Next year, the Thimm Group celebrates its 70th anniversary. One year after the company was founded, Walter Felix Thimm started his own corrugated cardboard production. The following generations continued to develop the packaging company, which is now expanding its contract packaging division, with determination. Today it is one of the international industry leaders.
The Thimm Group sees itself as one of the pioneers in the industry, thanks to the early establishment of its own European sales network in neighbouring countries, the introduction of a high-quality packaging printing process in the 1970s and, since 1990, the expansion of the company to include Central and Eastern European locations as well as consistent specialisation and a focus on key accounts. In 2010, the company also expanded its range of print products for industrial processing through a strategic partnership with a print company and its complete takeover in 2016. These developments and a wide range of packaging-related services have made Thimm a sought-after partner in the packaging industry. Multiplayer.
Provider of products and services
As a leading solution provider for the packaging and distribution of goods and with a current annual turnover of around 570 million euros, more than 3,000 employees at 19 locations in Germany, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, France and Mexico, the company has been operating under the umbrella brand of THIMM - THE HIGHPACK GROUP. Its customers include well-known branded goods groups from all sectors. The portfolio includes transport and sales packaging made of corrugated cardboard, high-quality displays and complete packaging systems using various combinations of materials.
Thimm Packaging Systems is the result of a dynamic growth strategy. In 2013, the Bremen site was opened as another part of the service network after Nordhausen and Neuburg. The aim behind this is to supply customers as flexibly as possible through a strong market presence. It was therefore logical that the company has now also dedicated itself to co-packing at the two new production sites in the Bremen freight village (GVZ) and the port of Duisburg since 2013.
Bremen location
The Bremen plant is located in the Bremen freight village, the largest freight village in Germany and an important transshipment centre for goods, which opens up the northern German market and also has ideal connections to international freight transport. This makes the Thimm Packaging Systems network even more efficient and also gives it a clear competitive advantage. It has an area of almost 20,000 square metres and employs around 80 people. Almost all of the machinery is also available at two other locations, which means that it can be customised to meet customer requirements and deliveries are guaranteed even in emergencies.
The northern German plant produces Multi-material packaging systems for optimised distribution and order picking of a wide range of goods, from complex automotive parts to sensitive electronic devices and small accessories. „For regional companies, we offer the advantage of the shortest transport routes,“ explains Jörg Struß, who manages the plant in Bremen. „With our high storage capacity, we can set up buffer stocks from which customers can call up the packaging they need at extremely short notice.“
The range of services offered by Thimm Packaging Systems begins with the development of the packaging. Protection, costs and environmental compatibility are the decisive criteria here. „We work independently of materials and can therefore always use the most suitable raw materials for the customer's requirements. These include solid board, corrugated board, foam, wood, plastic and special protective films. Anything that cannot be produced in-house is sourced from qualified partners,“ explains Jürgen Düvel, Managing Director of Thimm Packaging Systems. The order quantities that can be realised at Thimm Packaging Systems range from one piece to large orders for which additional systems are procured.
In Bremen, the main focus is on processing various types of foam. The plant is supplemented by punching machines and a machine for processing cardboard.
Examples of customised co-packing
Plant manager Struß cites a typical example of co-packing: „For our customer Overath, for example, we packed over 500,000 sets of fitness balls and rollers,“ he reports. „As the goods were destined for a retail campaign by discounters in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Portugal and all of these countries have different packing regulations, we ended up with over 50 set types arrived. The units were then combined in export packaging, palletised and sent to Overath's logistics centres or collected directly from the retail chains“ logistics centres."
An important customer segment for Thimm Packaging Systems is the Automotive and supplier industry are a major challenge. For example, several lorries a day are delivered to a local car manufacturer with packaging for car parts that are sent overseas from Germany via the ports of Bremen. New packaging can be ordered and called off by the customer within 24 hours. Thimm took over the production and procurement of components for disposable packaging for a supplier to the automotive industry. Thimm also assembled the sheet metal parts to be dispatched from reusable containers into this disposable packaging. For the packing service, the sheet metal parts were delivered to the Thimm site in Nordhausen in reusable steel containers. The employees repacked the parts into the newly produced disposable packaging. This not only reduced the logistics and transport costs, but also allowed the customer's storage space to be utilised differently. The goods are made available for collection or delivered on time. All emptied reusable containers are recycled by Thimm and then returned to the customer.
Also in the Mail order industry co-packing is in demand. In the annual campaign of the florist „Flower 2000“ Thimm took over the co-packing, which consisted of both packing and sending Mother's Day gifts. In addition to the flower orders in the online shop, customers could also order chocolates and sparkling wine. Blume 2000„ delivered all products to Thimm Packaging Systems. These services could be processed thanks to the connection to the “Blume 2000„ ordering system. As soon as an order arrived, the goods were packaged in the packaging developed by Thimm. By outsourcing the packaging processes, “Blume 2000„ was able to utilise its warehouse space for other purposes and at the same time flexibly manage peaks in demand.
„The structure of Thimm Packaging Systems is unique in our industry,“ explains Jürgen Düvel, Managing Director of Thimm Packaging Systems. „This is also strengthened by the fact that, as a Thimm Group company, we are part of a leading solution provider for the packaging and distribution of goods.“
