News of WISCHEMANN Group

Sometimes apprenticeship pathways do not go as planned. Due to operational reasons, Samuel Berteit could no longer remain with his previous company, but we were delighted to welcome the nineteen-year-old at our team and are continuing the journey together towards a successful qualification. In the first few weeks, Samuel has already had a chance to get an insight into our various production areas and is currently working on one of our inliner machines. No doubt he will also have the opportunity to work in his favourite area, the extrusion machines. Dear Samuel, we say a warm welcome to the VACU-form team and are pleased to have you with us!

In the photo from left: Samuel Berteit, trainer Marius Sowa

Instead of giving large Christmas gifts to customers, we at the WISCHEMANN Group traditionally donate to a good cause. This year, we have chosen to support children and young people and are donating €2,500 to terra nova in Ochtrup, for example, whose facilities provide a home and reliable support for 197 children and young people with challenging backgrounds. They are now enjoying a new outdoor ping-pong table and recreational educational activities – and we are delighted to have been able to help. Another €2,500 went to the Haus Patria facilities in Salzbergen, Haddorf and Ohne in the form of bicycles and games.

We wish all residents and staff at the facilities, as well as our business partners and our employees, a wonderful Christmas season!

In the photo, from left: Ulrich Specht (Managing Director of Terra Nova), Franjo Lahrkamp (Technical Director, WISCHEMANN)

Instead of giving large Christmas gifts to customers, we at the WISCHEMANN Group traditionally donate to a good cause. This year, we chose to support children and young people, including those at Haus Patria in Salzbergen, Haddorf and Ohne, where young people with challenging backgrounds find a home and reliable support. VACU-form’s Managing Director Christian Herdering was delighted to hand over four bicycles and lots of new games for the facilities, with a total value of €2,500. WISCHEMANN donated a further €2,500 to the terra nova facilities in Ochtrup for a new outdoor ping-pong table and leisure activities.

We wish all residents and staff at the facilities, as well as our business partners and our employees, a wonderful Christmas season!

In the photo, from left to right: Frank Tann (Managing Director, Patria), Noah, Christian Herdering (Technical Managing Director, VACU-form), Angelina, Theresa Heckel (Facility Manager, Haddorf)

At the invitation of the Emsachse Plastics Network (many thanks!), our trainee Tom Konermann and project manager Thomas Schütz from technical development, together with many other trainees and their companions, had the opportunity to explore the K plastics trade fair in Düsseldorf – with great dialogue, exciting insights into the future of the industry and an interesting panel discussion on the topic of recycling. Conclusion: a great day – and 35,000 steps full of impressions! Of course, some of our other colleagues are also visiting K – so that we are always up-to-date!

At VACU-form, we are busy planning, printing, packing and looking forward to seeing you as we will be exhibiting at three trade fairs in the coming months:

• September 23–25, 2025 Fachpack in Nuremberg (booth 4-152)
• October 21–23, 2025 Automotive Interiors Expo in Detroit, USA (booth A704)
• November 9–15, 2025 Agritechnica in Hanover (booth 17 E67)

WISCHEMANN Kunststoff GmbH has been awarded the Committed badge by EcoVadis, the world's largest provider of sustainability rankings for companies.

Since its foundation in 2007, EcoVadis has assessed more than 150,000 international companies. The provider's goal is to ‘deliver reliable, globally recognised sustainability assessments and insights that enable all companies to reduce risk, drive improvement and accelerate positive impact on our planet and society.’

EcoVadis assesses companies according to 21 corporate social responsibility criteria, which are divided into four thematic areas: environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement.

For us, receiving this badge is the best motivation to continue on our path towards a green and sustainable future.

From 30 August to 19 September 2025, it's time to get on the bike and rack up the kilometres in Salzbergen! Every kilometre cycled counts in City Cycling - for the environment, the personal fitness and the community.

VACU-form is supporting the campaign with a donation of 5 pence per kilometre cycled to the Salzbergen Community Foundation (max. € 1,500). Of course, we are also participating as Team VACU-form.

A new training year has begun and there is a breath of fresh air at VACU-form too: we welcome Tom Konermann to his apprenticeship for a technical product designer with us! After a few weeks, we check in to see how he is getting on, and Tom's initial verdict is ‘Really good!’ He is particularly impressed by his colleagues, the exciting foundational learning and the good working atmosphere. He is currently working with his colleagues on projects in the agricultural machinery and packaging sectors, learning right from the start how his work directly influences the products.

We warmly welcome you to the VACU-form team and wish you a great apprenticeship with us, Tom! And if you would like to know what other apprenticeships are available at VACU-form, we recommend taking a look at our website for prospective apprentices: www.werdewischemann.de.

Two fantastic developments from the WISCHEMANN team:

Elias Mondkowsky has successfully completed his training as a plastics and rubber technologist – despite changing training places shortly before his intermediate examination. We are delighted that he has settled in so well with us and will continue to be part of the team!

Ingo Eisfeld has also successfully completed his examination to become an industrial foreman specialising in plastics and rubber technology. His development at WISCHEMANN from temporary worker to process mechanic trainee to his current position in work preparation is impressive – a career that we have been happy to support (also financially).

We congratulate both of you and are proud of you!

In the photo: André Dieck (Head of Inliner Department), Ingo Eisfeld, Elias Mondkowsky, Berthold Janning (Head of Thermoforming Department), Markus Sondermann (Production Manager).

We have upgraded the heating technology at our warehouse and office location across from the main building. The old fossil fuel heating system has been removed and replaced with a modern heat pump – more climate-friendly, more sustainable and simply more in tune with the times. One more step in our strategy to conserve resources and reduce CO₂ emissions.

Our region is close to our hearts - as is sport. That's why we are delighted to be able to provide the SVA Salzbergen 1st men's team with new jerseys and thus contribute to the team spirit.

We wish the team a successful season and are delighted to be a part of it.

This year, the WISCHEMANN team once again took part in the ‘City Cycling in Ochtrup’ campaign - with 21 colleagues who cycled a total of 5,069 kilometres together. Whether on the way to work, on excursions or on holiday trips: the car was often left behind and the bike got its well-deserved use.

As always, there was also something to be won internally for full commitment in the saddle:

• 1st place: 75 euro voucher from Restaurant Brinckwirth for Christian Selker (1,105 km)
• 2nd place: 50 Euro Ochtrup voucher for Heinz Focke (830 km)
• 3rd place: a filled cool bag for Berno Wellmann (413 km)

Because our permanent frontrunners left hardly any chance for others to take first places, we decided to award two more third prizes: Marita Flaßkamp (303 km) and Andreas Ludewig (301 km) were also delighted to receive a filled cool bag.

Many thanks to everyone who cycled - we are already looking forward to the next round in 2026!

In the picture from left to right: Berno Wellmann, Marita Flaßkamp, Heinz Focke, Christian Selker, Andreas Ludewig

We have many fit and dedicated employees in the WISCHEMANN team, but one recently stood out with a world record: Matthias Barkling covered a 10-kilometer distance on the Skywalk in Willingen in an impressive 61 minutes and 34 seconds with fellow firefighters in full firefighting gear. This outstanding achievement not only demonstrates exceptional fitness and team spirit, but also social commitment, as it was a local charity project. Congratulations on your great performance and the world record, Matthias!

14 footballers hitting a ball onto a goal wall made of our Aircell® air chamber panels - it's not every day you see a picture like this in our halls. The B youth team and their coach Jörn Eversmann from FCE Rheine visited us this week to find out more about VACU-form and the career opportunities we offer. After the company tour, there was pizza for everyone, a lot of ambition at the goal wall and once again proof of the versatility and stability of Aircell®.

Thank you for the nice visit!

This week it was time again: the annual apprentice day took place. Every year, the WISCHEMANN Group invites the apprentices from WISCHEMANN Kunststoff and VACU-form to a full-day surprise trip with their trainers. This time, the programme included a very interesting visit to a long-standing WISCHEMANN customer, where they learnt what happens to our products once they leave our company premises. In the afternoon, our trainees and trainers were then put to the test in an escape game in a wild forest. Chained (or velcroed) together, they had to reconstruct what had happened ‘last night’ at the campfire and gradually free themselves from their bonds. Fortunately, they were able to solve the puzzle and arrived safely back in Ochtrup and Salzbergen. To summarise: it was a great day - and there will definitely be another trainee trip next year!

A new training year has begun and two young professionals have joined our team as apprentices on 1 August.

Michelle Wesselmeier has attended the business school in Steinfurt and is now starting her apprenticeship as an industrial clerk at WISCHEMANN. Here she gets to know the various departments and processes of our administration and is already very satisfied with her start in our purchasing department.

Justin Husken is more interested in the practical side of things: he is starting his apprenticeship as a plastics and rubber technologist with us and is thus familiarising himself with the various areas of our production. In his first few days with us, he has already learnt how EPS expands (known as "styrofoam").

We say Welcome to the WISCHEMANN team and wish you both a good start to your careers!

• Left photo: Michelle Wesselmeier and her trainer Frank Kösters
• Right photo: Justin Husken and his trainer Berthold Janning

It started for Nico Volkow at the beginning of the year when he was hired as a temporary worker in our production, but then an idea grew on both sides: how about an apprenticeship as a plastics and rubber technologist? Nico likes the diversity and the different departments in production: “There is no time boredom there”. And so, since the beginning of August, department head Marius Sowa and apprentice Nico have been going into a little more detail when discussing the production processes. We are happy and wish you an exciting apprenticeship at VACU-form, Nico! 

In the photo from the left: head of department Marius Sowa, apprentice Nico Volkov

It's a long way to the beginning of Michael Volkert's employment with the company, because he had even been employed at the VACU-form predecessor company since the 80s. For an impressive 42 years he gave his all, especially on the thermoforming machines and in assembly, and now production manager Stefan Haget and managing director Christian Herdering have bid him farewell on his well-deserved retirement. A real team player with a big heart is leaving us; some may still remember his fundraising campaign in favour of the earthquake victims in Syria and Turkey. From now on he can devote himself entirely to his wood decoration hobby and if you miss him, you can certainly meet him at the Christmas market. The VACU-form team wishes you a lot of fun sawing and carving and says THANK YOU for everything, Michael!

WISCHEMANN Kunststoff GmbH has been awarded the bronze medal by EcoVadis, the world's largest provider of sustainability ratings for companies. It was the first time that we had worked through the extensive catalogue of questions and we now know even better which screws we can still turn to become even more sustainable and environmentally conscious as a company.

EcoVadis has assessed more than 100,000 international companies since it was founded in 2007. The evaluation is based on 21 corporate social responsibility criteria, which are divided into four areas: environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement.