70 years of ALPLA: from a laundry room start-up to a global player
‘Plastic is fantastic’: ALPLA has been proving this for 70 years. Founded in 1955 in a laundry room in Hard by Lake Constance in Austria, the family-owned company has grown into a global player with 200 locations in 46 countries. As a ‘Family of Pioneers’, more than 24,000 employees develop, manufacture and recycle safe, affordable and sustainable packaging solutions – close to the customer. At the anniversary celebration on 12 September, CEO Philipp Lehner set the tone for the technology market leader's ambitious plans for the future.
Plastic packaging and recycling specialist ALPLA celebrated its 70th anniversary. (Photo: ALPLA/Manuel Paul)
ALPLA packaging touches the lives of billions of people every day. In Europe, North and South America, Africa and Asia, it ensures affordable consumption and supports numerous industries with safe solutions for consumer goods. More than 24,000 employees are responsible for this success. When the company was founded by brothers Alwin and Helmuth Lehner in 1955, its rise to become a global player was not yet foreseeable – but it was anything but a coincidence.
In 1955, ALPLA began producing plastic packaging in the Lehner family's laundry room in Hard.
With a passion for technology, pioneering spirit and strong teamwork the company made an exemplary rise from a small family business to a global technology market leader for rigid plastic packaging. Numerous innovations, visionary concepts, bold expansions and family cohesion have shaped the past 70 years. Milestones include the legendary Alplamat extrusion blow-moulding machine (1958), the first in-house plant located directly at the customer’s site (1985), the world’s first two-step PET bottle (1985) and the early use of post-consumer recycled material (1990). More recent highlights include the industrialisation of bio-based paper bottles and biodegradable coffee capsules.
Since its foundation in Hard in 1955, ALPLA has grown from a small family business to become a global technology leader in rigid plastic packaging.
To this day, ALPLA continues to shape progress in the packaging industry and set quality standards – in development, production and recycling. As a system provider, the company implements packaging solutions from a single source – tailor-made and optimised in seven development centres and four one-stop shops for product design (STUDIOa) worldwide. With strong commitment and based on facts, ALPLA is also actively promoting the appreciation of plastic through its ‘Plastic is Fantastic’ initiative, educating consumers about the many benefits of the material.
Plastic packaging for the whole world: ALPLA has been manufacturing high-quality packaging solutions for numerous sectors of the consumer goods industry for 70 years.
Growth with vision
In the 1990s, Günther Lehner led the company with foresight and a keen sense of customer needs. He drove forward the move into recycling and consolidated the company’s unique role as a system provider. Since 2021, CEO Philipp Lehner has been at the helm, leading the ALPLA Group into the future as the third generation of the family. He has ambitious goals, as he announced at the 70th anniversary celebration on 12 September at the congress centre Festspielhaus Bregenz: ‘We have grown enormously and always remained true to our values. We will continue to do both. To this end, we are focusing on our strengths in our core business, relying on high-quality recycling and specifically tapping into new markets and technologies. And we are exploring the unknown with bold ideas.’
CEO Philipp Lehner (third from left) reflected on ALPLA’s successes and looked ahead to the future at the company’s 70th anniversary celebrations in the congress centre Festspielhaus Bregenz. (Foto: ALPLA/Manuel Paul)
ALPLA intends to maintain its pioneering role by investing in digitalisation, automation and circular economy models. Lehner highlighted the trusting cooperation within the ‘Family of Pioneers’ and long-term strategic planning as the company's greatest competitive advantages: ‘We support each other and continuously improve. This is how we have grown into a strong and reliable brand over the past 70 years – for customers, partners and as an employer. This is also our recipe for success for the future.’