Johannes Remmele – an exceptional entrepreneur turns 65

Johannes Remmele / Photographer Ralf Lienert

2024 marked SÜDPACK's 60th anniversary. In 2025, the entrepreneur, visionary, family man, nature lover, and motorsport fan Johannes Remmele can celebrate himself. Because the man who has shaped SÜDPACK into one of the leading film and packaging manufacturers over the past four decades—and who also set out to actively shape the green transformation in the plastics and packaging industry—turned 65 on August 9th.

Even after stepping down as managing partner of the SÜDPACK Group in 2019, the exceptional entrepreneur continues to lead the company as a co-owner together with his sister Carolin Grimbacher—and is actively, resolutely, with entrepreneurial foresight, "turning around" an entire industry.

An Unconventional Career Path

The pioneering spirit and agility of the father and founder of the company were already instilled in the jubilarian from birth. Although born into an entrepreneurial family, the son initially completed training as a tax clerk. Numbers and balance sheets simply fascinated him more than film manufacturing at the time, which began in 1964 when the trained dairy master Alfred Remmele developed a cheese ripening bag in a garage in Ochsenhausen.

The turning point came when Johannes Remmele, who has always been passionate about engines and cars, bought his first moped with money earned during holidays working at his parents' business. "Back then, I developed a feeling for what should give my life meaning and what could best be described as a deep connection to our 'Family Business'," explains the man, who finally joined the family business in 1988 and initially had to learn how film works and what customers need.

"You have to set trends yourself!"

And Johannes Remmele learns quickly. Early in his active career at SÜDPACK, he founded Ecoform. He invested in the first rigid film plant, in new technologies, in expanding capacities, in lucrative business fields, and in international locations. What distinguishes him—just like his father—is the ability to recognize important trends. Or even better: to set trends himself. Alfred Remmele recognized early on that with the first supermarket chains, consumer packaging would also begin its triumphant march. His cheese ripening bags were just the beginning; packaging for sausages and meat followed.

"Today," emphasizes Johannes Remmele, "we also package non-food, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices, produce compounds, develop films for technical applications, and invest in future-proof recycling technologies. With our resealable packaging concepts as well as our recyclable monomaterials, the Flowpack, and sustainable printing technology, we have set standards."

"Nowadays, we employ nearly 1,800 staff, produce at ten locations in Germany, France, Poland, the Netherlands, the USA, and Switzerland, and export our products to over 70 countries worldwide," adds the jubilarian. Core competencies of SÜDPACK are film manufacturing, finishing, and bag conversion; key technologies include cast and blown film coextrusion, flexo, gravure, and digital printing, as well as lamination.

Despite Success

... Johannes Remmele remains the person he has always been: reliable, authentic, living values, family-oriented. He has passed this mindset and behavior on to his children. His son Carlo, who accompanied his father early on into the company, quickly discovered his passion for the 'Family Business.' Since 2023, he has been leading SÜDPACK USA as Chief Executive. The other three children are also already active in the company; for example, his daughter completed studies as a packaging engineer.

Not only the present but especially the future is always firmly in the mind of the lively family man and entrepreneur, under whose leadership SÜDPACK has become one of the industry’s leaders in technology and innovation. His credo: Think ahead instead of following. Turn visions into reality.

Conviction in Sustainability

This also includes his commitment to sustainability—a personal concern of the company boss and an essential part of the corporate strategy. Furthermore, Johannes Remmele repeatedly criticizes political decisions and does not hold back. "For us, it’s not just about managing crises, but about a genuine economic transformation that relies on future viability, growth, and intergenerational justice. Politics must promote productive growth, reduce bureaucratic hurdles, accelerate approval processes, focus on the needs of their interest groups, and not only emphasize their goals with words," Remmele demands.

And then there’s the Passion for Fast Cars

That the dedicated entrepreneur ultimately still finds time for himself and his great passions is almost a miracle given his numerous commitments. His enthusiasm for fast vehicles on the road and on race tracks remains as strong as his passion for "the economically and highly performant material plastic."