Theegarten-Pactec celebrates two milestones in its corporate history this year.

Justus and Franz Theegarten launched the original Rose-Theegarten company in 1934. Theegarten and Pactec merged in 1994, taking the business from Cologne, Germany to its current home in Dresden.

Now, 80 years after its inception and 20 after the acquisition of Pactec, the company is about to set a new milestone: the production and administration departments are slated to get a new home built for them at their current site in Dresden. The groundbreaking ceremony will take place in spring 2014.

The Theegarten-Pactec portfolio includes a particularly diverse range of machines for the primary packaging of confectionery.

The distribution network ensures the company's presence in all of the world's major markets. Additionally, the engineering side of the business has always played a significant role in the company’s development.

"Demand is always shifting; we never quite know what aspects our customers are going to focus on next, neither the region nor the type of confectionery and its packaging," says Markus Rustler, managing director. "The variety of products we offer, our high level of innovation and our international market presence put us, as an independent family business, in a position to master this challenge."

The company's beginnings date back to the 1920s. That’s when Englishman William Rose first met the Theegarten family from Cologne. Rose was seeking a German distribution partner for the packaging ­machines made by his company, Rose Brothers. Not only did the families agree on matters of business, they also struck up a friendship.

After founding the business, the father-and-son team was licensed to manufacture Rose Brothers machines. The Rose-Theegarten corporation was a cosmopolitan and innovative firm. Alongside their British counterparts, the engineers in Cologne worked meticulously to refine the technology. The company was a success and the workforce grew to almost 50 employees within a few short years.

In 1994, Christa Rustler-Theegarten, Erhard Rustler and Gerd Schwarze, the managing director of Pactec, brought the two companies together.

Pactec added to the Rose-Theegarten portfolio with its machine range. Rose-Theegarten’s strengths lay in its forming, cutting and wrapping machines for chewing gum. Pactec’s focus was on hard caramels. The Dresden engineers were skilled in constant motion, high-speed wrapping machines. The EK model range was created and became a flagship of the city, notable for wrapping hard caramels in a double-twist wrap.

The company remains a family enterprise to this day. Managed by Markus Rustler, the fourth generation of the family, together with Egbert Röhm, it’s supported by 350 employees who are taking Theegarten-Pactec to the next level.

The EK4 wrapping machine can now achieve 2,300 operating cycles per minute. The MCC and MCH are continuous motion machines that operate at high speed and also enable the wrapping style to be changed. The FPH5, FPW5 and FPC5 horizontal flow pack machines share a product platform and feature modular main assemblies, enabling the machines to be adapted to customer needs. And the choice of packaging solutions for chocolates also has increased greatly.