K 2019

ILLIG at the K 2019

Plastics discussion affects market investments

• Influence of global packaging discussion
• Business development ILLIG

Heilbronn/Düsseldorf, October 16, 2019 – Most likely the German plastics and rubber manufacturers will not be able to continue the good results of the previous year. Current VDMA figures for the period from January to August 2019 show a loss of 10 percent compared to the period of the previous year with respect to domestic incoming orders. The overall view including foreign orders even shows a loss of 19 percent. ILLIG also feels the uncertainty in the markets which can be attributed to political and economic risks. But the main factor is the worldwide packaging discussion against plastics and the resulting feared damage to the image. The result of the business year 2019 will thus be lower for ILLIG compared to the strong previous years. However, management is optimistic about the future and continues to drive the strategic expansion of the company group forward. ILLIG offers future-oriented solutions with innovative thermoforming and tool systems, in particular with IML-T® decoration technology, as well as Pactivity®, the packaging development in thermoforming.

Influence of global packaging discussion

Sustainability, eco friendliness, reduction of plastics and the recyclability of packages are challenging topics for the packaging sector. Politicians are asked to bring about more transparency with respect to these topics, so the development of state-of-the-art packaging can be initiated at an early stage. So far vague political statements prevent new investments by customers. ILLIG established an excellent aid for optimum packaging development: Pactivity®, the packaging development in thermoforming.
ILLIG; the global leader in thermoforming, already offers future-oriented packaging solutions which are realized on existing and new production lines in a resource-efficient and economical way in response to market demands.

The emotional discussion because of marine littering is still going on. It is certainly true that there are unnecessary packages, but the hygiene standards or protection of the packed goods cannot be achieved without plastic packages. In developing and emerging economies there is still a high backlog demand for the same reasons. The worldwide development of recycling systems and investments into existing systems must be given the highest priority. The preconditions for this are recyclable packages and the use of recycled materials in the packaging industry. Developments with respect to PET bottles illustrate the potential.

ILLIG business development

In spite of challenging markets the ILLIG group continues to expand worldwide. In the beginning of April the official groundbreaking ceremony was celebrated for the new assembly plant, ILLIG Maschinenbau S.R.L., in Romania, scheduled production start 2020. In the middle of the year the new Middle East sales office started operation and the continuous expansion of our service stations outside Europe is being continued unchanged.

There was an increase in sales during the past 3 years, 2016, 2017 and 2018, by a total of around 30% and ILLIG could grow in most markets. This could be attributed particularly to the new developments which were presented during the last years and the consistent realization of Pactivity®, the packaging development. ILLIG expects that the whole market of packaging technology will continue to grow worldwide in the next few years. With the currently existing solutions the company can open up new scopes of application in thermoforming. Irrespective of the above, however, some customers are somewhat more hesitant when it comes to new investments due to the worldwide packaging discussion. For this reason incoming orders have been below the previous year’s level for some months now.

Politicians are asked worldwide to define conditions for the packaging industry, and to push forward the de-emotionalization of the packaging discussion. If this is successful, the insecurity of consumers and the packaging industry will turn into growth again as in the past years.