“Die Niedermühle”
is build by Bernhardt von Hermsdorf in the Polenztal valley. The water mill uses the closeby river to grind grains for bread.

(Model of the original Corn Mill)

New cutting unit
The mill gets equipped with a cutting unit. From now on it is used as a saw to cut wood.

Rising demand
Clemens Feodor Theile acquires the mill and due to the rising demand of paper board converts it into a cardboard factory.

The factory
The first molded pulp products are produced in the factory.

(Below, the factory is shown with its characteristic hexagon water tower.)

Company falls into the Soviet sector
After the second world war, the company falls into the Soviet sector. The owner family gets expropriated and the company gets converted into the state owned VEB Hartpappenwerk. From now on it produces cardboard that is used for car parts for the Trabant, a small automobile which was produced by former East German car manufacturer VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau, as well as backwalls for TVs. The molded pulp production is entirely focused on loudspeaker cones.

(Speaker cone from molded pulp)

700th anniversary
The village celebrates its 700th year anniversary! The factory, a symbol of economic success, is shown below in the background.

Near bankruptcy
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reunion of Germany, the company struggles financially and is almost run into bankruptcy.

(In 1991: the factory is nearly run down into ruin.)

Production is resumed
The former plant managers Wolfgang Laube and Peter Ziebeil acquire the company from the state and start up production again. They now produce speaker cones and floral products from molded pulp. They Change the company name to Fasergusswerk für Akustikbauteile GmbH.

(Wolfgang Laube: Owner and MD of FGW)

New company Pulp-Tec
1100 miles away in Glasgow Scotland, a highly skilled team of passionate people around Gary Shaw started a new company called Pulp-Tec Limited to design and supply customers with innovative high-quality pulp packaging solutions. At this time there is no connection between the two companies. It will take another ten years before they get in contact with each other.

(Gary Shaw: Owner and Managing Director of Pulp-Tec Limited)

Acquisition
The owners of FGW look for a long term progression to the next generation. By chance they get in contact with the Jaeger family. The company gets acquired and a transition plan for the next generation is put into motion, combining experience with fresh blood.

(Franz & Friederich Jaeger)

Fasergusswerk
The operation is streamlined and the company obtains and a new corporate identity.

Irish producer stops pulp operation
The Irish peat producer Erin decides to stop its pulp operation and FGW acquires their equipment, expertise, and customer base. Most importantly, a long-term friendship and partnership with the MD John Molloy and owner Richard Grimmer is formed. In the same year in the UK, Richard Grimmer together with Ronan Lynch and James Gallacher create MFP Moulded Fibre Products. MFP will soon become FGW’s most valuable alliance partner.

Peat bog in Ireland
John Molloy, Bernard O‘Connell, Franz Jaeger and Richard Grimmer on a peat bog in Ireland.

New machines
FGW invests into two state of the art fully automated molded pulp machines and quadruples its production capacity.

(Unloading the machine at the FGW factory)

Large customer in Poland
Pulp-Tec wins a large customer in Poland and choses FGW as its manufacturing partner; however, the onboarding of the customer reveals that its requirements exceed the production capacities of FGW. At the same, the American company Veritiv / UGS retreat from the Polish market. FGW takes over the existing production facility in Lodz and sets up a new company for the Polish market: PulPack.

Join forces
Through addition joint projects the collaboration between FGW and Pulp-Tec intensifies and owners of both firms decide to join forces. From now on Pulp-Tec, PulPack and FGW merge and become the one group.

(Top: Friederich Jaeger and Gary Shaw // Bottom: Gary Shaw and Franz Jaeger)

A new level of output
To bring the Polish factory to a new level of output and professional management, Sebastian Zywczak (formerly Manager of Operations at MFP in UK) is hired and becomes MD of PulPack.

(Contract signing in 2019)

New building
To expand the UK Pulp-Tec site, a new building is acquired and the company moves to its new home, close to Glasgow. Gary Shaw and close friend James Gallacher inspect the new building.

Patric Lothmann becomes MD at FGW
To foster the independent strength of each company, Patric Lothmann becomes MD at FGW, cooperating closely with his colleague, Ute Jantschke.

pulp-tec
The corporate identity of all three companies are aligned under the Pulp-Tec brand.