![[Translate to English:] 90 Jahre AGOFORM Betriebsjubiläum 2018](/fileadmin/_processed_/9/b/csm_agoform-betriebsjubilaeum-2018_b701d0c202.jpg "Betriebsjubilaeum 2018")
In a newly erected production hall in the Gewerbestrasse in Löhne, AGOFORM celebrated its 90th company anniversary together with around 200 invited guests. This year the company will be investing around four million euros. Business is doing well.
Löhne. Standing at the entrance, the bosses Jan Ottensmeyer and Michael Ruprecht hand out a set of drum sticks to each and every guest, without disclosing what they’ll be needed for. That doesn’t matter, the drumming will come later! The party will continue well into the evening. The company invited employees and business partners to celebrate AGOFORM’s 90th anniversary.
“This year we really can talk about excellent timing. Right on time for our company’s anniversary, we are building a new production hall”, says executive partner Jan Ottensmeyer. It’s in this hall, for the most part now completed, that the party will take place.
Around 200 guests, mostly employees with their partners, have been invited. “We have made a conscious decision to place our employees at the forefront of the celebrations. Our thankyou to them for their loyal service”, says Ottensmeyer. In addition to live music, there is also an illusionist, Philo Kotnik, performing tricks to keep the audience spell-bound.
The development of the company is equally spell-binding. Founded back in 1928, AGOFORM is now being run as a family business by the third generation. Whether the fourth generation will eventually take over, is still open to discussion. “My daughters are nine and twelve years old. They’ve got plenty of time to decide, and I’d like to grant them the choice. At the time I was also left to decide for myself“, says Ottensmeyer.
The Löhne-based company is Europe’s largest manufacturer of precision-fitting thermoformed drawer inserts. In 2017, with a 160-strong workforce, it achieved a turnover of thirty million euros. “This year we are anticipating a growth in turnover of three to five percent”, says Managing Director Michael Ruprecht. Growth also requires space to allow production to be expanded. Around four million euros are being invested in the new production hall with a floor space of some 1,500 sqm. In the meantime AGOFORM boasts four sites in the Gewerbestrasse in Löhne Gohfeld. “Fortunately, we still have space here to allow for further expansion”, says Ruprecht.
The economic boom has led to full order books also at AGOFORM. “In recent years we have expanded our production capacity several times, and as a consequence we don’t have any problems with supply bottle necks”, says Ruprecht.
The company has an international footprint. Around 50 % of the products are exported. “That makes us less reliant on the economic situation here in Germany“. Strong growth markets are currently the USA and South America. “We are also seeing strong growth in England, despite Brexit.”
Even a company like AGOFORM sometimes has difficulty finding the right people. “That’s why for us the question of training and apprenticeships is more important than ever”, stresses Ruprecht. Correspondingly, at the end of their training the future prospects for the eleven trainees in the commercial and industrial sectors are looking decidedly good.
It’s a matter of using the drum sticks at the party to create a good sound. The employees, instructed by coaches, and drumming on AGOFORM plastic products, produce tones previously unheard.
by Dirk Windmöller
You can retrieve the original newspaper article (in German) in the Neue Westfälische here.
