Monographie Bonn-Rhein-Sieg

BONN/RHEIN-SIEG PLASTICS REGION – A GLOBAL TRENDSETTER
Mobile phones, steering wheels, shampoo bottles and
Tupperware containers – it’s almost impossible to
imagine everyday life without plastic. And it’s just as hard
to imagine the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg economic region without
plastic. Not only was plastic history written here but
a diverse and strong plastics scene has established itself
in the course of the past decades. And this scene is borne
by far more than 100 large, medium-sized and small
plastic producers, processors, machine builders and toolmakers,
in addition to education and research establishments.
Bonn is considered the nucleus of blow moulding. Or, to be
more precise: the transfer of blow moulding from glass to
plastic. Blow moulding is a procedure used for manufac -
turing hollow bodies made of thermoplastic synthetics.
Reinold Hagen, founder of the Kautex plants in Bonn-Holzlar,
had the technology patented in May 1950. Here, for instance,
in 1950, the worldwide first seamlessly blown large
container was created by using a 10-litre balloon made of
polyethylene. A few years later, this was followed by the first
approved spare canister made of plastic, and in 1966, the
first petrol tank made of plastic worldwide – a prototype for
Ford. In 1973, vehicles were equipped with Kautex petrol
tanks as a serial feature for the first time.
One company became two – and to this very day, both are
still heavyweights at the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg plastic location.
Kautex Maschinenbau GmbH is an indispensable partner for
a large number of processors of plastic. The company develops
and builds machines for all important blow moulding
technology application segments – covering everything
from the automotive industry right up to industrial and
consumer packaging. Kautex Maschinenbau is considered
a global leader in the segment of machines used for
the manufacture of fuel containers made of plastic. In turn,
KAUTEX TEXTRON is one of the top 100 automotive sup -
pliers worldwide. Its core activity is in the manufacture of
plastic tank systems for virtually all automobile manufac -
turers. Recently, the product range has been expanded to
include storage tanks for alternative propulsion systems, for
instance for hybrid tanks or hydrogen pressure tanks.
Troisdorf: from Dynamit Nobel until this day
Only a few kilometre separates Holzlar from Troisdorf, the
present day plastics branch’s other place of origin. Dynamit
Nobel is considered responsible for this – back in the 1970s,
the global player still provided jobs to more than 10,000
people. Important developments in the plastics sector are
associated with Dynamit Nobel.
The original company no longer exists. Yet, therefore – also
thanks to the proximity to Dynamit Nobel, Kautex and
others – numerous additional plastic companies have arisen
at the Troisdorf location. The plastics competence centre,
which is a part of business development, has about 50
industry-affiliated companies in Troisdorf. The product range
covers everything from special films for laminated safety
glass in vehicles, to buildings and solar panels, right up to
the recycling of plastic waste that is created during pro -
duction and ground to granulate with a great variety of
different properties. These varieties of granulate are in turn
used in the production cycle.
The Reifenhäuser Group has a particularly strong commitment
to the location, and it is one of the large “hidden champions”
in the region: with technologies and components for
plastic extrusion, the company makes it possible for its
customers to produce films, fleeces, monofilaments and
timber-polymer composite profiles. Based on its turnover,
Reifenhäuser is considered the largest extrusion line manufacturer
worldwide.
Good location conditions
In Bonn and the Rhein-Sieg district as well as the surrounding
area, the companies affiliated to the plastics branch
benefit from an excellent reservoir of junior staff. To date, the
recruiting of young specialists has been less difficult than
elsewhere.
For instance, at the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg University of Applied
Sciences there are two interesting faculties in particular for
the local plastic companies: the faculty for “Electrical Engi-
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