MULTIVAC continues on course for growth

At a press conference at FachPack today, Hans-Joachim Boekstegers, Managing Director and CEO of MULTIVAC, gave an overview of current business developments, MULTIVAC packaging trends and some of the numerous product innovations at the trade fair stand.
With a Sales of around 1,1 billion euros the MULTIVAC Group was able to achieve sales growth of 2018 percent in 7,7 compared to the previous year. The number of employees increased to 6.400 employees worldwide. "Despite numerous imponderables, we are expecting slight sales growth for the current financial year," explained Hans-Joachim Boekstegers.

Investments in the worldwide production network
The further expansion of production capacities will continue to have high priority in the future. A new competence center for slicers and automation solutions is currently being built at the company headquarters in Wolfertschwandern and will be completed in 2020. There will also be 17.000 state-of-the-art office workplaces and flexibly usable conference and event rooms on approx. 180 square meters of usable space. At the Bruckmühl location, administration and production for the MULTIVAC subsidiary TVI will be concentrated on around 9.000 square meters "on a green field". A new competence center for meat portioners is currently being built there and will also go into operation in 2020. The highlight is an application center tailored to the needs of customers. In addition, MULTIVAC plans to manufacture packaging machines and their peripheral components in Taicang (China). In addition to production, the areas of development and construction are also set up there. The start of production is planned for the end of 2019.

From machine manufacturer to solution provider
With the takeover of the FRITSCH Group, which took place in August 2019, MULTIVAC completes its portfolio of solutions in order to be able to offer the baked goods industry complete production lines from a single source in the future. FRITSCH is a leading manufacturer of bakery machines with its headquarters in Markt Einersheim in Lower Franconia. The portfolio includes high-performance systems and groundbreaking innovations in dough forming and dough processing - from tabletop devices to industrial systems. "This acquisition is another important step in the expansion of our portfolio to include holistic solutions for the processing and packaging of food," explained Hans-Joachim Boekstegers. "Our aim is to always be able to offer our customers the most efficient overall solution."

MULTIVAC's sustainability concept
In the field of sustainable packaging solutions, "we are the partner of choice," says Hans-Joachim Boekstegers. “We sensitize our customers worldwide to sustainable packaging concepts. In this way, our sustainable concepts are also multiplied in the regions where we do not yet see any active demand for these solutions.” The MULTIVAC portfolio includes various sustainable packaging concepts that contribute to the reduction of packaging materials in packaging production. Other concepts are based on the use of renewable raw materials or recyclable materials such as mono-materials or fibre-based packaging materials.

Machine generation X-line
At MULTIVAC, digitization is an elementary building block in the development of new products and as such is consistently implemented in the packaging solutions. "Following our RX 4.0 thermoforming packaging machine, which sets new standards in the market, we have now expanded our portfolio of the X-line machine generation with another future-proof model," said Hans-Joachim Boekstegers. “The new TX 710 traysealer is characterized by a robust machine concept and intelligent control. These ensure maximum performance, reliability and flexibility.” At FachPack, the TX 710 received the “German Packaging Award”, which is presented by the German Packaging Institute eV, in the packaging machines category.

New generation of cross web labellers
In the labeling sector, MULTIVAC is presenting a new generation of cross web labellers at the trade fair. In addition to improved performance and operating safety, the new models are also characterized by lower life cycle costs compared to previous solutions. Their future viability is ensured by using the latest communication standards such as IO-Link and EtherCAT. Among other things, this enables the implementation of additional sensors, for example for label inspection or for predictive maintenance.

Full Wrap Labeling offers a variety of design options
One of the trade fair highlights is a labeling solution for the D labeling of packs, which is marketed under the name "Full Wrap Labelling". The pack is completely surrounded by the label, similar to a banderole or a sleeve, resulting in a wide range of design options for different packs and increased attractiveness at the POS.

Change in management at MULTIVAC
After more than 18 years as managing director of the MULTIVAC Group, Hans-Joachim Boekstegers will hand over the business to his long-standing managing director colleagues Christian Traumann and Guido Spix on January 1, 2020 and will leave the company. Hans-Joachim Boekstegers joined the MULTIVAC Group as Managing Director in April 2001 and has been instrumental in the successful development of the company ever since. In particular, he is responsible for the consistent expansion of the product portfolio and the sales and service network at MULTIVAC. "I would like to sincerely thank all media representatives for their great interest in MULTIVAC and their comprehensive and expert reporting," summarized Hans-Joachim Boekstegers.

About MULTIVAC
MULTIVAC is one of the world's leading suppliers of packaging solutions for all types of food, life science and healthcare products and industrial goods. The MULTIVAC portfolio covers almost all processor requirements in terms of pack design, performance and resource efficiency. It includes different packaging technologies as well as automation solutions, labeling and quality control systems. The range is rounded off by solutions upstream of the packaging process in the areas of portioning, processing and baked goods technology. Thanks to comprehensive line competence, all modules can be integrated into holistic solutions. MULTIVAC solutions thus guarantee a high level of operating and process reliability as well as high efficiency. The MULTIVAC Group employs around 6.400 people worldwide, with around 2.200 employees at the headquarters in Wolfertschwandern. With more than 80 subsidiaries, the company is represented on all continents. More than 1.000 consultants and service technicians all over the world place their know-how and experience at the customer's service and ensure maximum availability of all installed MULTIVAC machines. For more information, see: www.multivac.com.