Wirthwein Medical GmbH & Co. KG celebrates 75 years of company anniversary

A look at today's fully automated cleanroom assembly ISO Class 7 at the Mühltal site, at the paper mill.

The anniversary logo for the 75th anniversary of Wirthwein Medical GmbH & Co. KG.

With the construction of stamping tools for the furniture industry, Fritz Albert Riegler laid the foundation for a successful company on April 1, 1946. The development from a one-man operation to an internationally operating company with over 330 employees is a success story. Today, under cleanroom conditions, plastic components and systems are developed and produced on a total area of 55,000 m² for the business sectors of medical technology, diagnostics, and pharmaceuticals, tailored to customer specifications. This year, Wirthwein Medical GmbH & Co. KG celebrates its proud 75th company anniversary.

It is truly "a masterpiece" — the extraordinary development of the past decades. In the founding year 1946, living conditions were not easy — it was a challenging time for people. Despite these conditions, founder Fritz Albert Riegler was able to not only maintain his operation but also steadily expand it. On the first, still manually operated machines, Fritz Albert Riegler began manufacturing curlers for hair cosmetics in 1949. Further customer orders for the cosmetics industry followed.

By 1952, Fritz Albert Riegler GmbH & Co. KG began developing injection molding machines under the "self-made" brand. The foundation for plastics processing was established. However, competition in Germany was already so fierce at that time that the company management soon, with a heavy heart, decided to abandon the idea of building their own injection molding machines. The founding of the mold and toolmaking division expanded the program to include the manufacture of injection molds for thermoplastics.

The company's good development led to the acquisition of two new operational sites. The first hall for mold making, an administrative building, and a production area for manufacturing hollow bodies on extrusion blow molding machines were constructed.

After the surprising death of the owner in 1968, son Horst Riegler took over the management of the company. A wealth of know-how, good ideas, and dedicated employees, combined with Mr. Horst Riegler's personal commitment and his willingness to assume entrepreneurial risk, form the foundation of the successful company today.

The big breakthrough in the 1990s

An upward phase began in the early 1970s with many new buildings, expansions in injection molding and extrusion blow molding, new machines, and technologies. The technology and product range was continuously diversified, including products for hair cosmetics as well as the food and care product industries.

In the early 1990s, the company then entered medical technology and cleanroom production. From this point, the success story continued to rise. The first products were packaging trays and cleaning systems for contact lenses. Also at the beginning of the 1990s, Riegler GmbH & Co. KG completed its first successful development project for the diagnostics industry. Bottles, closures, and other primary packaging materials for a globally successful line of analysis devices formed the basis for a product line that still thrives today with increasing demand. In 2005, the Riegler family decided to transfer the company to the globally active and also family-managed Wirthwein AG. After the acquisition, Wirthwein AG successfully continued the company's direction, promoting expansion and further development in manufacturing capacities, innovative technologies, through site expansion, and further digitalization. The creation of additional cleanrooms provides the globally active customers with an excellent foundation for further, future growth. Training of own specialists is not only a tradition at Wirthwein Medical but also the basis for a highly qualified workforce in the future. Many employees have been and still are former apprentices with close ties to the company. Employment durations of 25, 40, and even 50 years have been and remain common in the company's history.

In 2020, the company dropped the name "Riegler" after 74 years and has since been operating under the name "Wirthwein Medical GmbH & Co. KG".

Looking back with pride — moving forward with a long-term and sustainable growth strategy

Today, Wirthwein Medical GmbH & Co. KG is one of the quality-leading system suppliers in plastics processing and a sought-after specialist in cleanroom production with the latest innovative technologies. Core competencies include development, design, toolmaking, injection molding, blow molding, as well as a broad range of assembly, finishing, and logistics services.

"As a family-managed, globally active family business with short decision-making paths, we pursue a long-term and sustainable growth strategy. We live our passion for plastics processing under cleanroom conditions with the goal of making a valuable contribution to people's health worldwide together with our customers. We develop and produce important customer-specific system products, which we express in our mission statement: 'We bring plastics to life!' Over the past years, we have expanded personnel and production capacities. Currently, we are already planning the next expansion phase, which we will implement next year. This lays the foundation for further, long-term, and sustainable growth of our cleanroom production capacities for diagnostics, medical technology, and pharmaceuticals," explains Dr. Thomas Jakob, Managing Director of Wirthwein Medical GmbH & Co. KG. "Many thanks on behalf of the Wirthwein family and management to the Riegler family, all former and current employees, for the work, dedication, and achievements of the past 75 years!"