Founding father
Wilhelm Grillo belonged to the founding fathers of the Ruhr industry. He was a man of great energy, visionary thinking and social commitment and began an impressive company development as a 23-year-old in 1842. Following an ironmongery in Mülheim an der Ruhr, he founded a zinc mill in Duisburg-Neumühl as early as 1849. Only a few years later - in 1855 - he set up first production plants for zinc white in Oberhausen, next to two mill lines and a gas production plant.

History
From 1881 the raw zinc, which was required by the Oberhausen farms, was produced in a separate hut in Duisburg-Hamborn. Liquid sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid were produced as by-products. In Hamborn a rolling mill was also built after the turn of the century.

Two years after he transferred the company to his sons Julius, August and Wilhelm (jun.), The company founder died. With effect from January 1, 1894, his sons converted the company, which had hitherto been run as an open trading company, into a "stock company for the zinc industry, formerly Wilhelm Grillo".

Development
Until the beginning of the Second World War, the company developed into the largest producer of zinc products and zinc whiteners as well as SO 2 sellers in Germany. After the war-induced collapse of almost all production, the reconstruction of the production facilities began with great difficulty, with the exception of Zinkhütte. In addition to setting up and expanding its own factories, Grillo participated in a large number of companies. In 1974 Grillo retired from Oberhausen after 120 years.

Location
Since then, the focus has been on the traditional fields of metal and chemistry in Duisburg-Hamborn and since 1997 in Frankfurt, for the area of ​​zinc oxide in Goslar. RHEINZINK, co-founded by Grillo in 1966 and now fully owned, has its rolling mill and the administration in Datteln and distributes its building zinc products through its own branches or companies on all continents.