Company founded in 1958
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Presentation-Vosgebois

Presenting Vosgebois

Vosgebois Emballages is a subsidiary of the company Vosgebois, founded in 1958 by Jean-Paul Unbekandt.
Presentation-Vosgebois

Presenting Vosgebois

Vosgebois Emballages is a subsidiary of the company Vosgebois, founded in 1958 by Jean-Paul Unbekandt.

Jean-Paul Unbekandt (date of birth: February 10, 1929) originally worked in the private forestry procurement department of La Cellulose de Strasbourg having completed his baccalaureate in elementary maths, and undertaken training at the Kling sawmill in Romanswiller where his father Alfred Unbekandt was a representative since 1920. Jean-Paul left La Cellulose after 2 years (1950 to 1953) to come back and work at the Kling sawmill once again, where he assisted the new owner Henri Beck, who Jean-Paul Unbekandt had met during his reforestation work for La Cellulose in the Pyrenees. On March 17, 1958, drawing upon his experience at the sawmill and paper mill, Jean-Paul Unbekandt founded the company Vosgebois. The original idea, based on a modified wood chipper towed by a truck with a trailer and suitably adapted crane was to produce wood chips from the wood offcuts produced by La Cellulose de Strasbourg and the panel manufacturers in the sawmills of the Vosges (hence the original name Vosgebois!). A further development came in 1961, when Jean-Paul Unbekandt purchased the “Hartz” box works on the current site and produced beer and wine crates and later wooden pallets, with these handling products enjoying significant growth. Vosgebois expanded quickly and in just a few years became a major player in the production of pallets in France. A production area for double and triple-wall heavy duty fibreboard packaging was set up in addition to the wood products in 1970. The current manager Maurice Unbekandt joined the company in 1979. A major new wave of investments in the sawmill activity was approved in 1981 in order to be better able to select the quality of the wood and to diversify the customer base, particularly in the export field (Merchants – Joinery producers – Furniture and parquet manufacturers, etc.). Unfortunately, due to a high level of debt, serious payment issues with clients and a lack of profitability resulting from the need to train the entire workforce in new working procedures, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1987. An asset sale took place in 1988 and Vosgebois is now managed by Marc Rinaldi, Michel Lesur and Maurice Unbekandt. Investments continued, including the acquisition of wood driers to allow for the sale of high-quality dried wood for exportation, particularly in the Asian markets. This partnership ended in 2004, and the sawmill was spun off and sold to Etablissements Ernest Weber, with Maurice Unbekandt acquiring 100% of the packaging business. Vosgebois Emballages (VBE) was founded on January 1, 2009 through a partial transfer of assets, more specifically the transfer of the complete packaging business by the company Vosgebois in order to separate the “Packaging” activities from the new subcontracting activities in the wood and furnishings sector developed by the manager Maurice Unbekandt.
Jean-Paul Unbekandt (date of birth: February 10, 1929) originally worked in the private forestry procurement department of La Cellulose de Strasbourg having completed his baccalaureate in elementary maths, and undertaken training at the Kling sawmill in Romanswiller where his father Alfred Unbekandt was a representative since 1920. Jean-Paul left La Cellulose after 2 years (1950 to 1953) to come back and work at the Kling sawmill once again, where he assisted the new owner Henri Beck, who Jean-Paul Unbekandt had met during his reforestation work for La Cellulose in the Pyrenees. On March 17, 1958, drawing upon his experience at the sawmill and paper mill, Jean-Paul Unbekandt founded the company Vosgebois. The original idea, based on a modified wood chipper towed by a truck with a trailer and suitably adapted crane was to produce wood chips from the wood offcuts produced by La Cellulose de Strasbourg and the panel manufacturers in the sawmills of the Vosges (hence the original name Vosgebois!). A further development came in 1961, when Jean-Paul Unbekandt purchased the “Hartz” box works on the current site and produced beer and wine crates and later wooden pallets, with these handling products enjoying significant growth. Vosgebois expanded quickly and in just a few years became a major player in the production of pallets in France. A production area for double and triple-wall heavy duty fibreboard packaging was set up in addition to the wood products in 1970. The current manager Maurice Unbekandt joined the company in 1979. A major new wave of investments in the sawmill activity was approved in 1981 in order to be better able to select the quality of the wood and to diversify the customer base, particularly in the export field (Merchants – Joinery producers – Furniture and parquet manufacturers, etc.). Unfortunately, due to a high level of debt, serious payment issues with clients and a lack of profitability resulting from the need to train the entire workforce in new working procedures, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1987. An asset sale took place in 1988 and Vosgebois is now managed by Marc Rinaldi, Michel Lesur and Maurice Unbekandt. Investments continued, including the acquisition of wood driers to allow for the sale of high-quality dried wood for exportation, particularly in the Asian markets. This partnership ended in 2004, and the sawmill was spun off and sold to Etablissements Ernest Weber, with Maurice Unbekandt acquiring 100% of the packaging business. Vosgebois Emballages (VBE) was founded on January 1, 2009 through a partial transfer of assets, more specifically the transfer of the complete packaging business by the company Vosgebois in order to separate the “Packaging” activities from the new subcontracting activities in the wood and furnishings sector developed by the manager Maurice Unbekandt.
Jean-Paul Unbekandt
Maurice Unbekandt.

Vosgebois logo over years

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