History: film manufacturer with experience

Saxony-Anhalt, the home state of the film manufacturer from Wolfen, looks back on a long tradition in the chemical and plastics industry. During the time of the German Democratic Republic, the Leuna and Bitterfeld sites were known worldwide for brown coal products, fine chemicals, but also for paints and films such as packaging films.

Along with other well-known suppliers such as AGFA and Kodak, the ORWO film factory was one of the pioneers in the production of biaxially stretched polyester films as a basis for phototechnical films and X-ray films. Until reunification, over 40,000 people worked in the coal and chemical industries and their further processing in the Bitterfeld-Wolfen region.

Foundation and the first years

With reunification and the changed economic conditions, these industrial sectors largely came to a standstill. Folienwerk Wolfen GmbH was founded in the spring of 1991 as one of the first companies by former employees of the ORWO film factory in Wolfen. It was Mr. Wolfgang Maxdorf, former technical manager of foundry 6 in the film factory, and Seufert Transparente Verpackung GmbH who brought their interests and know-how together and revolutionized the packaging market with innovative multi-layer films.

Shortly after the delivery of the first co-extrusion system, high-quality transparent PET films and packaging films for the folding box and printing industries were produced in the halls of the ORWO film factory. This made the film factory one of the pioneers of film manufacturing and established a valuable ecological alternative to PVC film. From the very beginning, the possibilities of increasing efficiency through recycling of PET film material were also used and cleaned edge strips and punched grids were reintroduced into the process.

Healthy growth over many years

In parallel to film production, production of slip lids and deep-drawn parts was established in 1991 to complement film production for folding boxes. This made it possible to create additional valuable jobs, particularly for the region's female workforce. From an initial 28 employees in the year of its foundation, the film manufacturer's workforce has grown to more than 120 employees.

A total of eight extrusion lines with an annual capacity of over 20,000 tons are now available in the new company premises on Guardianstrasse. Over the course of its history, the Wolfen film plant has developed into an important employer in the Bitterfeld-Wolfen region. In addition to the new production hall built in 2016, the company premises also have space for further expansion.