At the time, Georg Utz had all the skills that successful company founders need, including determination, optimism and foresight. This helped him to found the company "Georg Utz Werkzeug- und Apparatebau" in Zurich on May 1, 1947. Of course, Georg Utz could not have foreseen that 75 years later almost 1,500 people would be employed in a company named after him and that the Utz Group would be operating worldwide as a recognized supplier of load and workpiece carriers made of recyclable plastic. But he had confidence in the future right from the start, and it allowed him to embark on a successful entrepreneurial path.

It all started with the zigzag sled ...

Georg Utz initially developed a carriage for sewing machines, the zigzag device. This patented product quickly made the young company with 16 employees flourish. Well-known sewing machine manufacturers such as the Singer Group were among the first customers. The company, which in the meantime had been transformed into Georg Utz AG, soon moved from Zurich to Bremgarten in Aargau. But in 1958, sewing machines with an integrated zigzag stitch came onto the market, so that demand for the Utz solution suddenly collapsed. Georg Utz, however, did not give up, but ventured down a different path for his company. The then new thermoplastic material plastic was to become the material of the future for Utz. The largest injection molding machine in Switzerland was used here. Typical of the time, the Utz product range was broad - everything that was needed and technically feasible was produced, from washbasins to various household items and, of course, the "RAKO". Of course, there were already containers for the industrial transportation of goods. But these were usually heavy metal constructions, noisy and awkward to handle. There was no talk of standardization and pool concepts back then. The first containers from Utz were simple replicas made of plastic. An injection molding tool for a frame construction - Rako for short - was created for the struts required to ensure stability. Tool size, technical realization and the rapid implementation of theory in practice were trend-setting. These plastic frame constructions marked the beginning of Utz's success story as a manufacturer of storage and transport containers. Today, the Utz Group produces millions of highly specialized containers for a wide variety of markets and requirements. New products for changing logistics are constantly being developed in close cooperation with users.

... and ended up in plastic storage and transport containers

It was Georg Utz's pioneering idea to manufacture storage and transport containers made of plastic. Back then, the company founder focused on the right manufacturing process and the right material - and thus laid the foundations for a company that now provides many people with prospects and employment. The reusable principle and production from Utz UIC material - recycled plastic - in line with the circular economy as well as innovative manufacturing technologies have made plastic the material of the future.

With the purchase of the first injection molding machine, it became increasingly clear that the company in Bremgarten also needed to establish branches in neighboring European countries. The investment in larger machines and more powerful tools made it necessary to expand into larger markets. In 1971, the German subsidiary was founded in Schüttorf near the Dutch border. This was followed from 1990 by branches in the UK, France and Poland, and from 2003 in the USA, China and, a few years ago, Mexico.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the company founder retired from the company. In the second half of the 1990s, the individual companies were merged into a holding company. Today, Axel Ritzberger is in charge of the Utz Group. There are currently almost a hundred times as many people working in the subsidiaries worldwide as there were at the original Georg Utz Werkzeug- und Apparatebau company in Zurich; they are all united by the claim to deliver high quality in the interests of the customer and user.

http://www.utzgroup.de