On 4 October 1986, Chem-Tec in Uldum fulfilled its first order. Edge connectors on printed circuit boards were to be gold-plated, and the work took place in a 166-square-metre hall with two production lines. Today, 40 years later, Chem-Tec Plating A/S has 35 employees, 12 production lines and 3,600 square metres of production and office space at Kærvejen 13. Its customers are based throughout Europe, and the company is one of the leading suppliers of PVD coating in Northern Europe.
A small hall and two lines
Chem-Tec was founded by Thorkild A. Mikkelsen and Else Mogensen. On one of the first two production lines, printed circuit boards were plated with nickel and gold. The other applied chemical nickel to machine components. Nickel- and gold-plated flexible printed circuit boards quickly became the company’s speciality.
In the early years, there were no employees. The first full-time employee joined in 1989 and is still working for the company.
“It says a lot about Chem-Tec that our first employee is still here 37 years later,” says Managing Director Bo Hvid Mikkelsen. “The expertise we have in-house has been built up over decades. You can’t buy that.”
From dairy to plating plant
By 1990, the hall had already become too small. Production moved to 13 Kærvejen, which had previously housed a dairy and, later, a glue factory. The buildings provided space for new processes, and the site has since been expanded several times.
Print on the steering column and on the mobile phone
In the early 1990s, Chem-Tec installed its first fully automated plant for printed circuit boards with silver and tin plating. Silver-plated printed circuit boards from Uldum were supplied to the automotive industry and were used, amongst other things, in the steering column of some of the most popular car models in Europe.
Mobile phones first appeared in the late 1990s. From 1998–99, Chem-Tec produced antennas for the best-selling mobile phones of the time and, later, Bluetooth circuits as well. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, nickel- and gold-plated printed circuit boards for the mobile phone industry accounted for a large proportion of production. The automotive and mobile phone industries set stringent requirements, and these requirements have shaped the way quality and process control are managed in Uldum today.
Public limited company and new managing director
In 2004, the company became the public limited company Chem-Tec Plating A/S, with a professional board of directors. In 2015, Thorkild A. Mikkelsen handed over the role of managing director to Bo Hvid Mikkelsen, who had been production manager since 2008.
“Why shouldn’t we be able to sell throughout Europe?”
For many years, the company’s customers were mainly in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. About ten years ago, the management decided to expand into the whole of Europe.
“We asked ourselves a fairly simple question: Why shouldn’t we be able to sell to businesses across Europe?” says Bo Hvid Mikkelsen.
The solution required investment. In 2019, Chem-Tec expanded its production facilities by 1,000 square metres, and the following year introduced a new ERP system that provides greater traceability throughout the production process. For European customers who have strict requirements regarding documentation and delivery reliability, these are the factors that determine whether a new supplier is even considered.
Today, Chem-Tec Plating supplies customers across Europe, and Germany has become one of its most important markets.
PVD as the next chapter
The latest major decision concerns technology. Chem-Tec believes that PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition) is the future of surface treatment and has chosen to develop this particular area of the business. PVD is a dry process in which the coating is deposited in a vacuum chamber without the dissolved metal salts used in traditional electroplating. The result is typically a harder and more wear-resistant surface.
In 2025, the company closed its electroplating line for black chrome and invested in PVD instead, as the EU is moving towards restrictions on black chrome. Customers can now have PVD and traditional electroplating and chemical surface treatments carried out in the same place. The coatings can also be combined, for example with PVD applied over an electroplated nickel coating.
“It is in the field of PVD that we expect to see the greatest developments in the coming years. We want to be the go-to place in Northern Europe when the job is a tricky one,” says Bo Hvid Mikkelsen.
The next 40 years
“We are proud of what Thorkild and Else set in motion, and of the staff who have built it up alongside them,” says Bo Hvid Mikkelsen. “Now we must use that experience to take the next step in Europe.”
Four decades after its first order, Chem-Tec Plating is still based in Uldum, now with 12 production lines instead of two. Customers come from all over Europe, but the way the business operates is much the same as it was in 1986: in-depth technical expertise and close collaboration with the customer to find the right finish for the job.
On 4 October 1986, edge connectors were to be gold-plated. In the coming years, Chem-Tec expects PVD to become the fastest-growing part of its business. The company brings with it 40 years’ experience in electroplating and chemical surface treatment, as many of the projects require both: an electroplated undercoat and a PVD coating on top.
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