In 1873,
Heinrich Byk founded a chemicals factory in
Berlin under his name, in which he initially produced soporific drugs. In 1917, the firm merged with the dye and tanning works to form
Byk-Guldenwerke AG; the photochemical factory Ernst Lomberg was acquired subsequently. The first BYK additive for coatings came on the market in 1935. It enabled pigments to be distributed evenly in coatings. In 1962, BYK established the site in
Wesel, where it commenced production of paint and plastics additives. BYK has production sites in
Germany (Wesel,
Kempen,
Moosburg an der Isar,
Schkopau and
Geretsried), the
Netherlands (
Deventer,
Nijverdal and
Denekamp), the
United Kingdom (
Widnes), the
United States (
Wallingford,
Chester,
Gonzales,
Louisville,
Earth City and
Pompano Beach) and
China (
Tongling). == Research and development ==