The term Vereinigung Volkseigener Betriebe, abbreviated to VVB, can be translated as "union/group of state-owned enterprises" and was a vital part of the industrial organization structure in former East Germany.
Following the founding of the German Democratic Republic, all factories or former companies that had been nationalised became so-called VEB units during the various phases of expropriation. These were then grouped into larger VVB units, named after the largest or most influential VEB unit, which also operated as the head office. A few years later, the prefix VVB was dropped and replaced by the term Kombinat. For example the VVB Feinkeramik Kahla later became the Kombinat VEB Porzellanwerk Kahla. While both of those names described the entire production group, the name VEB Porzellanwerk Kahla alone (without the Kombinat addition) only described the single factory on Kahla.
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