Germany-based extrusion machinery maker Windmöller & Hölscher (W&H) expects good growth and sales for 2015, according to Managing Partner Peter Steinbeck. “With a turnover of EUR650 million last year, 2014 was a good year for W&H,” said Steinbeck, speaking to PRA at the Plastindia show in Gandhinagar recently. He also projected higher growth from Asia. “We expect strong growth in the US and Asia, more than Europe.”

As for the Indian market, Steinbeck said that it had developed “quite nicely”, unlike China. “There has been a new wave of projects, especially in converting flexible packaging.” Meanwhile, Steinbeck says the Indian PP woven market has moved faster than China, especially for cement packaging.

W&H has been the majority shareholder of Austria-based BSW Machinery (Bag Solutions Worldwide) since 2005 and recently increased its stake. BSW has long provided solutions for the production of stretched PP-woven fabrics and woven sacks, tape stretching lines, circular looms, extrusion coating and sack production lines along with the corresponding peripheral equipment while W&H makes complementary machinery such as tape extruders and coating machinery as well as its Convertex system, which produces hot-air sealed PP woven sacks.

With its bigger stake in BSW, W&H is in a better position to work on joint projects with BSW and to build an even stronger presence in the woven packaging segment, said Steinbeck. “The cement industry is a major consumer for the woven sacks that feature robust cross bottom valve bags made from coated PP woven fabrics.“ With W&H’s larger ownership, BSW will also be more integrated into the W&H structure allowing for a stronger international foothold.

Headquartered in Lengerich, W&H makes a range of machinery including: blown and cast film lines; flexographic and gravure printing presses; surface finishing machines; paper converting machines; film and woven plastic processing machines and FFS packaging systems.