Gütersloh: innovative, dynamic and geared to the future

Plumb in the centre of Germany, and not simply a quick place to get to on the DSL superhighway, Gütersloh, business location with international cachet, is the regional capital of one of the largest administrative districts in North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of just under 100,000 inhabitants. Gütersloh is a location with its jaw pointed squarely at the future. Excellent communications, considerable purchasing power and the best employment rates in the district … all factors that Gütersloh can make the most of as it goes about presenting its strengths as a business location. From its central geographic position the town can reach 80% of European consumers within 24 hours. And with respect to consumers and purchasing power, Gütersloh, too, can more than hold its own, boasting a purchasing power index of 104.7.

The district as a whole measures up well when compared to the county town. A study by the Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft rates the Gütersloh district 3rd out of 54 North Rhine-Westphalia villages and unincorporated towns. The district counts among its strengths the large number of employees paying national insurance. The town of Gütersloh can point to 46,000 gainfully employed persons. The 25,900 employees commuting into Gütersloh every day are ample testimony to the attractiveness of the town in the eyes of internationally active companies such as Miele and Bertelsmann and myriad small and medium-sized fi rms. Gütersloh is innovative. The town has been

the base from which a number of technology pioneers, such as Syskoplan, have gone on to great things in the international arena. Food producers such as the meat processors F.J. Marten or Mestemacher bakers despatch

products worldwide. Gütersloh is home to Güth & Wolf, one of Europe‘s leading manufacturers of belts, tape and webbing, to Westaflex, a major producer of ventilation and waterfiltration technology, and to infl uential

fashion companies such as Annette Görtz or Marc Aurel. And this is only a small sample of companies in the Gütersloh portfolio. Yet this is not all. The economy of Gütersloh is made up of a wide range of fi rms and sectors.

The town currently has over 5,000 licensed traders. More than 80% of East Westphalia businesses employing in excess of 50 people are in the sole ownership of a local family. Sectoral diversity is also a guarantee that crisis in one area will be offset by success in another. As a youthful and expanding medium-sized town of almost 100,000 inhabitants, Gütersloh not only offers all the classical advantages of an excellent business location but is also rated very highly as a residential environment and a centre of education and culture, as evinced by its 30 schools and a new 20-million-euro theatre offering more than simply drama. These are just some of the amenities of a go-ahead town that is constantly initiating new projects and always investing in the future – and yet more evidence of Gütersloh‘s bold, forward-looking approach.