid temperature changes as ascends and descends. There can be minus 100 Celsius, and during reentry it may fo through several hundreds of degrees Celsius. In a laboratory environment, you would put the major parts of it in a vacuum chamber, and the vacuum chamber is temperature controlled. And in addition, they have, maybe, a vibration table inside to simulate the mechanical stress.
What role does your equipment play in the cannabis industry?
Cannabis is a plant, and you would extract the oil out of the plants similar as to how you extract it from eucalyptus plants. The process with cannabis is very similar, and temperature is very critical in that. The control of variables is essential for maximizing the throughput and yields.
You need to have the right temperature at the right time at the right capacity. Otherwise, your quality can suffer, and your profit margin can go downhill.
It's all about time; time is money. If the temperature is off, you could use the lose the entire batch. And that's a lot of money. It's about consistency and preventing downtime.
How are your devices helping to make breakthroughs in the life sciences industry?
Here’s a good example: temperature control is needed in the production of mRNA vaccines, which became especially critical during the pandemic.
This is the exact reason we were allowed to stay open in the early days of the pandemic. We are essential.
How does JULABO support the semiconductor industry?
JULABO provides liquid temperature control solutions that ensure high precision, cleanliness, and environmental sustainability in semiconductor and microchip manufacturing. Recent chip shortages have highlighted the critical importance of the semiconductor industry. JULABO USA is helping semiconductor manufacturers domestically meet the growing demand for more chips and the products that rely on them.
Do you see JULABO USA staying here in the Lehigh Valley?
Absolutely. Our people here are our greatest assets. People are very happy here with us. We have very good morale.
What have you done to attract and retain talent?
We launched an HR campaign in 2022 called the JUniverse [pronounced YOU-niverse].The importance of our company is more than the products. It’s really our people who are our greatest assets, and that reflects well for the Lehigh Valley.
Tell us about the program that your company had to educate customers on your equipment as well?
JULABO University is a digital learning platform for temperature control. It's thermodynamics and general knowledge. It's a free-of-charge learning platform online, that we share with the community or the scientific community for collective advancement. Anyone can sign up, even competitors. We just want to waken up the interest in temperature.
It was launched in September of 2021. Now we have over 250 students; 100 students are certified. There are two certifications available.
Why is the frog JULABO’s mascot?
We have frogs floating in our tubs when we go to trade shows and give them to our clients. Their kids love playing with those frogs. We get feedback years later that they still have the frogs.
What I like most about it is that frogs can only jump forward, leap forward. We’re a forward-thinking company.
Where do you see the industry going in the future?
I see temperature ranges going lower and wider faster with even better accuracies.
When we start exploring other planets, there will be new challenges. As human beings advance into the universe, the temperature control technologies will advance as well. We will need to produce temperatures in a laboratory representing those other worlds or space. Without the correct temperature, we don’t exist. Without temperature, you wouldn't have any life anywhere really. It’s as essential to life as carbon.
(Photos by Donna Fisher Photography on behalf of LVEDC)