| 50 years of innovation - introduction of Dr. Alain Ritter, Head of Human Resources and Group Communications | 13 |
MILESTONES IN THE HISTORY OF PLASTICS | |
| Genesis of plastics | 17 |
| Five decades of plastics | 29 |
| The 1950s: The pioneering years | 31 |
| The 1960s: Manufacturing and expansion | 37 |
| The 1970s: Period of more development | 41 |
| The 1980s: Consolidation | 45 |
| The 1990s: Trend toward customer focus | 49 |
| The new millennium: Tapping into new market segments | 53 |
INTERVIEWS WITH CONTEMPORARY WITNESSES | |
| Dr. Ernst Hofmann - The plastics department | 57 |
| Dr. Rudolf Merz - Materials developer and inventor of Tangit | 61 |
| Erich Guldener - Plastic fittings developer of the first hour | 65 |
| Bruno Hunziker - Complete line of valves | 69 |
| Felix Meier - BCF fusion technology | 73 |
| Jörg Wermelinger - Infrared for the highest demands | 77 |
| Jürgen Fluck - iFIT: intelligent and simple | 81 |
PROCESSES IN THE PLASTICS INDUSTRY | |
| Highly qualified and motivated - The people behind the processes | 87 |
| State of the art | 97 |
| Components assembly | 101 |
| Extrusion and customizing | 105 |
| Zero-error strategy | 109 |
| High-tech analytics | 113 |
| Plastics and Chemicals | 117 |
| So that everything fits | 121 |
| Radical optimization | 125 |
| Tried, tested and approved | 129 |
| Just ordered, presto delivered | 133 |
| Packed-in energy | 137 |
PLASTICS MARKETS TODAY | |
| Plastics markets today - innovations come from the market | 145 |
| Overview of the market segments | 147 |
| Shipbuilding | 149 |
| Life Science | 153 |
| Microelectronics | 157 |
| Food and beverage | 161 |
| Water and gas Utilities | 165 |
| Water treatment | 169 |
| Building services | 173 |
| Chemical process industry | 177 |
GEORG FISCHER JUBILEE FOUNDATION | |
| «Clean Water» foundation | 185 |
PLASTICS: FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MATERIAL | |
| On the edge: Where plastics research stands today | 193 |
| The future needs of our customers - from a market viewpoint | 201 |
| Solvay - Partners in vinyl | 205 |
| Ineos - Longlasting polyethylene | 209 |
| Borealis - Tailor-made materials | 213 |
| Arkema - Polyvinylidene fluoride | 217 |
APPENDIX | |
| Picture credits | 221 |
| Contacts worldwide | 223 |
