Dairy and food industry filling and wrapping machine manufacturer Oystar Benhil is celebrating its 100th anniversary this month (June 2012).
Based on the then revolutionary idea by Willhelm Hilgers of forming and packaging butter with one single machine as opposed to manually, the company began in a garage but quickly developed as a partnership between Hilgers and his friend Johannes Benz.
Within months, the company was producing its first type ‘11’ butter forming machine as well as the type ‘15’ cartoning machine, employing one chief engineer and seven skilled tradesmen using an anvil, grinding stone, surface plate and a filing bench with six vices.
Following success particularly with its ‘105’ model through to the 1950s, the company pioneered the development of 25g butter portion packs in Germany, which allowed it to expand into machines for producing soup paste cubes – and success in the US market followed in the 1960s.
Since 2007 Benhil has been one of 12 manufacturing companies in the Neuss, Germany-based Oystar Group, manufacturing both filling and wrapping machines as well as cup filling and sealing machines for liquid and paste food products. “This has further promoted our international growth,” says current CEO Bernd Grosse-Venhaus.
“Almost every person on the planet makes daily use of a product that we’ve packaged. These products include dairy products, coffee, toothpaste, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.”
For the full Oystar Benhil story, see the oystar-group.com website (see link, below right).