BÜFA Reinigungssysteme GmbH & Co. KG

What BÜFA Reinigungssysteme GmbH & Co. KG does

BÜFA Reinigungssysteme GmbH & Co. KG (operating commercially as BÜFA Cleaning) is a German, family-owned manufacturer of professional cleaning and hygiene chemicals, tracing its origins to 1885 and operating as an operating subsidiary of the diversified BÜFA GmbH & Co. KG group. The company develops and produces proprietary chemical formulations across six primary verticals: food hygiene and commercial kitchen sanitation, textile care and professional laundry, printing industry (ink and adhesive removal), paint and coatings manufacturing, industrial and vehicle cleaning, and building maintenance. Its product portfolio spans hundreds of SKUs across named product families (CIP cleaners, SolventClean, SpotX, Lizerna, Oldomat) plus the SOLVERDE® ecological sub-line of approximately 20 EU Ecolabel-certified products. Underlying technology centers on in-house chemical formulation capability, proprietary dosing systems (MPX Smart/Solo, WashMulti Air) with internet connectivity and cloud-based monitoring, and—following the 2024 Macserien acquisition—water recirculation technology enabling near-zero water consumption in vehicle washing.

The company monetizes through a B2B quote-based pricing model with no public pricing; products are sold directly via an enterprise field sales force (with dedicated Sales Directors for Food & Beverage and Textile Care) and through an extensive channel network of more than 50 distribution partners spanning over 50 countries across all continents. Revenue streams include one-time product sales, dosing hardware, professional hygiene management and consulting services, and a managed empty-container return and recycling service. Operating geography is Northern Europe with a notable international footprint: wholly-owned subsidiaries in the Netherlands (since 2022) and in Sweden/Norway/Estonia via Macserien (100% acquired effective January 1, 2024), plus four production sites in Estonia. Distribution is supplemented by regional partners in Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Poland, Spain, the UK, France, Austria, Switzerland, and others. Customer mix is enterprise and mid-market industrial end-users, including food processors, commercial laundries, hospitals, printing operations, paint manufacturers, bakeries, large-scale kitchens, and fire/rescue services. Sustainability is a visible strategic pillar: 60% of energy needs come from in-house photovoltaics, recyclate containers achieve up to 33% CO2 savings, and the group holds EcoVadis Gold (2023), ISO 14001, RSPO, and EU Ecolabel certifications. The company is privately held with no public listing, no disclosed external institutional investors, and no publicly reported revenue figures.

Name

BÜFA Reinigungssysteme GmbH & Co. KG

Legal name

BÜFA Cleaning GmbH & Co. KG

Website

https://buefa-cleaning.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1885

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

BÜFA Cleaning is a German family-owned manufacturer of professional cleaning and hygiene chemicals serving food processing, textile care, printing, paint, vehicle, and facility industries. It sells proprietary formulations, dosing systems, and hygiene services via direct sales and a 50+ country distribution network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Cleaning Chemicals and Hygiene Solutions

NAICS

Soap, Cleaning Compound, and Toilet Preparation Manufacturing (3256), Soap and Cleaning Compound Manufacturing (32561), Polish and Other Sanitation Good Manufacturing (325612)

SIC

Specialty Cleaning, Polishing And Sanitation Preparations (2842), Soap, Detergents, Cleang Preparations, Perfumes, Cosmetics (2840)

akta.pro primary industry

Hard Surface & Multi-Purpose Cleaners (All-purpose, Floor, Bathroom, Kitchen) (CRADAKAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Solvents & Solvent-Based Cleaners (Mineral Spirits, Acetone, Alcohols) (CRAJAKAC), Stain Removers & Pre-Treaters (CRAJAAAC)

Keywords

• Industrial cleaning chemicals
• Professional hygiene solutions
• Laundry detergent formulations
• Food processing sanitation
• Dosing equipment systems

Headquarters

HQ city

Oldenburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices10 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Cleaning and Hygiene Products: BÜFA Cleaning generates primary revenue from manufacturing and selling professional cleaning, hygiene, and disinfection products. Product categories include food hygiene products (CIP cleaners, foam cleaners, scale removers), laundry hygiene products, textile cleaning products, printing industry cleaning products, building cleaning products, and personal hygiene products. Products are sold directly and through distribution partners in over 50 countries.
2. Dosing Equipment and Systems: Sale and service of dosing equipment including MPX dosing systems for laundries, tunnel dosing stations for continuous batch operations, and pneumatic laundry dosing systems (WashMulti Air). Equipment supports up to 16 washing machines with comprehensive chemical, water, and energy consumption optimization.
3. Service and Consulting: Hygiene management services including wash line rehabilitation (sanitization of batch washers and extraction machines), dosing technology services, and technical support. Services include microbiological verification with water samples and contact samples as part of hygiene monitoring.
4. Empty Container Return and Recycling: Empty container return service where used containers are picked up, professionally cleaned, and returned to circulation. Containers that cannot be refurbished are shredded and granulized to produce new containers from recycled material.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

BÜFA Cleaning is a manufacturer of professional cleaning, hygiene, and disinfection chemicals serving food processing, textile care, printing, paint/coatings, vehicle cleaning, and facility management industries. The company produces its own chemical formulations organized into product categories (CIP cleaners, foam cleaners, laundry detergents, textile cleaning solvents, dosing agents), supplemented by dosing equipment, hygiene management services, and the digital BÜFA Business Hub customer portal. Products are sold through direct enterprise sales and a distribution network of over 50 countries.

Product overview

BÜFA Cleaning is a manufacturer of professional cleaning and hygiene solutions with over 140 years of experience. The company offers a diversified product portfolio organized across multiple product lines and services. Core product categories include food hygiene (CIP cleaners, foam cleaners, descalers, grease removers), laundry hygiene (specialty products, finishing products, bleach), textile cleaning (carpet cleaners, solvents), printing industry cleaners (SolventClean series), paint and coating industry products, vehicle cleaning, water treatment, and personal hygiene products. The SOLVERDE® eco-friendly sub-brand encompasses ecological products including Orbin Evolve, Omnia Evolve, Oldomat Natural, Lizerna Active Green, and Ozerna laundry detergents, all certified with EU Ecolabel. The company also provides digital services through the BÜFA Business Hub portal, dosing technology systems (MPX Smart/Solo, WashMulti Air), and hygiene management services. Additional products include the SpotX series for stain removal (Blood, Color, Decol, Ink, Resin, Rust, Tan) and specialized products like Lizerna Clear for wash tunnel renovation and Tribin E for CIP circulation cleaning.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SOLVERDE®: BÜFA's green/ecological product line of washing and cleaning agents certified under the EU Ecolabel. Comprises approximately 20 products focused on sustainability, reduced environmental impact, and resource efficiency.

Products and services

• Food Hygiene Products (CIP Cleaners, Foam Cleaners, Specialty Cleaners, Descalers) Professional cleaning chemicals for food processing facilities including CIP (Clean-In-Place) cleaners, foam cleaners, specialty cleaners, and resin removers. Products ensure food safety compliance, contamination prevention, and efficient cleaning at low temperatures. Used by food processing manufacturers, bakeries, delis, meat industry, and commercial kitchens.
• Commercial Kitchen Hygiene Products (Descalers, Grease Removers, Equipment Cleaners) Cleaning products for commercial kitchens and gastronomy including descalers, grease removers, equipment and immersion bath cleaners, and hand dishwashing/neutral cleaners. Used by large-scale kitchens and gastronomy operations.
• Laundry Hygiene Products Professional laundry hygiene products including specialty products, finishing products, Elements, and bleaching agents for commercial laundries, hospitals, and fire/rescue services. Products address stubborn stain removal, safe disinfection, and textile finishing.
• Textile Cleaning Products Products for textile cleaning including carpet cleaners, brushing and spraying agents, specialty products, and solvent-based care products. Used by textile cleaning businesses and specialty stain removal service providers.
• Printing Industry Cleaning Products (SolventClean Series) Specialty cleaning chemicals for the printing industry including products for flexo printing plates and sleeves, surface and work area cleaning, distillation plant cleaning, and additives. The SolventClean series includes high-boiling and low-boiling solvent cleaners for removing solvent-based paints, cross-linked water-based paints, and UV paints.
• Paint and Coatings Industry Products Cleaning products for paint and coatings industry including surface and work area cleaning products, additives for paint systems, mixing vessel/dissolver/mixing tank products, and parts cleaning products.
• Vehicle Cleaning and Water Treatment Products Vehicle cleaning products for interior and exterior vehicle hygiene, water treatment products for industrial applications, industrial cleaning and maintenance products, and tank cleaning products. Includes solutions for reducing water consumption through MacSerien recirculation technology.
• SOLVERDE® Eco-Friendly Product Line Trademarked ecological product line of approximately 20 washing and cleaning agents certified with EU Ecolabel. Formulations are free from SVHCs, phosphates, phosphonates, perborates, and NTA. Includes Orbin Evolve, Orbin Evolve Forte, Omnia Evolve, Spezial Evolve, Oldomat Natural GSM, Oldomat Natural Clear, Lizerna Active Green, Ozerna Bright Green, and Ozerna Colour Green.
• MPX Dosing Systems (MPX Smart and Solo) Intelligent dosing systems for laundry operations with internet connectivity and cloud-based monitoring. Supports up to 7 washing machines and 80 wash programs with comprehensive operational data collection. Enables precise, reliable, and economical supply of washing and cleaning agents.
• WashMulti Air Dosing System Configurable dosing station with pneumatic diaphragm pump for up to 10 washing machines with 16 chemicals and up to 50 recipes, with cloud-based monitoring portal. Includes Waschtunnel (freestanding dosing station for wash tunnels with up to five dosing modules).
• BÜFA Business Hub Digital Customer Portal Digital self-service platform (portal.buefa.com) for online ordering, order management, invoice overview, and document access including safety data sheets, certificates, and product information. Available 24/7 with account-based authentication.
• Hygiene Management Services Professional hygiene management services for various industries including microbiological verification with water samples and contact samples as part of hygiene monitoring programs.
• Wash Line Renovation Services (Sanierung von Waschanlagen) Sanitization and renovation services for batch washers and extraction machines including Lizerna Clear special cleaner. Optional microbiological verification with comprehensive hygiene monitoring.
• Dosing Technology Services (Dosiertechnik) Professional dosing technology services for laundries and food industry for precise, reliable, and economical supply of washing and cleaning agents. Includes installation, maintenance, and technical support for dosing equipment.
• Empty Container Return and Recycling Service Empty container return service where used containers are picked up, professionally cleaned, and returned to circulation. Containers that cannot be refurbished are shredded and granulized to produce new containers from recycled material (Recyclate containers made from 50% recycled material, achieving up to 33% CO2 savings).

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 33% CO2 savings with recycled containers compared to conventional solutions
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Watervent 2025 (hallig.hanken Innovationsdorf)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2025International water technology forum co-hosted by BÜFA Group in Oldenburg, Germany, May 12-13, 2025. BÜFA served as co-host and invited attendees to exclusive facility tours at BÜFA Cleaning headquarters. Event connects startups, investors, and industry experts for technology networking.
• MacSeriencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Swedish company acquired 100% by BÜFA Cleaning effective January 1, 2024 (previously 25% stake acquired in 2023 after strategic partnership formed in 2022). MacSerien is expert in water treatment and resource-efficient vehicle washing with over 30 years of experience. They developed the first car wash with 100% water recirculation in collaboration with Wash and Circulation Systems of Scandinavia AB. Products are highly concentrated, environmentally friendly cleaning products with reduced water content.
• BÜFA Cleaning Netherlands (Tristar Group)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022100% subsidiary of BÜFA Cleaning since 2022, headquartered in the Netherlands. Functions as partner for industrial cleaning processes with expertise and innovative ideas. Focus on cleaning systems for chemical industry, food industry, and printing industry. Linked to Tristar Group.
• Wash and Circulation Systems of Scandinavia ABcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with MacSerien to develop the first car wash system with 100% water recirculation. This partnership enabled near-zero water consumption in vehicle washing operations.
• PRIMAKLIMA, Moorfutures, atmosfairminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCarbon offset partners for climate-neutral operations. BÜFA achieved carbon neutrality through CO2 emission compensation projects with these three partner organizations. Described as a first step, with plans to continuously reduce or avoid CO2 emissions through further projects.
• AST GruppeminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerContainer recycling partner for empty container return and processing. AST Gruppe receives returned containers, cleans reusable ones for return to circulation, and shreds damaged containers for granulization to produce new containers from recycled material.
• Giftinformationszentrum Nord (GIZ-Nord)minorOthersPoison information center partnership for emergency information on BÜFA products outside business hours. Located at the University of Göttingen. Safety-relevant product information is stored with GIZ-Nord for emergency access 24/7.
• Over 50 Country Distribution PartnerscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorExtensive global distribution network spanning over 50 countries including: Bendsen A/S (Denmark), Vivochem B.V. (Netherlands), Sipano Norge AS (Norway), MacSerien (Sweden), EUMATEX GmbH (Austria), Textile Care Supplies Ltd. (UK), and many others covering Europe, Middle East, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and Americas.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• Zep Inc. Zep is a North American manufacturer of cleaning and maintenance products serving industrial, institutional, and vehicle-cleaning markets. While primarily U.S.-focused, it is comparable to BÜFA in product breadth and vertical specialization across industrial and vehicle-cleaning segments.

Direct peers

• Werner & Mertz Professional: Werner & Mertz Professional is the B2B arm of the German Werner & Mertz group, offering sustainable cleaning solutions with eco-certifications (EU Ecolabel, Cradle to Cradle). It competes with BÜFA's SOLVERDE line in European sustainable professional cleaning chemistry.
• Dr. Schnell Chemie GmbH: Dr. Schnell is a German specialty manufacturer of cleaning and disinfecting products for commercial kitchens, food processing, building maintenance, and healthcare. It is a direct competitor to BÜFA in food-hygiene and institutional cleaning verticals across the German-speaking market.
• Christeyns NV: Christeyns is a European manufacturer of laundry, textile care, and hygiene chemicals headquartered in Belgium with operations across Europe. It is the closest peer to BÜFA's textile-care and laundry-hygiene vertical and competes for the same professional laundry and healthcare-laundry accounts.
• Johannes Kiehl KG: Kiehl is a German family-owned manufacturer of professional cleaning and hygiene products focused on building maintenance, food service, healthcare, and laundry. Its product mix, German manufacturing base, and family-ownership structure make it a near-direct comparable to BÜFA Cleaning.
• Seitz GmbH: Seitz is a German specialty manufacturer of cleaning, disinfecting, and laundry-care products with strong presence in food service, healthcare, and textile care. Its product portfolio and German mid-market positioning make it a direct comparable to BÜFA in professional specialty cleaning chemistry.
• Buzil-Werk Wagner GmbH & Co. KG: Buzil is a German family-owned manufacturer of professional cleaning and hygiene products serving building cleaning, food service, healthcare, and industry. It is one of the closest direct competitors to BÜFA in the German DACH professional cleaning-chemicals market with comparable mid-market positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Stockmeier Chemie GmbH & Co. KG: Stockmeier Chemie is a German specialty chemicals distributor and formulator serving industrial cleaning, water treatment, and food hygiene. Its broad portfolio and German manufacturing footprint overlap with BÜFA's industrial and food-hygiene product lines.
• Ecolab: Ecolab is the global market leader in water, hygiene, and infection-prevention solutions for food, healthcare, hospitality, and industrial customers. It competes with BÜFA across B2B cleaning chemistry and dosing services and represents the dominant incumbent BÜFA benchmarks against in enterprise accounts.
• Diversey (Solenis): Diversey, now owned by Solenis, is a global provider of hygiene, cleaning, and sanitization solutions for food service, healthcare, and industrial markets. It overlaps directly with BÜFA's food hygiene, laundry, and institutional cleaning portfolios and competes for the same European enterprise accounts.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/buefagruppe
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/buefa-cleaning

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BÜFA Reinigungssysteme GmbH & Co. KG