The Jülich-based family business Gissler & Pass specialises in customised, creative packaging and display solutions made from corrugated cardboard. To this day, the business area of sales-promoting packaging accounts for the largest share of sales. The primary goal is to ensure that customers are successful with their products at the highly competitive PoS.
Thomas Gissler-Weber is now the fourth generation to run a company that has existed almost as long as corrugated cardboard itself. In 1882, just a few years after the invention of the new material, his great-grandfather Hermann Gissler founded a paper finishing company together with his cousin Carl Wilhelm Pass. Grandfather Walther Gissler recognised the Future potential of corrugated board and bought the Jülich corrugated cardboard business of the English company Thompson & Norris in 1924. This made Gissler & Pass a pioneer in corrugated cardboard production on the European mainland.
Strong sense of togetherness
Thomas Gissler-Weber never got to know his grandfather. But his father, Dr Richard Gissler-Weber, told him as a child about the golden age of reconstruction, which was wiped out by complete destruction in the bombing raids of the Second World War. His grandfather found the courage and strength to rebuild - and he did this primarily for his employees. Walther Gissler sold plots of land to buy grain for his employees. They thanked him with their labour and helped to rebuild the factory brick by brick. This sense of togetherness and responsibility for one another has endured to this day.
Production at Gissler & Pass restarted in 1949. In 1954, Dr Richard Gissler-Weber, the third generation, joined the family business. His first plan was to create a branch factory. Dr Richard Gissler-Weber's search for a suitable production site to supply customers from northern Germany ended in Rodenberg in 1960. Guided by industrial offers and labour assessments, this community was considered the ideal location for a branch plant of the Jülich corrugated board company. The production hall, which was completed in 1961, measured an impressive 115 x 35 metres and, in addition to smaller machines for corrugated cardboard processing, included the 87-metre-long corrugator as its centrepiece.
Promotional packaging
Thomas Gissler-Weber is still grateful to his forefathers for choosing Jülich as a location: „Even today, the establishment of our company in the city triangle of Cologne, Aachen and Düsseldorf - the most densely populated conurbation in Germany - is proving to be industrially and logistically advantageous. With a delivery radius of 500 to 800 kilometres, we reach all industries and the decision-making centres of many European consumer goods manufacturers.“
The company's orientation is still valid today, Customised problem solutions offering its customers solutions that meet the requirements of tomorrow has been clear since the early days when the possibilities of corrugated board as a great material for customised packaging solutions were recognised.
The acquisition of Dürener Druck und Verpackungsgesellschaft DDV in 1963 and the resulting expansion of the production programme to include offset-laminated packaging was a key example of this orientation. „From that moment on, we were at home in the field of branded goods and in the environment of marketing and promotional packaging. The move has brought us together with renowned regional and national branded goods manufacturers and strong private label producers in the confectionery, consumer electronics, cosmetics and chemicals sectors.“
To this day, the business division of promotional packaging Gissler & Pass generates 75 % of its turnover with marketing-oriented packaging that has a white outer cover, while 60 % of its products are printed in three or more colours. A quarter of turnover comes from the display business. Construction of the Lorsbeck plant began in 1970. The aim was to relocate the corrugated cardboard production from Jülich there and to bring the Dürener Druck und Verpackungsgesellschaft DDV to the factory in Jülich. One year later, Gissler & Pass had the most modern and largest corrugated cardboard plant in the world.
Setting trends with developments
The packaging developers at Gissler & Pass began working with CAD programmes back in 1984. Today, numerous packaging developers work at the company's two sites in Jülich and Rodenberg (near Hanover). In the design phase, alternatives are planned and calculated electronically through all optimisation stages. Each sample is digitally developed, precisely plotted and corresponds to the later series in terms of design and function.
Thanks to modern technical equipment, customised packaging and display solutions can be produced using all common printing processes. It is not uncommon for the development and design process to end with a Award-winning solution For example, a modular packaging system developed for cookware manufacturer Fissler won the German Packaging Award 2012 and also the German Design Award 2014 for outstanding design quality.
„Of course we follow the trends in our industry. But much more important to us, set trends yourself. And we often develop solutions that our customers only use later. But trends have already developed from this on several occasions,“ emphasises Thomas Gissler-Weber.
For example, a multiflute corrugator was purchased at both company sites to produce packaging made from fine flutes or unusual paper and flute combinations, such as C/F or E/F flutes, and in 1999 the company was the first in Europe to present products in G and F flutes in direct offset printing.
Expanded service portfolio
At the turn of the millennium, the corrugated board specialist expands its service portfolio once again: a facility for display construction and co-packing is inaugurated in Jülich-Kirchberg. In 2007, the Jülich plant commissions a new system for laminating large-format double corrugated board with a working width of 1,620 x 1,620 mm.
One year later, the new central offset printing plant is inaugurated at the headquarters, which has been supplying the two laminating plants in Jülich and Rodenberg ever since. In addition to three state-of-the-art printing presses from MAN Roland (6 format/1,000 x 1,410 mm and 7B Plus format/1,260 x 1,620 mm), it has a modern storage and logistics concept, an automated colour laboratory and a central ink supply system. The installation of the two XXL printing presses in 7B Plus format was unique in European packaging printing at the time.
The latest new development: at both sites, the company produces a white so-called „Hygiene wave“, a new development that is characterised by its special look and feel. Gissler & Pass uses bleached white kraftliner material in the ceiling panels and the corrugation. The completely waste paper-free material is an alternative to solid board and is ideal for use in the food industry. The „hygiene flute“ fulfils the requirements of EC Regulation 1935/2004 (direct food contact / traceability) and EU Regulation 2023/2006 (GMP in production). The specialist currently holds a total of five certifications (quality management according to ISO 9001:2008, environmental management according to ISO 14001:2004, hygiene management - GMPFEFCO standard, energy management according to ISO 50001:2011, FSC - Forest Stewardship Council).
Close cooperation with customers
Customers appreciate the structures of the medium-sized company. „Our decision-making processes are short and independent, and we can adapt to individual customer requirements. By working closely with our customers and on the market, we are able to identify the requirements of consumers and retailers at an early stage and help to fulfil them and offer appropriate solutions. Once we have gained a customer, we generally do not lose them again. We take care of packaging, printing and logistics and invest when we deem it necessary, without having to call on headquarters in distant corporate centres to make our decisions.“
Besides Flexibility and Responsiveness be the Exact delivery at the exact time eanother important advantage of the medium-sized company. Derived from the seasonal display business, this Just-in-time concept extended to the entire packaging business.
Expansion of Rodenberg site
The first major expansion of the Rodenberg site took place in 2002 and resulted in a doubling of the original production area. This led the plant into new production areas, so that after a good ten years the plant had reached its capacity limit again. A new, comprehensive investment programme for the site was decided in order to increase efficiency, create additional capacity and secure long-term performance.
The aim of this investment of around €15 million is to expand the Rodenberg plant into a Competence centre for just-in-time production of high-quality, multi-colour flexo and offset printed packaging and displays. The project started in September 2013 and the large extension and modern building and production technology have now been completed. With this investment programme, the Rodenberg plant will be one of the leading plants in the field of just-in-time deliveries thanks to its technical, productivity and logistics capabilities. At the same time, the Lorsbeck plant in Jülich is also being expanded and upgraded. The production programme, machinery and equipment are identical at both sites.
Well equipped for the future
As in other manufacturing companies, the corrugated cardboard industry is also undergoing Automation and poses greater challenges for staff. It is becoming increasingly important to train, promote and develop highly qualified staff within the company. Gissler & Pass meets this challenge through the Education committed young people in the fields of industrial clerk, packaging technologist and printing media technologist as well as through Structured further training opportunities.
Today, Gissler & Pass employs around 470 people, many of whom are the second or third generation to work for the company. „We are not just our family's company, our company is a family,“ says the company boss. Staff turnover in the company is very low, which in turn means a high level of service consistency for customers.
[infotext icon]Gissler & Pass is a family business in its fourth generation. In addition to its headquarters in Jülich with four plants, the company operates another site near Hanover. As a development partner for international branded companies and strong retail brands in the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) sector, the company manufactures, prints and finishes transport and promotional packaging, counter and shelf boxes, floor and pallet displays as well as corrugated cardboard advertising materials in all flute types and all standard printing and finishing processes (offset, flexo pre-print, flexo post-print, digital printing, varnishing, finishing). In the 2014 financial year, the company generated sales of around 97 million euros[/infotext].
