Werner & Mertz in Top 3% of Germany’s most innovative Mittelständler!

The only  acclaimed company from the laundry and cleaning products sector

The cleaning products manufacturer Werner & Mertz of Mainz is one of the most innovative medium-sized companies in Germany. That’s according to the WirtschaftsWoche ranking “Innovation Champions 2026”.

For the 16th edition of the ranking, the strategy consultancy Munich Strategy analyzed the innovative strength of more than 4,000 medium-sized companies (annual revenue from 10 million to one billion euros) in a variety of industries headquartered in Germany. In a multi-step process, Munich Strategy calculated an innovation score for the top 400 companies. Two-thirds of the score is based on innovation factors such as new products on the market, spending on research and development, and competitors’ assessments; the remaining one-third is based on revenue and profit growth.

With its initiatives, Werner & Mertz repeatedly sets new standards for ecological feasibility way beyond the bounds of its own industry.
Within the scope of the Recyclate Initiative established in 2012, the Mainz company and its cooperation partners have practiced and promoted high-quality circulation of used plastic from the Yellow Bag by means of mechanical recycling. PET and HDPE bottles made of 100 percent recyclate from the Yellow Bag and high-quality recyclable stand-up pouches are among the initiative’s award-winning pioneering performances in packaging.
The mid-sized business leads the way with its formulations too and has established a department dedicated exclusively to research and new technologies for product ingredients. The aim is to continuously increase the proportion of surfactants made from European vegetable oils such as rapeseend, olives and sunflowers for the sake of biodiversity and to end the dependency on surfactants from tropical cultivation, for example, palm kernel oil. From the beginning, the company barred the use of petroleum-based surfactants for its Frosch brand.

Many market participants shy away from such innovations because they are initially tied to expenditures and extra effort. Werner & Mertz, however, has shown that the investments pay off in the long run. Persistently working toward independence from petroleum not only conserves natural resources, but also makes the company more resilient to supply crises and boosts economic success in domestic value creation.

What’s special about Werner & Mertz: The medium-sized enterprise does not hide or keep its innovations to itself, but rather encourages other market players and competitors to follow its example – an Open Innovation approach for the good of the environment.

This guiding principle has been demonstrated in the talk show format Die Zuversichtlichen, which Werner & Mertz owner Reinhard Schneider created in 2023. In one-hour panel discussions, he speaks with knowledgeable, forward-thinking guests from varied industries about feasible solutions for the circular economy and resource conservation. The intention is to give encouragement to thousands of people and strengthen their sense of self-efficacy. In the current edition, the subject was innovations in energy. Talk show guest Gerd Schöller from Schoenergie and Rhineland Palatinate Economics Minister Michael Ebling were on hand to answer questions about political support of the Energy Transformation.

Werner & Mertz brings together experts who discuss topics that highlight successful innovations—beyond the company’s own product categories—and thereby underscore the connection between Germany’s ecological transformation and positive economic development.

Link to article in WirtschaftsWoche (in German only)