What is the ZDS?

ZDS network

The ZDS Member Service is made up of over 250 member companies in the confectionery and food industry from all over the world. Every ZDS member company benefits from numerous advantages. From the use of ZDS technical facilities and support for industrial product development to company-specific in-house training and consulting.

ZDS School

The ZDS Training & Further Education Center offers a wide range of training courses in the confectionery and food industry. Whether, for example, to become a “specialist in food technology”, a “confectionery technologist” or an industrial foreman in the fields of confectionery technology or food technology, the ZDS is unique in this form with its range of training courses. The vocational students live in the college’s own boarding school during the block of lessons and are catered for in the in-house canteen.

ZDS Academy

The ZDS seminar service invites participants from all over the world to attend short and long-term seminars, workshops and large and small congresses on a wide range of confectionery-related topics. This is where the global confectionery industry meets at the ZDS. International experts, and above all the trained specialist staff of the ZDS, pass on their knowledge to the participants in these seminars and thus form the basis for the innovations of the future in the global confectionery industry.

Modern classrooms and lecture halls

The ZDS has ten modern classrooms, various conference rooms and two lecture halls. All our classrooms are equipped with Smart Boards and some even with tablets. Both lecture halls at the ZDS are equipped with modern audio and video technology and simultaneous interpreting booths.

Excellently equipped technical centers

There are specially equipped technical departments in the ZDS for each confectionery area. Whether it’s our chocolate, baked goods, sugar confectionery, dragee or ice cream department – our participants are delighted with the excellent facilities at ZDS.

In our picture gallery you will find many of the machines and systems available in our technical centers.

As one of the few historic town centers in North Rhine-Westphalia, Gräfrath offers residents and visitors a wealth of attractions: The early modern ensemble of market square with fountain and adjoining narrow alleyways, which has hardly changed since the 18th century, is characterized by slate-clad half-timbered houses from the Bergisch region.

A 72-step staircase leads from the village center to the Klosterberg with the monastery church and former abbey, the medieval starting point of the settlement. The historic monastery building houses the German Blade Museum, which displays valuable collections of cutlery, cutlery and edged weapons from different eras and cultures, as well as the Gräfrath church treasury, a relic of the monastery’s glory days. The Gräfrath Museum is also housed in the Klingenmuseum building. This is where the local history association documents the history of our district and its associations.

In the former Gräfrath town hall, built in 1908, the Baden Museum mainly exhibits works by Solingen artists such as Georg Meistermann and other important collections. Art lovers can take a look at the galleries around the market.

The outskirts of Gräfrath also have a lot to offer: The Klingenpfad trail leads from the town center through the Gräfrather Heide, a park and forest area, to the family-friendly Fauna animal park with 200 animal species. From the light tower with its glass dome, another fascinating landmark of Gräfrath, marked hiking trails open up the charming green landscape of the surrounding area.

Gräfrath is equally popular as an excursion destination and a place to live, and is home to a wide range of restaurants and cafés, bistros, restaurants, hotels and a youth hostel that look forward to your visit. This also applies to the numerous stores, which are mainly located on Markt and In der Freiheit.

Further tourism information on www.tourismus.solingen.de