EVENT REVIEW | NEWS Ten years of Wittmann Battenfeld
An anniversary event in Austria gave Wittmann Battenfeld customers a taste of the history and investments since Wittmann Group’s takeover in 2008, along with demonstrations of new technology. David Eldridge reports
Wittmann Group marked the tenth anniversary of its acquisition of the Battenfeld injection moulding machin- ery group in June with a special event for customers and partners. The celebra- tion took place at Wittmann Battenfeld’s facility in Kottingbrunn, Austria where the group has been making a series of investments. The event attracted 1,700 people who heard presenta- tions from senior managers, learned of new products during machinery demon- strations and were enter- tained at a gala dinner. Werner Wittmann, who founded the group as an ancillary equipment supplier in 1976, recalled that when the Battenfeld acquisition was announced in 2008, a journalist dismissively described the deal as “the tail wagging the dog”. But the success of Wittmann Battenfeld in the past ten years led him to tell the audience: “We are really proud of what we have achieved together.” The acquisition was completed a little before the global economic crash ten years ago and Wittmann Group, in common with other plastics-related companies, experienced a steep fall in revenues in 2009. But the group took this as “an opportunity to start anew”, said Georg Tinschert, Managing Director of Wittmann Battenfeld. In the interven- ing period, all injection
www.injectionworld.com
Wittmann Battenfeld made visitors welcome at a gala dinner in Vienna
moulding machine ranges have been renewed under the PowerSeries brand and Tinschert was able to announce the final element of the renewal program at the anniversary event: the launch of VPower vertical machines (see below).
Expansions Wittmann Group has had constant growth since the low point of 2009 when revenue was €150m, increasing annually to reach €403m in 2017. Tinschert said the injection moulding machinery business ac- counted for €176m of the revenue in 2017. Growth is forecast to continue and consequently the group is expanding various facilities, including the Kottingbrunn site which has attracted more than €40m investment since 2013. A new machine assembly hall was opened in Kotting-
brunn in 2014 and this has recently been expanded, with the floor space increas- ing by 2,200 m². Also completed earlier in 2018 were a new hall for engi- neering development and an extension to the sales building. During the anniversary event work was underway on another investment, a new product development centre, which is scheduled for completion this year. Tinschert said yet more expansions at Kotting- brunn have started in 2018: hall extensions to accommo- date a fully automatic logistics centre and assem- bly of vertical and rotary table machines. Wittmann Group’s global
locations are also growing, as CEO Michael Wittmann outlined in a press confer- ence during the event. The group is expanding its sites in many countries, adding 5,000 m² in Germany, 2,030
m² in Italy, 1,800 m² in Czech Republic, and 3,000 m² in Mexico. In addition, the group is starting construction of a new facility with 4,850 m² floor space in France, which will house production of granulators and a new in-mould labelling technology centre. The overall increase in
the group’s capacity should enable it to bring its order backlog to a more accept- able level, said Michael Wittmann in a Q&A session with journalists.
New verticals Tinschert presented the VPower series first among the new products Wittmann Battenfeld introduced at the anniversary event. Vertical machines account for 8-10% of Wittmann Battenfeld’s machine sales and the company did not want the redesign to be too radical for its existing customers.
� September 2018 | INJECTION WORLD 17
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62
