The SKZ mission statement
We are the experts and the contact for the plastics industry.
In short: "The address when it comes to plastics".
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.
- Service- and customer-oriented employees with a high degree of personal responsibility characterise our company.
- The satisfaction and long-term loyalty of our customers are important to us.
- We are a family-friendly company with high social competence.
- We stand for innovation and sustainable progress and are open to change.
- We actively promote values such as tolerance and equal treatment.
- We are law-abiding and regard neutrality, impartiality and trustworthiness (data protection) as elementary, impartiality and trustworthiness (data protection) as the fundamental basis of our work.
- We cultivate a solution-oriented and self-reliant way of working.
- Courtesy, fairness, team spirit and mutual respect are indispensable for us.
- We offer our employees a pleasant and attractive environment in which they can develop professionally and personally and enjoy performing their tasks.
- We encourage the talents, expertise and initiative of our staff and offer them of our employees and offer them opportunities for advancement.
- We strengthen the cohesion and promote the health of all employees through joint company, sports and leisure activities.
- We take care of our appearance and our external image.
- We are part of the SKZ Group and present ourselves to the outside world as a cohesive unit.
- We contribute our own ideas, point out potential for improvement and thus actively contribute to the sustainable development of the goals and values of our SKZ.
- We place the overall well-being of the SKZ above the individual interests of persons, divisions and companies.
From the beginning to the present
1961 - The start
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.
1962 - The beginning in the state school for horse shoeing
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.
1964 - The SKZ becomes a recognised testing center
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.
1965 - Training programmes for developing countries
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 1970s
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 1990s
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.
The step into the 21st century
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.
