Windmöller & Hölscher reports sales of 895-million euros in 2018
Continuing its course of growth of the recent years, specialist for the flexible packaging market, Windmöller & Hölscher concluded 2018 with sales of around 895-million euros. In the meantime, the company’s employees increased from 2,950 to 3,100 worldwide. In 2018, the company invested 8% of its sales in research and development.
20 May 2019 | 5300 Views | By Rahul Kumar
In 2019, W&H will celebrate its 150th anniversary where it will announce further innovations.
“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 90%, our international positioning is another important success factor for W&H," said Dr Jürgen Vutz, CEO, W&H.
In recent months, the machine builder has expanded its international presence with six new sales and service locations, in Poland and Asia. At its headquarters in Germany, W&H invested in the construction of a 10,000 square metre technology centre for machines for the production of flexible packaging.
The new extrusion technology centre was completed in 2018. The new printing technology centre is currently under construction and will be opened in autumn 2019. “With our international subsidiaries, we offer our customers W&H achieves sales of 895-million euros and starts the anniversary year with new products, said Peter Steinbeck, CSO, W&H.
In 2018, W&H invested around 8% of its sales in research and development, with a focus on the future topics of digitalisation and sustainability. “Software makes our machines smarter and more efficient, for example through automated processes, error detection and quality assurance. By systematically building up our expertise, we maintained our technological leadership in this area as well," says Dr Falco Paepenmüller, who was appointed chief technology officer at W&H in April 2019.
In plastic packaging, the creation of a circular economy is a task for the entire industry. “Our machines can already process 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 protective function," said Paepenmüller.
W&H celebrates its 150th anniversary in autumn 2019. The motto for the anniversary year is ‘building the future together'. “Building represents our core competence as a machine manufacturer. Together is the spirit of partnership. With future, we are expressing that we are not only looking back at the past success story, but also at tomorrow,” Vutz said.
The highlight of the anniversary year will be the K 2019 trade fair in Düsseldorf, where W&H will present new machine generations, digital products and innovative solutions for sustainable packaging.