FormerFab looks back on two decades of successful business activity

Freital, April 2024 – FormerFab GmbH celebrated its 20th anniversary in April this year.

The company, specializing in the development and manufacturing of forming shoulders for the packaging industry, proudly reflects on two decades of successful business.

The story of FormerFab began even before the company was founded. As a university staff member, Dr. Henry Drut was introduced to forming shoulders early on. Dr. Drut became so fascinated with this field that he began to develop a calculation program for forming shoulder geometry, which still forms the basis of the company’s economic success today. In 1995, he initially joined GVL – Gesellschaft für Verpackungstechnik und Logistik mbH and took over as CEO in 1996. During 1996 and 1997, he developed a calculation method for forming shoulder geometry within GVL and then implemented this method in a calculation program. Until the founding of FormerFab in 2004, he, along with other partners, developed manufacturing techniques for his calculated forming shoulders. After developing the calculation program, Dr. Drut quickly realized that the externally purchasable manufacturing capacities were no longer good enough to advance the topic of forming shoulders and to precisely translate the calculated forming shoulders into reality. Since 2010, the company has exclusively focused on the development and manufacturing of forming shoulders. Until then, engineering services from other packaging-specific topics were also part of the daily work. It is important to mention that FormerFab is not a spin-off from the TU Dresden and operates financially independent of funding.

Development and Locations 

Initially, GVL took care of the forming shoulders, but FormerFab was specifically founded in 2004 for their manufacturing. Engineering services were still provided by GVL at that time. With the founding, the first own CNC milling machine was also purchased. In 2010, all employees were transferred from GVL to FormerFab. Since then, the development of forming shoulders has also taken place under the management of FormerFab. Since 2018, the company has been incorporated as FormerFab GmbH. The headquarters of FormerFab GmbH have moved through several locations over the years. Initially, the company was located at Bergstraße in Dresden, near TU Dresden. Later it moved to Räcknitzhöhe, and in 2009 to Heidelberger Straße 20. During this journey, the Fraunhofer IVV was a constant companion during all moves. In 2018, FormerFab then moved with 14 employees at the time to the Technology Center in Freital to drive forward its expansion plans.

Employee Numbers and Customers

The number of employees has also changed significantly over the last 20 years: Starting with only one employee in 2004, and later in the year with 2 employees (exclusively CNC millers), the development of forming shoulders still took place at GVL with 3 additional employees. Today, FormerFab GmbH proudly employs 24 staff members, including 4 working students, who contribute significantly to the company’s success. The trend is upward.

The first customer and the first project in the area of forming shoulders date back to 1999, when Dr. Drut was still working within the framework of GVL. A retiree from Braunschweig commissioned his company Schlosspark with the production of a rectangular forming shoulder for flour packaging. In 2001, Dr. Drut then won his first major customer, Hassia Verpackungsmaschinen GmbH, with milling forming shoulders of the current TwinForm series. Renowned customers of FormerFab include packaging machinery manufacturers like Syntegon (formerly Bosch), Wolf Verpackungsmaschinen, Inever from Spain, and Universal Pack from Italy, as well as numerous globally known brands and further packaging machine manufacturers.

Successes and Outlook

FormerFab’s annual turnover has seen impressive growth over the years. In the first year, with only 1 to sometimes 2 employees, the annual turnover was less than EUR 500,000. In 2018, after moving to Freital, the company reached an annual turnover of EUR 1,000,000 and increased this in the following two years to about EUR 1,500,000. Since 2021, this mark has been exceeded annually. FormerFab GmbH has more than 30 patent applications. A particular highlight of FormerFab is the mathematical calculation program for forming shoulders, developed by Dr. Henry Drut himself. Only two other companies worldwide use similar programs, which were developed at universities and then provided to the companies. This program allows for extremely precise work and positions FormerFab very broadly and with high quality in the market. The program enables, for example, the development and production of forming shoulders for applications with highly sensitive flexible papers. FormerFab manufactures forming shoulders at its site in Freital for sizes ranging from tiny bags for analytical devices to forming shoulders for huge oil pipelines, delivering these to customers all over the world.

On April 12, 2024, Freital’s First Mayor Peter Pfitzenreiter visited FormerFab® GmbH on the occasion of its 20th anniversary celebration. The guests at the Freital Technology Center included business partners, customers, suppliers, former employees and relatives.

A highlight of the celebrations was a lecture on the history of FormerFab and the introduction of the employees by Dr. Henry Drut. Dr. Drut also looked ahead to the future of FormerFab with the guests and was optimistic.

The guests had the opportunity to take part in tours of the company and gain an insight into the company’s impressive development.

The anniversary celebration was a fitting occasion to look back on FormerFab’s successes while also looking ahead. With more than 30 patent applications and the mathematical calculation program for forming shoulders developed by Dr. Drut himself, FormerFab is well positioned to continue to be successful in the future.

For more information about FormerFab GmbH, visit the website: www.former-fab.de.