A dialogue between politics, business and academia: the Advisory Board of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Economic Development Agency (WFG) met at Elkamet. The focus was on skilled workers, innovation and strengthening the regional economy.
On April 16, 2026, the WFG Marburg-Biedenkopf Advisory Board meeting took place at Elkamet in Friedensdorf. Managing Director Eberhard Flammer, himself a member of the Advisory Board, welcomed the participants and introduced the company as one of the region’s major employers.
Among the guests were District Administrator Jens Womelsdorf, Mayor Marco Schmidtke of Dautphetal, Tobias Kurka, managing director of the economic development agency, and Prof. Dr. Gerd Manthei from the Technical University of Central Hessen (THM), who helps oversee the StudiumPlus cooperation program.
In his opening remarks, Eberhard Flammer emphasized the importance of regional ties and hands-on training. He noted that close collaboration with THM is a key component in attracting and developing young professionals. Today, over 100 engineers work at Elkamet who began their educational journey through StudiumPlus or the THM. Eberhard Flammer summed it up succinctly:
“The more jobs we have, the better off we are.”
Steffen Balzer, Business Unit Manager for Vehicle Containers, then led the factory tour and gave the guests insights into the plastics manufacturing process—from the preparation of the raw material to the finished containers. The participants paid particular attention to the presentation of the first components of a new product, the bicycle parking system, which is currently being built at the Friedensdorf site.
The meeting highlighted how important regular dialogue between business, academia, and government is for the region’s future viability. Elkamet would like to thank WFG Marburg-Biedenkopf for the visit and the open discussion about shared perspectives.
