Extrusion International USA 4-2021

20 Extrusion International 4/2021 INDUSTRY NEWS Acquisition – Position in Extrusion and BlowMoulding Applications Massively Strengthened „ As of 1st July 2021, motan holding gmbh has taken over all shares Bolder automation GmbH. With Bolder’s expertise in customised solutions and its international customer base, motan will sustainably strengthen its portfolio of products and solutions for the blow moulding and extrusion sectors. Founded in 1993 by Dr Georg Bolder and managed by him since then, the company specialises in the control of continu- ous processes in the plastics industry, especially on extrusion and blow moulding lines. Dr Georg Bolder: “Our strengths are customer- and process-speci fi c solutions as required in extrusion. For this purpose, we use measurement and con- trol technology on the extrusion lines and integrate mate- rial conveying, dryers and dosing & mixing systems. For OEM customers, the control and operation of these process parts is transferred to the complete extrusion line. Processors ben- e fi t from a holistic solution when modernising their lines.” Bolder has been cooperating with the motan group in vari- ous development and customer projects since 2001. With the takeover of Bolder, Managing Director Sandra Füllsack ex- pects a number of positive effects: “Over the past decades, Bolder has built up process technology knowledge and an excellent reputation in the industry. In addition, the employ- „ The restructuring at ILLIG Maschinenbau has shown re- sults, and operational turnaround is in sight. After almost three years in a dif fi cult market environment with reduced order volumes, the company can now look to the futurewith con fi dence during its anniversary year. The family-owned company’s thorough restructuring initiative succeeded in roughly halving losses from 2020 and is set to bring the com- pany back to a pro fi table operational position by the end of 2021. The dif fi cult situation, which had already begun mak- ing itself apparent over the course of 2019, was caused by customer-side investment reluctance worldwide. Politically motivated trade disputes, global discussions about plastic and packaging fueled by negativity, and the far-reaching ef- fects of Covid-related lockdowns across the globe with severe dis- ruptions in all logistics chains have created pervasive uncertainty. Economic normality began to make a re- turn after the fi rst half of 2021. Mechanical engineering is start- ing to see rising num- bers of orders again. Nevertheless, this is a clear signal to remain fi rm in pursuing re- structuring measures to address the clearly de fi ned challenges stemming from global market uncer- tainty, ongoing critical discussions of plastic and packaging, and the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We reacted to the situation early on, and at the begin- ning of 2020 we had already taken initial measures to com- pensate for declining sales and pro fi t,” explains ILLIG CEO Carsten Strenger. “ILLIG is, and will remain, an outstanding mid-size mechanical engineering company with an excep- tional team of skilled professionals who will continue de- veloping groundbreaking technological solutions for our customers. The measures we initiated last year are now showing positive effects in 2021. We are more responsive to the markets and are now much closer to our customers. We will continue pursuing these goals. What still counts is to re- spond to customer demands emerging from global market realities with high fl exibility and a strategic focus.” With Circular Thinking, ILLIG supports the concept of the cyclical economy and pursues clearly de fi ned sustainability goals: reducing, reusing, sorting, recycling and renewing. ILLIG tool, production and packaging systems are fl exible on the material side. They use process-safe biodegradable plastics, recycled goods, plastic-cardboard combinations or post-consumer fi lms, even including 100% cardboard ap- plications. Carsten Strenger looks to the Next 75 future with con fi - dence: “The next major development from our company is the industrial manufacture of packaging made from thermoformable paper using existing ILLIG production sys- tems – another sustainable solution from the leader in inno- vation, and fully in line with current sustainability strategies in target countries.” Operational Turnaround ILLIG Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG www.illig.com (Picture: ILLIG)