About the QKE
The Qualitaetsverband Kunststofferzeugnisse e.V. (QKE) located in Bonn is the umbrella organisation of several application-oriented Guetegemeinschaften and responsible for the coordination and organisation of the quality assurance of numerous market leading plastic products.
At the formation of the QKE the declared objective was to facilitate and to ensure the market penetration of novel plastic products associated with the determination of strict quality criteria.
Due to their perfect application characteristics thermoplastics could already be used for practical applications in the consumer-oriented domestic environment at the beginning of the 1960s.
At that time buckets, tubs, all kinds of depositories used in the household and other practical commodities were the first of many important plastic products.
The profitable price performance as well as the industrial large-scale production ratio played an important role at the substitution of the market-leading products made of metallic and ceramic materials. However, decisive for the substitution of these materials was the application advantages of the modern material.
After novel plastic products stood their first application test in the consumer product segment many components used in the civil engineering (pipes, building profiles and insulating materials) and later also products of the transport and bearing technology (bottle cases, big barrels and containers as well as dustbins) conquered the market.
Products of the mechanical and electrical engineering, the automotive industry and, interesting on a quantity basis, products of the packaging industry, followed.In 1979 a new product line – plastic window systems made in Germany - came into operation.
Regarding the production quantity and their economical importance these products rank today among the most important quality assured plastic products which are overseen by the QKE.
The Guetegemeinschaften collaborating with the umbrella organisation Qualitaetsverband Kunststofferzeugnisse e.V. develop their respective product-related quality and test specifications on their own responsibility. They arrange in coordination with the QKE for a strict quality assurance according to the RAL-quality and test specifications accepted by the RAL – Deutsches Institut für Gütesicherung und Kennzeichnung e.V. These specifications contain the quality characteristics necessary for a practice-oriented application of the respective product line.
To identify these RAL-quality assured plastic products the Qualitätsverband Kunststofferzeugnisse e.V. uses the internationally protected "K"-label and is the legally responsible owner of the mark.The respective Guetegemeinschaften use this RAL-quality mark partly with different circumscriptions or can additionally use labels of their branch as indication of the plastic products controlled and quality assured by themselves.
The close collaboration between manufacturers of raw material and fabricators of plastics within the Qualitätsverband Kundstofferzeugnisse e.V. is a very important factor with regard to the structure of this organisation. The QKE does not only define quality standards in voluntary personal responsibility but also assumes responsibility for the consequential control of quality assured plastic products with the help of independent institutes for material testing, thus a neutral control system.
This is also the major difference to legally not binding standardisations which usually don’t schedule an obligatory quality control.
Different from non-binding promotional PR-statements the RAL-quality and test specifications authorised by the Qualitaetsverband contain binding quality standards. All members using the quality mark are obliged to their strict observance.Beside the coordination and organisation of the quality assurance the QKE establishes delivery conditions independent from the branch of trade and advises the Gütegemeinschaften in all professional and legal matters.
The Qualitaetsverband Kunststofferzeugnisse e.V. as juridical person disposes of common organisational structures such as the board of directors and the managing board, which are responsible to the general meeting.
Board of directors:
Herr Dr. Heyo Schmiedeknecht, chairman of the Qualitätsverband Kunststofferzeugnisse e.V.
Herr Bonifatius Eichwald, managing partner of the company VEKA AG
Herr Stefan Friedrich, Chairmann of the Technical Commitee, RENOLIT AG
Managing board:
Dipl.-Ing. Gerald Feigenbutz
Current active quality communities:
RAL-Gütegemeinschaft Kunststoff-Fenstersysteme
RAL-Gütegemeinschaft Flexible Dränrohre