Page 43 - Packaging News Magazine Sep-Oct 2019

September-October 2019
www.packagingnews.com.au SUPPLIER SPOTLIGHT
W&H
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W&H celebrates bumper anniversary year
Venerable machine builder Windmöller & Hölscher is celebrating its 150th birthday this year – and it couldn’t come at a better time, with the company riding high after a successful 2018.
THE flexible packaging special- ist is continuing to grow in its anniversary year, having hired
150 new staff worldwide, and posted its highest ever sales figures, in 2018.
“All business units – Extrusion, Printing, Converting and Service – contributed to the record sales of the W&H Group of 895 million euros. With an export rate of over ninety per cent, our international positioning is another important success factor for
W&H,” says CEO Dr Jürgen Vutz. W&H has unveiled a new motto for the anniversary: “Building the Fu- ture Together”, which Vutz says en- compasses the manufacturer’s phi-
losophies.
“Building represents our core
competence as a machine manufac- turer; Together, the spirit of partner- ship. With Future, we are express- ing that we are not only looking back at the past success story, but also at tomorrow,” he says.
The company has also expanded its global footprint with the opening of six new sales and service centres, including in Poland and Asia. W&H also invested in the creation of a 10,000 square metre technology cen- tre for flexible packaging machinery at its German headquarters. The Ex- trusion Technology Centre was com- pleted in 2018, and the new Printing
Technology Centre is slated to open this year, says Peter Steinbeck, CSO. “With our international subsidiar- ies, we offer our customers local con- tacts. At the Technology Centre in Germany, they can experience the entire value chain from extrusion to
printing and converting,” he says. W&H has a strong focus on re- search and development, especially for digitalisation and sustainability, according to Dr Falco Paepenmüller, who was appointed chief technology officer in April; the company spent eight per cent of its sales revenue in
R&D last year.
“Software makes our machines
smarter and more efficient, for ex- ample through automated processes, error detection and quality assur- ance. By systematically building up our expertise, we maintained our technological leadership in this area as well.
“Our machines can already pro- cess recycled plastics today. At the same time, we are working in our Technology Centre on how plastic packaging can be made more easily recyclable without losing its protec- tive function,” says Paepenmüller.
To showcase its technology offer- ings, including the new Novoflex II high performance flexographic printing press and the best-selling Miraflex press, W&H held an open
TOP LEFT: W&H has a strong focus on research and development, especially for digitalisation and sustainability.
TOP: W&H’s new flexo printing press for package printing, the NOVOFLEX II.
BELOW: A good year: W&H executive management. From left: Dr. Jürgen Vutz (CEO), Peter Steinbeck (CSO), and Dr Falco Paepenmüller (CTO).
house event this year where guests were able to see the Novoflex in ac- tion printing a group photo taken only three hours before. According to Hermann Veismann, head of printing at W&H, the event was a smash hit.
“We wanted to demonstrate that flexo printing, with its high quality and proven process reliability with modern W&H machines and an opti- mized overall process, enables enor- mous flexibility and speed. The re- actions of the guests showed we were successful,” he says.
W&H will exhibit this year at K 2019, the international plastics trade show in Düsseldorf, present- ing new machine generations, digi- tal products, and sustainable pack- aging solutions. ■