Wilfried Ensinger, who established the family-run plastics processing company that bears his name, passed away on May 23 at the age of 87. The employees of the Ensinger Group mourn together with his family members.
With the loss of its founder, the company says farewell to a passionate engineer, creative inventor and dedicated entrepreneur who – even in the decades following his retirement from the Management Board – was fully committed to the welfare of the company and its employees. Originating in a garage in Ehningen, the small company founded by Wilfried Ensinger in 1966 has grown into an international corporate group that is one of the global leaders in the processing of high-performance plastics.
At the beginning of his career, Wilfried Ensinger completed an apprenticeship to become a toolmaker and took his master craftsman’s examination. Subsequently he worked as an operations and factory manager in different companies that specialised in mechanical engineering, precision mechanics and the plastics processing industry. He completed a part-time course of study with the degrees Industrial Engineer and Diploma Engineer.
With the aim of producing quality stock shapes and machine components from the engineering plastics that were emerging in the sixties, Wilfried Ensinger launched his own company in Ehningen. Transferring the company headquarters to Nufringen allowed the company to expand its production capacities. A short time later, the production of components through the machining of stock shapes began.
At the end of 1977, Ensinger was able to supply aluminium window manufacturers with the first series-produced insulating bars made from glass fibre-reinforced polyamide 6.6. A second production plant built in Cham in 1980 enabled the series manufacture of profiles and other product lines. What today is the corporate group’s biggest subsidiary was established in the USA in 1986. In the years that followed, numerous additional overseas branches were set up in Europe, South America and Asia.
Wilfried Ensinger never rested on his laurels. Constant development of products and production processes and the cultivation of employee potential were his guiding principles right from the start. In 1997 he handed over the operational management to the second generation and increased his involvement in community and social projects. The Wilfried and Martha Ensinger Foundation, which he and his wife created, sponsors social, cultural and scientific institutions at home and abroad.
In his capacity as president and later honorary president of the Böblingen District Chamber of Commerce and Industry he provided key impetus for committee reform and for improving in-company training. The University of Stuttgart conferred the title of honorary senator on the father of four. In 2005, Wilfried Ensinger was awarded Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit and two years ago, the town of Rottenburg am Neckar made him an honorary citizen.