FSKZ e. V. is the platform and basis for our networking and exchange with the industry, politics and associations.
with the industry, politics and associations.
On 20 January 1961, industrial companies in the plastics sector, craft enterprises and public authorities joined forces in Munich. In a joint action, they founded the Fördergemeinschaft für das Süddeutsche Kunststoff-Zentrum - FSKZ e. V. The aim was to train and educate the next generation of engineers for the plastics industry as well as skilled workers from industry, trade and commerce.
In 1962, the Bavarian State Trade Institute acquired the vacant property of the former state horse shoeing school in Frankfurter Straße in Würzburg and rented it to the SKZ. The training workshops and technical centres were equipped with state-of-the-art machinery and equipment. For this, the SKZ already received extensive support at that time in the form of loans from industry.
The urgent need to raise the quality of plastic products to a high level through standards and guidelines as well as comprehensive testing became increasingly clear. SKZ was ready to take up this challenge.
A student dormitory was built in the immediate vicinity by the Carl-Duisberg-Society. Since it was taken over by the SKZ in 1990, the dormitory has served as a hostel for international course groups, students, interns, diploma students and trainees to this day.
From 1965 onwards, advanced training programmes were offered to specialists and managers from developing countries. By 1968, participants from more than 30 countries had already taken part in courses and carried the reputation of the SKZ beyond national borders.
The plastics industry made increasingly extensive use of the services offered by SKZ. For this reason, the institute's management saw fit to establish a first branch office in Stuttgart in 1972. But it was also time to expand the Würzburg headquarters.
In 1975, an extension was added to the existing building of the former horse shoeing school in order to provide an efficient workplace for the staff, which in the meantime had grown to 50 employees.
The opening of the inner-German border was a prerequisite for the foundation of a branch office in Halle. The foundation of another branch in Peine, Lower Saxony followed the following year.
Thanks to the support of the Bavarian State Ministry of Economics and Transport, the SKZ was able to open a state-of-the-art training centre in 1996. Since then, technical centres, seminar and conference rooms have been closely interlinked in an area of around 2,000 square metres, enabling optimal training and further education work.
With the inauguration of the processing technology centre in 2002, the basis for the comprehensive development of application-oriented research and development at SKZ was created. In 2005, the Plastics Technology Centre was put into operation.
Since then, comprehensive facilities for testing, monitoring and certifying plastic products as well as for research and development have been available in an area of around 10,000 square metres. The extensive construction measures at the Würzburg site were rounded off by the commissioning of the competence centre for direct injection moulding in 2009.
In autumn 2012, the new SKZ location in Horb am Neckar was officially opened. After more than 40 years, Horb replaces the Stuttgart - Weilimdorf location, which had reached its spatial limits in the meantime.
Just as in Stuttgart, training and further education activities in the field of processing semi-finished thermoplastic products and fibre composite technology are the focus of the work in the Black Forest. A new addition is a technical centre for injection moulding.