About us

Vision

Our vision is to be a leading European research organisation which provides research and development services in the field of metallic materials and introduces new forming and heat treatment processes, mainly in key sectors comprising the engineering, automotive and power industries.

Mission

Our mission is to strengthen the competitiveness of European manufacturing companies by supporting our clients in the development, innovation and introduction of state-of-the-art processes and products. COMTES FHT a.s. is a good example of a new model of collaboration between manufacturers and the research sector. The underlying premise of our research centre is that its success will depend upon the ability to manufacture state-of-the-art products and to exploit new technologies.

Principal Objectives

• Collaboration with partners on research and development projects to enhance the utility value of materials, develop and optimise manufacturing processes and innovate the design of tools and products.
• Using technology transfer to provide industrial producers with new ideas and inventions to enable them to make effective use of available resources and opportunities.
• Offering comprehensive and flexible services which will support our clients in fully utilising their potential and becoming more creative, inventive, enterprising and responsible.

History

The company COMTES FHT s.r.o. was established in December 2000. From the outset, the company was characterised by dynamic growth and an expanding portfolio of services and growing research capacities. Efforts to systematize and standardize the company’s activities came to fruition in 2005. In that year, it was awarded the ČSN EN ISO 9001:2000 certificate and one year later, the certificate of an accredited testing laboratory. The company has already had to move two times to meet the demands of its growth. Since 2007, the company’s headquarters and laboratories have been located in Dobřany, south of the city of Plzeň and only a 5-minute drive from the Prague-Nuremberg motorway.

In 2008, the company was transformed into COMTES FHT a.s., a joint-stock company operating as a research organisation according to European Community rules. Another important milestone in its history was the awarding of a grant in 2011 from the Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovations to establish the West-Bohemian Centre of Materials and Metallurgy, a regional research centre. This project enabled further growth of the organisation. Its laboratory and office premises expanded to comprise the current area of more than 5,500 square metres. 

For the further development of the research organization, the land near the existing site was purchased in 2012, where the building Science and Technology Park (STP) of COMTES FHT was completed in 2019. STP includes an office building, a multifuncional hall with, training centre and manufacturing. The some areas in this building are rented to companies that can benefit from a close connection with the research organization COMTES FHT.

For better communication with partners in German-speaking countries, which represent an important market for COMTES FHT, a COMTES FHT sales office was opened in Munich in 2016.

Today, COMTES FHT employs more than a hundred workers and provides comprehensive services in the field of research and development of metallic materials. COMTES FHT introduces new forming and heat treatment processes, mainly in key sectors comprising the engineering, automotive and power industries.