Windmöller & Hölscher (W&H) celebrates its 150th anniversary. The management has announced that “Building the Future Together” is the motto responsible for driving significant directions in the milestone moment. Dr. Jürgen Vutz, chief executive officer of the machine maker, maintains “Building” represents “our core competence as a manufacturer” “Future” expresses that “we are looking at tomorrow, as well as back at our past success story” “Together” speaks of the spirit of partnership Vutz reported, “The highlight of the anniversary year was at the K2019 trade fair in Düsseldorf, where W&H presented new machine generations and innovative solutions for sustainable packaging.”
In making the historical announcement, Vutz was joined by Chief Sustainability Officer Peter Steinbeck and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Falco Paepen müller. The trio decreed, “W&H concluded 2018 with sales of around $1 billion (€895 million). The specialist for the flexible packaging market is continuing its course of growth seen in recent years. Its number of employees increased from 2,950 to 3,100 in the worldwide group. Internationally, the company cites new products on the future topics of digitalization and sustainability as growth drivers. In 2018, the company invested 8 percent of its sales in R&D.”
Vutz noted, “All business units— Extrusion, Printing, Converting and Service—contributed to record sales of the W&H Group. With an export rate of more than 90 percent, international positioning is another important success factor for the company.” In fact, the machine builder just recently expanded its international presence with six new sales and service locations.
In the past few months, W&H has expanded its headquarters through construction of a 107,600 sq. ft. technology center for machines for the production of flexible packaging. Its new Extrusion Technology Center was completed in 2018 and the new Printing Technology Center is currently under construction and will be opened later this year.
“At the Technology Center, customers can experience the entire value chain from extrusion to printing and converting,” explained Steinbeck. Paepenmüller added, “Software makes our machines smarter and more efficient through automated processes, error detection and quality assurance. By systematically building up our expertise, we maintained our technological leadership in this area as well.”
He continued, “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 Center on how plastic packaging can be made more easily recyclable without losing its protective function.”
Dr. Jürgen Vutz CEO, Peter Steinbeck CSO and Dr. Falco Paepenmüller CTO in a joint statement said, “from the paper cone bag machine to PACKAGING 4.0 and beyond, our young talent is the FUTURE. And for us, FUTURE also means assuming responsibility for tomorrow.’
We are proud to operate a company with such a long and successful tradition and proud of the worldwide team which supports W&H with passion. We would like to extend our particular thanks to our customers for the trust and partnership that we share worldwide. On this anniversary, we look back on 150 years of successful history. And we look confidently into the future – which has already begun. We look forward to successfully shaping the coming years together with our customers” says Vutz.
Even 150 years after the founding of our company, mechanical engineering remains at the heart of what we do. It is the foundation that enables each of the four Business Units and their constant development to grow. It is the engine that consistently drives the company as a whole. It has made our name come to stand for quality. It has enabled us to expand our worldwide presence. Then and now, we are an architect – shaping the on-going change of the packaging markets with ideas, expertise and drive.