INNOVATION
HOW ROY WEIKERT CREATED GENERAL FILMS, INC.
This story is about curiosity. The kind that sets visionary entrepreneurs apart from other business people. It's also about a family business, innovation, tenacity, and a 25-cent steam tank (more about that later). Mostly, this is the story of General Films, Inc. founder Roy Weikert who, at age 105, walked daily for exercise, which was a key to his good health, played the stock market for fun and profit, and as Chairman of the Board of the company he began in 1938.
Covington, Ohio-based General Films, Inc. serves a wide range of industries with custom extruded film solutions, bag-in-box systems, VFFS, and industrial packaging. But the company began with a young Roy Weikert, his new fedora, and a jar of Brilliantine.
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Chronology of Roy Weikert & General Films, Inc.
1913
October 22, 1913: Roy Weikert is born near Arcanum, Ohio
1935
Roy decides to head west with 2 friends. They load up a 1929 Buick with camping gear. Roy ends up working in an F. W. Woolworth store in Davenport, Iowa
1943
Roy enters the U.S. Army to serve in World War II
1950-60s
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As the hat business declines, Roy investigates other opportunities, including bag-and-box systems for dairies
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1960s, General Films begins making its own plastic film
1980-Future
General Films, Inc. grows through product innovations and expansion into new markets with Roy’s nephew Tim Weikert as the company CEO. Roy J. Weikert 1913-2019
1925
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Weikert family moves to Covington, Ohio
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During the Great Depression, Roy works in a grocery store earning 10 cents per hour
1938
Roy develops hat liners and hat covers made from Pliofilm
1947
Following the war, Roy restarts his business in Covington with his brother, Wayne
1970s
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Roy builds a second factory in Sidney, Ohio
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Inflation, business fall-off and debt force the company into reorganization. The Sidney facility is sold off and the company retrenches in Covington