Overview
In 1959, entrepreneur Michiel Wories established a factory in Aalten for processing polyester resins. The business began in the former gasworks, where he rented space that had become available after Mr A. Brasz moved his small machine factory to Winterswijk.
The company specialised in producing polyester silos for storing animal feed and fertiliser. It grew quickly. In 1960, Wories bought a 2,539 m² industrial plot from the municipality of Aalten at Dinxperlosestraatweg 46 for ƒ6,347.50, with the intention of building a new factory there.
Fire destroys the factory in 1972
On Thursday 13 July 1972, a fire completely destroyed the factory. It broke out in the afternoon while the business was closed for the summer holidays. A local resident reported the fire at around 2.30 pm. By the time the fire brigade arrived, the building was already fully ablaze.
Fire crews from Aalten, Bredevoort and Dinxperlo, as well as the German town of Bocholt, which supplied a water tanker, fought the blaze. Extreme heat and exploding plastic drums made it impossible to save the building, which burnt out completely. The damage was estimated at about one million guilders.
The nearby De Marke sheltered workshop at Dinxperlosestraatweg 44 was saved. The adjoining premises of Electrotechnische Industrie (ETI) were also at risk, but the fire brigade managed to protect them, limiting the damage.
Director Wories was staying at a Dutch seaside resort at the time. The company then employed fifteen people.
Takeover and relocation
After the fire, Wories Kunststoffen was taken over by Polem, whose head office was in Lemmer, Friesland. Polem operated in the same sector and had a new production site built on Derde Broekdijk in Aalten, where the manufacture of silos and tanks continued.
In subsequent years, however, Polem gradually transferred machinery and production capacity from Aalten to its main site in Lemmer. This made it increasingly difficult for the Aalten branch to operate. Production in Aalten eventually ceased, bringing Michiel Wories’s original business to an end.
Later businesses
After the closure of Wories’s factory, Polacel, another company involved in polyester processing, moved into the same site on Derde Broekdijk. When Polacel ceased production around 1995, Albuco took over the premises. Albuco, a manufacturer of sandwich panels with its own polyester department, later moved to Dinxperlo.
Address history
Address directory 1967
Dinxperlosestraatweg 46
Images
