Weidenhammer Packaging Group
| Weidenhammer Packaging Group
|
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1955 |
| Seat | Hockenheim , Germany |
| management | Séan Cairns |
| Number of employees | 1100 ( 2013 ) |
| sales | 245 million EUR ( annual group sales 2012 ) |
| Branch | Packaging industry |
The Weidenhammer Packaging Group (WPG) was a German, family-run company based in Hockenheim , Baden-Württemberg until it was taken over by Sonoco on October 31, 2014 . She was one of the leading manufacturers of composite cans , composite drums, luxury tubes and plastic packaging . These types of packaging are used in the areas of food, pet food, cosmetic and household products, toys, garden products and tobacco products.
history
Arthur Weidenhammer founded the medium-sized company in Hockenheim in 1955 . After major customers such as Colgate Palmolive, Franck & Kathreiner and Sunlicht were acquired, Weidenhammer was able to employ 85 people in 1962. The focus was on the manufacture of detergent drums, including Dash, Ariel, Persil and Omo. In 1977 the Schmalbach-Lubeca-Werke in Worms and Lübeck were taken over. In 1980 the composite can segment achieved the largest share of the company's total sales for the first time.
In the mid-1990s, the company had to accept a slump in sales due to the introduction of the Packaging Ordinance, because many customers replaced combi drums with folding boxes . As a result, the loss was offset by a further expansion of the composite can segment, such as the introduction of the Pringles cans in 1995.
In 2005 the company founded the Weidenhammer Plastic Packaging (WPP) division and expanded the product portfolio to include plastic packaging .
On August 25, 2014 it was announced that the Weidenhammer Packaging Group would be taken over by the US competitor Sonoco for a purchase price of 286 million euros. The transaction closed on October 31, 2014. On November 25, 2015 it was announced that the former Weidenhammer locations will be renamed and will continue to operate as Sonoco Consumer Products Europe with effect from January 1, 2016 .
Corporate structure
Overview
Since its inception, WPG has been family-owned before all of the shares in Sonoco were sold. All four shareholders came from the Weidenhammer family. The managing director was Ralf Weidenhammer, one of the sons of WPG founder Arthur Weidenhammer.
Locations and production
WPG has production sites in Belgium , Germany , France , Great Britain , Greece , the Netherlands , Russia and the USA . The factories each specialize in certain products:
- Hockenheim : composite cans, composite drums and plastic lids
- Lübeck : composite cans for instant cappuccino, fine-cut tobacco and fish feed
- Zwenkau : Plastic packaging for food, especially with IML decoration
- Mechelen ( Belgium ): composite cans for stackable chips
- Inofita ( Greece ): composite cans for chilled dough products
- Dordrecht ( Netherlands ): Combination drums
- Montanay ( France ): composite cans and jewelry boxes
- Bradford ( UK ): composite cans and plastic containers
- Santiago de Chile ( Chile ): composite cans
Products
Composite cans / composite drums
After the Second World War, composite cans were developed as an alternative to tinplate cans. The name of the packaging is explained by the combination of different materials: 90 percent composite cans are made of recycled paper ; The base and closure are made of plastic or metal. The can wall is made of several layers of material. An inner barrier layer made of aluminum foil or specific barrier material made of recycled cardboard is combined with a laminated label as the outer layer. Barrier layers made of wax or an aluminum lining protect the products contained against grease and moisture.
WPG produces composite cans in round, oval and non-round formats with different filling heights and a capacity of 50 milliliters up to 5 liters.
Plastic packaging
The Weidenhammer Plastic Packaging (WPP) division, founded in 2005, manufactures plastic packaging in Zwenkau and Bradford . Mainly cups, cans and bowls with a volume of 100 milliliters or more and buckets with a capacity of 1 to 11.4 liters are produced here. The packaging is manufactured using the in-mold labeling process. This process enables packaging and decoration to be produced in a single operation: the label is preferably made of the same plastic as the container. Both parts fuse during processing; additional adhesion promoters such as adhesives are not required. With the IML process, containers can be decorated more precisely and with higher quality. At the same time, there are advantages with regard to the subsequent recycling of the packaging, since the label and container do not have to be recycled separately.
The PermaSafe packaging was specially developed for sensitive products such as sterilized and pasteurized food. This type of plastic container is manufactured using the injection molding process and has a high level of stability and barrier properties, which guarantees the hygiene and durability of sensitive products.
Individual evidence
- ↑ [1] packaging review
- ^ [2] Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from August 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Press release
- ↑ Sonoco completes acquisition of Weidenhammer Packaging Group. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 8, 2015 ; accessed on November 28, 2015 .
- ↑ Sonoco renames previous Weidenhammer locations. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 8, 2015 ; accessed on November 28, 2015 .
- ↑ [3] Pack current
- ^ [4] K newspaper
- ↑ [5] Handelsblatt
- ↑ [6] plastic magazine
- ↑ [7] Fleischnet.de
Web links
- Official website (deleted, redirected to www.sonoco-europe.com)