PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2016

PACKING / PALLETISING 50 PET planet insider Vol. 17 No. 09/16 www.petpla.net SPONSORS The China Road Show Packaging specialist global May 30, 2016 - Engel China We met: Gero Willmeroth, Sales and Service President of Engel Machinery Shanghai Engel is present in Asia with three plants: Korea with a facility for machines from 28 to 400t, Changzhou where they manufacture the new brand Wintec, and Shanghai producing the large machine duo line at 350 to 4000t. While the two Engel plants manufacture 100% Engel machines as per the Austrian model, the new Wintec brand is a slimmed- down-product range of its own and will serve the upper range of the growing mid-market segment. We visited the large machine plant. Austrian technology requires trained staff and so Engel, in con- junction with Alpla, initiated a 4-year apprenticeship programme training course in China that allows young school graduates in China to acquire an Austrian qualification. The pro- gramme is running very well; the first year group is close to completion and almost all apprentices from day one are still there. In the Chinese market, the Engel brand is especially well-represented within the automobile sector. The large machine plant thus also obtains 70% of its turnover in this sector. While in the past in China western automobile technology only came to market after years of delays, model changeovers now happen in China within a few months of being released in Germany or USA. Thus Engel ma- nufactures large machines in China complete with all current technology, just as it does in Austria. Back injec- tion, multi-components and glazing are just a few notable processes. Engel does not manufacture the large all-electric packaging machines in China. These are imported as required.Nevertheless, Willmeroth is sticking with the packaging market. For him, the entire logistics sector is still in its infancy. Parcel services unload their packages at street junc- tions to re-sort them and then deliver them to the addressees. For him, China is an Eldorado for plastic box manufacturers to professionalise the logistics sector. The packaging sector is where he envisions a large potential for growth also for his Chinese-pro- duced Engel machines. www.engelglobal.com Gero Willmeroth, Sales and Service President of Engel Machinery Shanghai (left) and Alexander Büchler