Hassias' 70th anniversary - open doors

In bright sunshine, Thomas Becker, CEO and co-owner of Hassia, welcomed the numerous visitors to the event, including the mayor of Ranstadt, Mrs. Reichert-Dietzel, Dr. Leder from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Mr. Fink from the VDMA and representatives of the local associations. The daughter of the company founder Karl Klein, Mrs Sabine Schwarzer, was also among the guests.

During his brief review of the company’s history, Mr. Becker was also able to personally welcome an employee of the first hour: Mr. Bernd Hofmann had started working at Hassia on 16 October 1953. As a memento, Mr Becker presented him with a copy of the booklet ‘Founding Years of Hassia’.

Hassia can be described as ‘the cradle’ of the Hessian packaging industry. Hassia gave rise to companies such as: Hastamat, Preva, Redatron, Rovema, Wolf.

In the history of Hassia there have of course been ups and downs – both economically and in the product area, e.g. technologies were sold off, e.g. the vertical form fill and seal sector. Today, Hassia belongs to the Italian IMA Group with about 7,000 employees. IMA is one of the largest packaging machine manufacturers in the world and the outlook with this partner at its side brings great economic security for the future.

Siegfried Wacker, Managing Director of Hassia, gave a brief overview of the machine portfolio. At Hassia, form, fill and seal machines for cups as well as vertical FFS machines for stick packs and sachets are and were designed and built. With the integration of the HAMBA brand in 2019, filling and sealing machines for pre-made cups are also built in Ranstadt.

Products packaged on Hassia machines can be found in supermarkets all over the world. Many of today’s packaging containers used around the world have their origins in the Ranstadt think tank: for example, the double chamber cup, the refreshment towel, mustard and ketchup in sachets, the blister, portion cups for jam, butter, etc.

Today, Hassia stands on three technological pillars:

1. Thermoforming machines that meet a high technological standard, including high-quality sterilisation.
2. Filling and sealing machines that offer enormous flexibility in terms of material usage.
3. Vertical form, fill and seal machines for flexible packaging (stick packs and sachets).

With all these technologies Hassia offers today, work is being done in collaboration with customers to put them on a sustainable basis so the packaging materials used can be fully recycled. The aim here is to make a sustainable contribution to a circular economy.

In the assembly hall, the visitors were able to have a look on some machines live in action and the employees of the electrical as well as of the mechanical design department presented interesting demonstrations.

In the aseptic laboratory, the employees explained the hygiene tests that are carried out before an aseptic machine is delivered to the factory and later on when the site-acceptance-test is made at the customers site.

Hassia is an important employer in the region and offers apprenticeships for various professions as well as dual study places. People could find out more about this at the HR information booth.