Diversification

The company begins to expand into new fields of activity with the machining of semi-finished products to produce machine elements and components. Over the years, continuous expansion of the product portfolio turns the company into a leading supplier in the field of high-performance plastics. The application-specific consultancy services it offers to customers right from the early stages of a production project play a key role in securing the company’s success. Right from the initial foundation of the company, Wilfred Ensinger has his sights set firmly on this enormous market potential.

For some time, the manufacturers of aluminium windows and facades have been seeking solutions for thermal insulation of their metal profiles which will permit compliance with the new, more stringent guidelines on energy saving. In 1974 Ensinger starts the development of an extrusion technology for processing of glass fibre-filled polyamide 6.6 precision profiles. The authorisation requirements and standards are elaborated in parallel, in close cooperation with BASF, Wicona, the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) and the window institute ift Rosenheim. In December 1977, Ensinger delivers the first series-produced thermal insulating profiles. The second extrusion tool is put into operation in July 1978.

Initially manufactured in Nufringen and produced in Cham since 1988, the thermal profiles have grown to become a key pillar of the company’s business portfolio. Since 2001, the product line has been marketed under the brand name insulbar^®.

From the end of the seventies onwards, the company enters a headlong phase of growth and expansion. The shortage of specialists available in the greater Stuttgart area moves Ensinger to look further afield and to establish a branch plant in Cham (Oberpfalz region). Machining operations are launched there with a handful of specialists and a modest network of machinery in rented production premises. Only four years on, and Ensinger has already completed the construction of a production hall in the Altenmarkt industrial estate and substantially expanded its payroll. The new thermoplastic materials call for the use of new processing technologies. The transition to large-volume production is achieved with the installation of new computer-aided five-axis machining centres.

In order to provide its own customers with an all-round service, Ensinger takes the decision to enter a hotly contested market to establish another key supporting pillar to its business: the focus of its new injection moulding production sector is initially on the production of elements subject to sliding friction in the gear and drive sector. The company has already begun with the compounding of raw materials a year previously.

> Internationalisation (1986-1996)