The mechanical engineering company headquartered in Bonn has announced further investments for 2020 to expand its packaging, pharmaceutical and medical divisions. The majority shareholder is making funds in the double-digit million range available for this purpose.
As part of the measures, personnel resources from the Automotive division will be integrated into these areas. The job cuts announced in 2019 should be completed by the end of the year.
Kautex Maschinenbau is one of the world's leading Manufacturer of extrusion blow moulding machines for plastics processing. With the measures that have now been announced, the company is continuing the process that began last year to Reorganisation and realignment continued. In addition to the organisational realignment, this also includes a Shifting the industry focus to the packaging sector. This segment has recorded strong growth in recent months.
The increases can compensate for the abrupt Decline in orders in the automotive sector The decline in sales could not fully compensate for this, but clearly shows that the company is on the right track. In the long term, Kautex expects demand from the automotive market to recover and will continue to develop the automotive sector, particularly in composite applications.
The future of digitalisation
The structural adjustment had become necessary in particular due to a noticeable global reluctance to invest in the automotive supplier sector. With these measures, Kautex is also responding to fundamental changes in the plastics industry. The In addition to the digitalisation of production and service processes, the dominant topics for the future include waste avoidance and the processing of recycled raw materials.
Thomas Hartkämper, who initially took over the management of the Operations division in October 2019 and has been leading the company as CEO since February of this year, has provided decisive impetus in the company's change process. The changes initiated in the Operations division in particular are already having a positive impact on the entire corporate structure.
„For us, this is just the beginning of a far-reaching product offensive that we have planned for the coming years,“ explains CEO Thomas Hartkämper.
The industry was able to see the first results at the last plastics trade fair in 2019. Alongside other innovations, the company presented a New generation of extrusion heads developed in-house before. The new heads enable much faster colour and material changes, significantly increased melt qualities and material throughputs. The Patented RapidXchange technology is the global benchmark for weight reduction and the use of recyclate.
In another area, Kautex is currently working on the further development of Process for the production of composite pressure vessels especially for the transport and storage of hydrogen.
Source: Kautex
