PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2012

TRADE SHOW REVIEW 38 PET planet insider Vol. 13 No. 04/12 www.petpla.net Engel strives for market leadership status in closure cap plants Interview with Dr. Christoph Steger At the NPE, CEO Dr. Peter Neu- mann made clear that Engel’s intention with its e-cap was to become one of the major play- ers in the cap market. The highly ambitious challenge to achieve this goal will be one of the tasks for the new Vice President of Engel’s business unit Packag- ing, Dr Christoph Steger,* who recently joined Engel, making him the fourth generation of the Engel family to play an active role in the business. PETplanet: Dr. Steger, you have been in charge of Business Unit Packag- ing at Engel since February. In so doing you have become the second member of the 4th generation of the family to take an executive role in the business. What drove your decision to take up this challenge? Steger: Basically, my decision to accept Engel’s offer to join the company was very easy. Not because I married into the family but because Engel is one of the world’s leading injection moulding machine manufacturers, with a consider- able number of obvious strengths. The active involvement of the owning family in the daily operation of the company and and its strategic objectives are adequate testimony to the company’s long-term vision. Hence, it is an honour for me to join my brother-in-law and great-grandson of the company founder Ludwig Engel, Dr Stefan Engleder, who as technical executive has contributed significantly to the success of Engel for many years, as second member of the fourth generation of the Engel family being active in the business. PETplanet: Dr Neumann has just stated at the press conference at the NPE that, in the shape of the Engel e-cap, you have one of the most efficient and powerful closure cap plant on the market and your intention is to become market leader with it within a short space of time. Looking at the strong competi- tion in this field, it seems to me that this is not going to be that easy. Could this not be said to be an ambitious goal that you have set yourselves? Steger: We think that ambitious goals are one of the main drivers for success. This goal is certainly one of our bigger challenges but I still think it is achievable. We estimate the global market demand – excluding China – to be around 100 heavy duty plants per year and aim to gain a market share of about 1/3 rd within the next couple of years. And our all-electric e-cap series is definitely a great solution with outstand- ing features, be it in the area of effi- ciency, speed, precision or reliability. PETplanet: Husky has now brought KTW on board as a cap toolmaker and is therefore able to offer a complete system that is very, very fast. By con- trast, you are looking at achieving your goals using external toolmakers. Steger: As Dr Neumann said previ- ously, our all-electric Engel e-cap plant is one of the most efficient and power- ful on the market. Anyone who says anything to the contrary will have to prove it first. Our approach for offering complete systems is to cooperate with the best possible partners depending on the desired end product. It is well known that customers in different regions have different requirements concerning prod- uct specifications and demand different solution characteristics. By establishing partnerships with several of the best specialists we in each case can guaran- tee a very high level of efficiency and the best solution for the individual demand. PETplanet: On one occasion you challenged Husky, when Engel brought preform systems on to the market. Steger: We didn’t challenge Husky, we identified an interesting market seg- ment and introduced a preform system but realised that due to the fact the we did not have the necessary mould competence in house we did not have a proper solution for that particular market segment. PETplanet: Could you then envis- age acquiring another established pre- form machine manufacturer in order to close this loophole in your range? Steger: “Never say never“ is what they say, but at the moment I can defini- tively rule this out. So far Engel has grown organically and I think this situa- tion will go on for a bit longer yet. PETplanet: Many thanks, Dr Steger, I can see that the 4th generation is making just as foresighted and dynamic a start as we have become accustomed to with the three previous generations at Engel. www.engel.at *Dr Christoph Steger joined Engel in February as Vice Presi- dent of the business unit Packag- ing. He studied business admin- istration at the Vienna University of Economics and Business with majors in Innovation and Strategic Management. Initially starting in the consulting business, Christoph Steger has worked for several years in the plastics machin- ery industry being in charge of Marketing, Product Management and Processing for the battenfeld- cincinnati group of companies before recently accepting the new challenge at Engel. He is married to the great-granddaughter of the company founder Ludwig Engel and together with his brother-in- law Dr. Stefan Engleder repre- sents the fourth generation of family members to be actively involved in the company’s busi- ness. Dr Christoph Steger(left) and Alexander Büchler in front of the e-cap