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From the economic miracle to the 2nd millennium - 60 years of Südwestkarton, the southernmost Panther Plant

Südwestkarton GmbH & Co. KG in Illingen (near Stuttgart), which has been part of the Panther Group since 1968, is now celebrating its 60th anniversary in November. The location was founded in 1961 under the company name HeBu (Heinrich Bullinger Wellpappen-Fabrik); at the time of the ongoing economic miracle in Germany, the company supplied numerous industrial customers with corrugated board packaging and played its part in the overall economic upswing. A comparison of numbers from the beginning makes this clear: At the beginning of 1964, the company produced approx. 800 m² of packaging material per month.

In November 1967 the capacity was already two million square meters per month. With the increasing quality and quantity requirements of the customer groups, the signs have been continuously pointing to growth, innovation and the expansion of the range of services since the company was founded, but especially since the 1970s. At the beginning of the 2nd millennium, the expansion of production capacities and automation picked up speed again.

As a subsidiary of Panther Packaging GmbH & Co. KG, Südwestkarton is the southernmost location of the Panther Group. Due to its strategically good location near the industrial city of Stuttgart, Südwestkarton serves its customers in south-west Germany as well as in France, Austria and Switzerland.

The wide range of services extends from corrugated cardboard sheets to die-cut packaging, folding boxes to multi-point glued packaging, also with self-adhesive closure for the mail order business. A wide variety of industries are supplied with the packaging developed in-house. System and process advice are just as much part of the service as high-quality print finishing using the flexo preprint and direct printing processes. The Panther Plant in Illingen is certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001 and DIN EN 14001, DIN EN ISO 22000, DIN EN ISO 45001 and DIN EN ISO 50001. In accordance with the FSC® Chain of Custody, Südwestkarton offers its customers the use of FSC® materials. Working according to FEFCO-GMP is also implemented.

One of the current growth areas of the Panther Group and especially of Südwestkarton is the production of individually developed packaging solutions for online trade. In addition, the experts are sought-after partners for industrial customers who ship sensitive goods - the customer base here ranges from start-ups to large corporations.

With the extensive investment program of the last few years, Südwestkarton has once again significantly expanded its printing and processing capacities. The company premises have long since grown many times over since it was founded. In addition to high-quality, sophisticated production, modern technology also ensures environmentally friendly and employee-friendly, safe production.

Parallel to plant investments, this Panther Plant has traditionally consistently focused on training and further education. The promotion of young talent is based on the successful training (m/f/d) of machine and plant operators, packaging technologists, industrial clerks, specialists for warehouse logistics, industrial mechanics and electronics technicians for industrial engineering, among others. The first employee is currently completing his dual master’s degree – Master of Arts – General Business Management. The two dual bachelor's degree courses in the fields of economy and engineering have been part of the training spectrum at Südwestkarton for years.

Thanks to very well-trained employees, state-of-the-art technology and the ongoing passion for corrugated cardboard packaging, Südwestkarton is looking forward to the coming years with great confidence and is tackling the challenges of the future.

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