List of the 200 largest plastics processors Germany [2024 Update]

List of the 3 largest plastics processors in Germany

Plastics processing includes many distinctive business models. In Germany, more than 3,000 companies with 322,000 employees deal with plastics processing. Here are the 3 largest companies in the industry.

1. Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, Künzelsau

The Würth Group is a conglomerate that covers numerous business fields. The focus is on the wholesale of fastening and assembly technology. However, the Group also owns “manufacturing” companies and subgroups which are active in plastics processing, for example, the pipe system manufacturer IVT.

2. Freudenberg SE, Weinheim

The Freudenberg Group is a major German automotive supplier. Business is divided into the Seals/Vibration Control Technology, Technical Textiles/Filtration, Cleaning Technologies/Products and Specialties Divisions. Plastics processing plays an important role above all in sealing technology and cleaning. Freudenberg has almost 48,000 employees.

Update 2024: The Freudenberg Group’s Management Board will be reorganized as of January 1, 2024. Thomas Herr will initially be appointed as Deputy CFO and from July 2024 as CFO. Dr. Frank Heislitz will initially occupy the role of Deputy CTO and from July 2024 that of CTO.

3. Röchling SE & Co. KG, Mannheim

Röchling’s history began with coal and steel, and in the meantime it was also a conglomerate. Since the 1980s, Röchling has become a plastics processor. Today, with more than 11,000 employees, Röchling produces plastic parts for industry and supplies plastic components for automotive construction and medical technology.

Update 2023: In 2023, the topics of sustainability and climate neutrality will continue to play a major role for Röchling. This applies both to the expansion of the product range and to the design of production processes. Decisive steps in this direction have recently been taken in various areas of the Company.

Picture source: Unsplash (Jonathan Chng), Unsplash (Obi Onyeador)

Our directory of the German plastics processing industry

This is our list of the largest German plastics processors. For us, plastics processors are all companies that manufacture items made of plastic. In this data set e.g. we do not list machine builders, since plastic parts make up only a small part of the machines manufactured. Plastics can be synthetic, i.e. obtained from mineral oil, or semi-synthetic. The largest German plastics processor is Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, which is known for manufacturing anything from tools made with plastic casings to manufacturing equipment like dowels.

This information will be included

• Company name
• General contact data (address, e-mail address, telephone number, URL)
• Name of the management
• Serial letter suitable for addressing the management (e.g. “Dear Dr. Müller”)
• Sales figures for the years 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 (taken from the annual and consolidated financial statements)
• Employee figures for the years 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2018 (taken from the annual and consolidated financial statements)
• Sector classification & Field of activity

Note: If the sales and employee figures are not included in a company’s own financial statements but in the parent company’s consolidated financial statements, the data from the respective consolidated financial statements are provided.