Double Anniversary for Theegarten-Pactec

The year 2014 will see Theegarten-Pactec mark two milestones in its corporate history. It was 80 years ago that Justus and Franz Theegarten founded the company Rose-Theegarten, and 20 years ago that their successors took over Pactec in Dresden.

The company's beginnings date back to the 1920s. This was the decade in which Englishman William Rose first met the Theegarten family from Cologne. Rose was seeking a German distribution partner for the packaging machines made by his company, Rose Brothers. Not only did the families agree on matters of business, they also struck up a friendship. Justus Theegarten sent his son Franz to do a two-year apprenticeship with Rose Brothers in the British town of Gainsborough.

The father and son team founded their family-owned business Rose-Theegarten in 1934. They were licensed to manufacture Rose Brothers machines. The Rose-Theegarten corporation was a cosmopolitan and innovative firm. Alongside their British counterparts, the engineers in Cologne worked meticulously to refine the technology. The company was a success and the workforce grew to number almost 50 staff within a few short years.

The company remains a family enterprise to this day. It is now managed by Markus Rustler, the fourth generation of the family, together with Dr. Egbert Röhm. Supported by a workforce currently numbering 350, they are taking Theegarten-Pactec to the next level. They are aided in this endeavor by three sources of historical strength. The Theegarten-Pactec portfolio encompasses a particularly diverse range of machines for the primary packaging of confectionery. An excellent distribution network ensures the company's presence in all of the world's major markets. And the engineering side of the business has traditionally been accorded huge significance. "Demand is always shifting; we never quite know what aspects our customers are going to focus on next, neither the region nor the type of confectionery and its packaging," explains Markus Rustler. He goes on to say, "The variety of products we offer, our high level of innovation and our international market presence put us, as an independent family business, in a position to master this challenge."

Milestones and perspectives
The foundations for this good positioning were laid by the previous generations at Rose-Theegarten and at Pactec and Nagema. The names of Markus Rustler's parents, Christa Rustler-Theegarten and Erhard Rustler, are synonymous with a development that was to be a significant turning point for Rose-Theegarten. In the early 1970s they started up a global sales organisation, which they used to push internationalisation. Just how successful they were in their efforts is shown by a snapshot in time from the mid-1980s, when 5 percent of sales came from within Germany, 20 percent was generated in Europe and a whole 75 percent originated in countries outside the European Economic Area, including North Africa, the Republic of South Africa, Indonesia, the USA, Iraq, Pakistan and Iran.

It is to the dedication of Christa Rustler-Theegarten, Erhard Rustler and Gerd Schwarze, the Managing Director of Pactec, that the company owes its successful merger in 1994. A former division of the East German state-owned combine Nagema, Pactec brought in the former CIS states and allied nations as a sales region for the corporation.

The Pactec machine range also provided the ideal complement for the Rose-Theegarten portfolio. Rose-Theegarten's strength lay in its forming, cutting and wrapping machines for chewing gum. Models from the U range were especially in demand world-wide. Pactec's focus was on hard caramels. The engineers in Dresden were particularly skilled in continuous motion high speed wrapping machines. The EK model range was technically very innovative and, indeed, the flagship from Dresden, it's application being the wrapping of hard caramels in double twist wrap.

Theegarten-Pactec is continually building on these strengths. The EK4 wrapping machine can now achieve 2,300 operating cycles per minute. The MCC and MCH are continuous motion machines that operate at high speed and also enable the wrapping style to be changed. The FPH5, FPW5 and FPC5 horizontal flowpack machines share a product platform and feature modular main assemblies, enabling the machines to be adapted to customer needs. And the choice of machine solutions for chocolates has increased greatly. Now, 80 years after its inception and 20 after the acquisition of Pactec, the company is about to set a new milestone: the production and administration departments are soon set to get a new home built for them at their current site in Dresden. The ground-breaking ceremony will take place in spring 2014. In making this investment, Theegarten-Pactec is creating scope for further growth.

Source: Theegarten-Pactec