High-quality plastics for over 50 years

From tradition ...

... but future focused.

Klaus Ensinger is giving up his operational management role and therefore his seat on the Ensinger GmbH Management Board. He will, however, continue to provide support to strategic projects and be a member of supervisory bodies.

The Management Board now consists of three people: Dr. Roland Reber, Dr. Oliver Frey and Ralph Pernizsak.

Roland Reber has been Managing Director at Ensinger since 2002. Oliver Frey joined the management of the family-owned company in July 2019. The manager with a doctorate in chemistry has already been responsible for the Compounds division since 2012. Ralph Pernizsak, an aerospace engineer, was appointed Managing Director in April 2020. He has also headed the Shapes division since 2014.

In order to focus more on its core areas of business, Ensinger is selling its Thermix insulating glass spacer business to the Italian Fenzi Group. In addition to the production site in Cham, the sales office in Ravensburg is also affected by the sale of the product line.

Following negotiations between the Executive Board and the Works Council, a programme for reconciling interests and social plan were concluded for both sites. At the Cham plant, the majority of the affected employees can transfer to position that have become vacant in other areas through staff turnover. 

Ensinger strengthens its position in a growth market with the acquisition of the medical technology specialist Moll Engineering. The Lübeck-based enterprise manufactures target devices and other surgical instruments from carbon fibre-reinforced high-performance plastics, stainless steel and titanium. The products are made by the manufacturing company Wenglon in Dobra, Poland, which has also been taken over.

In addition to finished parts, Ensinger also offers semi-finished products made of carbon fibre composite material. The subsidiary company Ensinger Composites Switzerland, in Otelfingen near Zurich, develops new technologies for the processing of thermoplastic fibre composites. This site became part of the Group as early as 2017 through an acquisition.

Martha Ensinger, beloved wife of company founder Wilfried Ensinger, passed away on June 27 after a serious illness. The Requiem in Rottenburg Cathedral and the subsequent committal were attended by large numbers of the public.

The name of the Wilfried Ensinger Foundation has been changed to Wilfried and Martha Ensinger Foundation in order to honour Martha Ensinger’s dedication to the development of this charitable institution.

Founded in 1966, the Ensinger Group is now represented in all the important global industrial regions, with a long list of production facilities and sales branches. During the past financial year, the 2,300 employees generated a consolidated turnover of 402 million Euro.

The growing significance of raw material finishing (compounding) has necessitated the expansion of both production and storage facilities in Nufringen. The recently founded Ensinger Compounds division moves into a new building permitting greater production flow efficiency and a significant increase in volume. A technical highlight is a clean room for the production of medical technology materials.

In Rottenburg-Ergenzingen, a new injection moulding plant is constructed. The Nufringen site no longer offers sufficient space for expansion of this division. The new factory is designed to permit closely meshed interaction between the different production areas, with work flow optimization playing a key role in the planning process. Organization and quality management focus on adherence to the strict standards of the supply industry.

With new production and logistical facilities, Ensinger moves closer to the goal of a sustainable orientation for its German producing locations. In Cham, a new architectural landmark extension is constructed. The additional production area, the automated high-bay warehouse and the new administrative suite, primarily benefit the production of building profiles.

After opening an office in Shanghai back in 2002, Ensinger is now also represented by its own producing location in the world’s most densely populated country. By founding the Ensinger Engineering Plastics Company, Ensinger is turning a new page in the Asian success story. From Shanghai, the company produces machined materials to an excellent standard of workmanship to supply this growth market.

President of the Federal Republic of Germany Dr. Horst Köhler confers the Federal Cross of Merit on Wilfried Ensinger in recognition of his extensive contribution to society, culture and science.

The University of Stuttgart confers the title of Honorary Senator on Wilfried Ensinger. This honour pays tribute to his “pioneering engineering achievement in the development of new types of polymer materials, plastics processing techniques and technical castings”. At the same time, this distinction recognises the entrepreneurial success achieved by Wilfried Ensinger and his support for university research and teaching.

Michael Koch leaves the company, to be succeeded some months later on the company Executive Board by Dr. Roland Reber, who has worked for Ensinger previously in the capacity of management consultant.

The artist Otmar Alt designs the “Little Non-conformist”. This sculpture created from 42 high-tech plastics symbolises the company philosophy. With the “Art from Plastic” campaign, Ensinger aims to highlight the creativity needed to drive engineering achievement. Employees are encouraged to think laterally, moving away from established thought patterns and seeking innovative new approaches – to be real non-conformists.

In São Leopoldo at the south-eastern tip of Brazil, the company group inaugurates a new production facility. Ensinger do Brasil sells semi-finished parts and components throughout the whole South American continent.

1998 the Wilfried Ensinger Foundation (today: Wilfried and Martha Ensinger Foundation) was established by the company founder. This foundation supports cultural projects in his home town of Rottenburg, social projects in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, Central and South America, as well as providing funding for budding young scientists in Germany.

Klaus Ensinger and Michael Koch take over the reins of management from Wilfried Ensinger, who continues to provide essential impetus to the strategic direction of the company as Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

At the Austrian location of Lenzing, the subsidiary Ensinger Sintimid produces semi-finished and finished compression moulded parts from polyimides which are suitable for ultra-high temperature applications. Because these high-performance plastics cannot be processed by melting, the method used in their manufacture is sintering.

In the Cham location, a new casting plant is constructed for polyamide mouldings, and in 1994 Ensinger also extends its production portfolio with additional casting plants for semi-finished products. Just under ten years later, the production sectors PA 6G and Nyrim are merged to create the “Cast Nylon” Division.

As a result of the search for a suitable sales support centre in Northern Germany, Ensinger purchases a site in Anröchte. A new administrative headquarters is opened in Nufringen. Following the success of Ensinger Ltd., the Sales Division pushes for additional independent locations abroad: 1989 sees the establishment of Ensinger France S.A.R.L., followed a year later by Ensinger Italia. Over the next decade, a series of other branches is founded in Europe, South America and Asia.

The decentral organization of the company group has created the ethos of a “corporation run by entrepreneurs”, permitting regional differences in customer and market demands to be met with new products and structures.

Ensinger Limited is founded in record time by Wilfried Ensinger and John Speirs in Llantrisant, South Wales. The rapid pace of growth continues in the UK market both as a result of organic expansion and also company acquisitions. In 1994, the company acquires specialist machine shop TRIG Engineering based in Bridgwater.

The company headquarters is now located in Tonyrefail. Today, Europe’s biggest Ensinger subsidiary operates sites in the country’s major economic strongholds with a workforce totaling almost 300.

The first moves towards internationalisation of the company were made back at the start of the eighties, but have ground to a halt. Initially, exports were initiated through agencies in the various countries, but Wilfried Ensinger quickly comes to realise that this type of co-operative arrangement fails to live up to the needs of either the product or the customers. Joint ventures in Switzerland and the USA fail to take off.

It is only by setting up decentralised production in countries with demand that Ensinger is able to achieve a sustainable solution to the problem of exchange rate risk. This realisation moves Wilfried Ensinger to launch another attempt to find a suitable location in the USA in the mid-eighties. By taking the bold step of launching an independent company, Ensinger Inc., with its own newly appointed workforce in Washington/Pennsylvania, the foundation stone is laid for what has now become the Group’s biggest subsidiary.

Over the following years, Ensinger Inc. systematically expands its market position. Today, the workforce at the producing locations in New Jersey, Texas, Connecticut, Delaware and the US Headquarters close to the industrial centre of Pittsburgh totals several hundred.

In order to provide its own customers with an all-round service, Ensinger takes the decision to enter a hotly contested market to establish another key supporting pillar to its business: the focus of its new injection moulding production sector is initially on the production of elements subject to sliding friction in the gear and drive sector. The company had already started with the compounding of raw materials a year previously.

From the end of the seventies onwards, the company enters a headlong phase of growth and expansion. The shortage of specialists available in the greater Stuttgart area moves Ensinger to look further afield and to establish a branch plant in Cham (Oberpfalz region). Machining operations are launched there with a handful of specialists and a modest network of machinery in rented production premises. Only four years on, and Ensinger has already completed the construction of a production hall in the Altenmarkt industrial estate and substantially expanded its payroll. The new thermoplastic materials call for the use of new processing technologies. The transition to large-volume production is achieved with the installation of new computer aided five-axis machining centres.

For some time, the manufacturers of aluminium windows and facades have been seeking solutions for thermal insulation of their metal profiles which will permit compliance with the new, more stringent guidelines on energy saving. In 1974 Ensinger starts the development of an extrusion technology for processing of glass fibre-filled polyamide 6.6 precision profiles. The authorisation requirements and standards are elaborated in parallel, in close cooperation with BASF, Wicona, the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) and the window institute ift Rosenheim. In December 1977, Ensinger delivers the first series-produced thermal insulating profiles. The second extrusion tool is put into operation in July 1978.

Initially manufactured in Nufringen and produced in Cham since 1988, the thermal profiles have grown to become a key pillar of the company’s business portfolio. Since 2001, the product line has been marketed under the brand name insulbar®.

The company begins to expand into new fields of activity with the machining of semi-finished products to produce machine elements and components. Over the years, continuous expansion of the product portfolio turns the company into a leading supplier in the field of high-performance plastics. The application-specific consultancy services it offers to customers right from the early stages of a production project, play a key role in securing the company’s success. Right from the initial foundation of the company, Wilfried Ensinger has his sights set firmly on this enormous market potential.

By relocating the company headquarters from Ehningen to nearby Nufringen, Ensinger is able to multiply its production capacity. Alongside the new building complex for production and management, generously dimensioned storage space is also available at the Rudolf-Diesel-Straße site. By acquiring surrounding warehousing and factory space, the family firm is able to expand at the same location over the following decades.

During the 1960s production of high temperature resistant polymers began in Europe and North America. The processing methods used to produce these new thermoplastics were far from perfected. For instance, there was no way of manufacturing many of the high-quality glass and carbon-filled materials we use today.

After gaining technical and management experiences in industry over several years, Wilfried Ensinger is intrigued by the possibilities surrounding the newly emerging technical plastics and determines to set up a production process for semi-finished products and machine elements of high quality. In 1966, the engineer launches his own company in Ehningen (near Boeblingen). Using a spare garage, he develops new extrusion methods using equipment he designed and constructed himself. From the very beginning, Ensinger works closely with raw material manufacturers and users of plastics.