How it all began The name says it all

On 3 February 1928, the family’s 25-year-old son Fritz Müller established the company “Fritz Müller Elektroisoliermaterial” in Wuppertal, where he began by renting one room in the town centre as the initial premises of the start-up company. With a bank loan of 6,000 Reichsmarks, courage and conviction, he began paving the way for what has become today’s Coroplast Group.

As the name of the company reveals, in those days the range of products comprised materials used for electrical insulation purposes. Müller was responsible for organising materials purchasing and had the textile insulation hoses made to order, which was standard procedure in the Wuppertal textile industry at the time. Fritz Müller also sold insulating materials such as laminated papers, oil flax and oiled silk. That same year he began producing independently, treating oil hoses with impregnating varnishes in specially designed furnaces. He had been inspired by earlier attempts, as Fritz and his brother had already gained experience in processing varnishes in their father Carl’s business. The two brothers just loved experimenting. As the story goes, they attempted to impregnate oil hoses and put them in their mother’s oven to dry. One thing is sure, however, the systematic development of their own production company began towards the end of 1928.

In the mid-1930s, a promising synthetic plastic polymer known as polyvinyl chloride, or PVC for short, came onto the market. Fritz Müller recognised the potential of this newly developed material and began processing it. Thanks to PVC, it became technically possible to produce insulated copper wires, such as those used in lighting and telephone systems.

Despite the danger of failure when processing the new material due to lack of experience, Fritz Müller bought the first extruder – a machine specially designed for processing thermoplastics. His courage paid off – and as one of the first processors of PVC, Coroplast acquired valuable know-how in this field, which laid the foundations for future success in the processing of plastics. The number of machines increased, as did the sales figures and the size of the company’s workforce. During the war years, production continued in Saxony to a limited degree. In 1943, the Wuppertal factory was hit by bombs, destroying large amounts of raw materials.

The chemist and graduate in business management Dr Richard Röhm joined the company as managing director. He enlarged the business, introduced new products and the company began assembling cables and selling them in the form of complete harnesses and large-dimension cables. In 1948, the standard, catchy brand name Coroplast came into being and soon became a synonym for the company name “Fritz Müller”.

The love of experimenting and entrepreneurial courage paid off and in the early 1960s Coroplast introduced a new type of acrylate adhesive to the market. This solvent-free and therefore environmentally friendly adhesive is still in use by Coroplast today. Innovation was accompanied by expansion – a new building and additional, more efficient machinery enhanced the Wuppertal plant. 

Oil crisis, car-free Sundays and recession: perhaps older readers remember the driving bans that existed in the early 1970s. Growth in the industrialised countries appeared to have reached its limits, and even Coroplast felt the pinch. Despite record sales in 1974, the following year proved to be the most difficult in the company’s more recent history, with redundancies, the loss of customers and a fire on the company premises.

In the mid-1980s, Coroplast started manufacturing and marketing cable assemblies. Using cables and adhesive tape manufactured in-house, the company produced entire cable harnesses for customers from the automobile, electrical and household appliances industries. The cable harnesses – also known as vehicle electrical systems in cars – supply engines, electromagnetic valves and lighting systems with electricity. Moreover, they transfer information from and between the various control units. The decision to expand the cable harness production was a real turning point in the company’s history, as at the beginning of the 1990s, cable production and business with the automotive industry developed to become an important source of income for Coroplast.

The company and therefore its headquarters in Wuppertal continued to grow steadily. Like her father Dr Kurt Müller before her, Natalie Mekelburger had not originally intended to work at Coroplast. However, after completing her studies and gathering her first professional experience, in 1994 she joined the family-run company as Sales and Marketing Manager. In 1999 she became one of three members of the board of management.

Wherever vehicles are built, Coroplast is not far away. In 2010, Coroplast entered a new continent and has produced cable harnesses in Tunisia ever since. One year later, Coroplast began manufacturing cable assemblies in Acámbaro, Mexico. Around 250 kilometres from Mexico City, the location with its direct access to the North, Central and South American automotive markets has enormous potential. Its customers already include Audi, VW and Daimler. In 2013, Coroplast inaugurated no fewer than three new sites. Two of them are located in China, in Kunshan and Mianyang, and one is in Hammamet, Tunisia.

Dr Kurt Müller, managing director of many years’ standing, died on 31 May 2015 at the age of 85. He headed the company for almost 40 years and was crucial to its success, particularly when times were tough. With his sure instinct for the market and the right products, he provided the decisive impulses that transformed a regional manufacturer with a relatively limited export volume into the globally operating technology leader we know today.

The course of internationalisation continues. Numerous of the international production sites are expanded. For example, the plant in Strzelce Opolskie, Poland is extended by a new production hall, the size of the production space at Rock Hill, USA (see picture) is nearly doubled, and floor space at the plant in Acámbaro, Mexico is extended to almost three times the size – without interrupting production. At the Chinese business site Kunshan, Coroplast Tape Technology is founded as a new subsidiary and in Moldova, a completely new Coroplast business site is established. Besides international expansion, headquarters in Wuppertal grow, as well.

Highlight at the end of the year: Natalie Mekelburger, Chairwoman of the Board of Management, receives the “EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017” Award.