BSW renamed as W&H Machinery

Ten years ago German extrusion machinery maker Windmöller & Hölscher (W&H) decided to strengthen its presence in the woven PP market by joining forces with Austria-based BSW Machinery that had been founded by Thomas Breitenberger, Peter Schmalholz and Günter Wais with the goal to become a leading player in the woven bag machine industry.

This goal has been reached and the company has been transformed from a start-up into a global technology leader, say the firms. Through transfer of W&H products to BSW and through joint development of a production centre in the Czech republic, BSW was integrated step by step into the W&H Group. Now the next phase in the long term strategic plan will start under the new name Windmöller & Hölscher (W&H) Machinery.

BSW Machinery was founded in Austria in 2005. The founders merged the W&H woven bag industry portfolio with the knowhow of industry experts with the goal to become the leading producer of woven bag equipment. Backbone of the portfolio was and is the bottomer converTex. During the last ten years, the output of the bottomer has more than doubled: from 60 bags per minute to 140 in the last model.

The new technology in the converTex series makes it possible to convert even lightest fabric into quality bags, says the firm. Lighter fabric saves on resources like material and energy and thus provides significant cost advantages to the bag producer. To this end BSW has developed the LS (Lighter & Stronger) technology. High quality PP tapes with tenacity up to 7 g/den and indexed micro-perforation provide the technological tools to be able to produce e.g. cement bags with a weight below 65 g instead of the current global market standard of 80 g. AT K2016, 65 g-bags will be produced at the rate of 140 bags per minute.

While BSW focused on the PP woven market another W&H company at the same production location focused on sub-assemblies and components for the group. Today, the development of BSW and of the component production has evolved such that a combination of both companies to the new company Windmöller & Hölscher Machinery is the next logical step.

It has over 400 employees and another significant building expansion was just approved. Construction will be under way soon to support the further growth of the company. As well, a fully equipped show room is available for customer demonstrations and test runs.

The global sales and service activities have been aligned and a full W&H network is available for the woven bag business, to support engineering and sales headquarters in Austria, says W&H.

(PRA)