Heilbronn and Düsseldorf, May, 5, 2017 – Interpack, Düsseldorf, the international leading trade fair, has always been a useful indicator for the current economic situation and the mood in the packaging sector. For Karl Schäuble, Managing Director of ILLIG, the Heilbronn based manufacturer of thermoforming machines, this is a recurring occasion for looking back and also for an outlook to the future of the packaging technology with a focus on thermoforming. „In economic respect ILLIG could conclude the last three years very successfully and at a high level. This applies to our complete machine range“, states Karl Schäuble retrospectively and continues: „This culminated in the excellent and diverse receipt of orders in the business year 2016, the highest level of orders received in our 70-years company’s history”. ILLIG could increase sales by a good 10 % compared to 2015 which is clearly above the sector average.
A positive outlook
We are confident that ILLIG can maintain this momentum in 2017 as well“, says Schäuble. This can be primarily attributed to the new developments presented during the last two years. They were widely appreciated by our long-term customers; and this particularly applies to the IML-T technology. ILLIG thinks that in the future there will be further demand for IML-T in most markets. „For this purpose we offer to our customers a whole solution for packs with highest demands with respect to decoration – everything from one source, everything ILLIG“, states Schäuble. Moreover, at Interpack ILLIG will present its new „Pactivity“ business sector for the first time. 360° Custom-made packaging development in thermoforming, from the packaging idea to the pack and through to the production system.
Strong sales in non-European markets
ILLIG remains on the course for success and could once again expand sales in non-European markets. Today ILLIG delivers more than 60 percent of its machines and lines to non-European countries. Customers in Asia, the Arab region, as well as in North, Central and South America employ this technology to meet the increasing demands with respect to packs in their countries. ILLIG has been observing that process reliability and availability of production lines grow more and more important; also in regions outside the typical industrial countries. „Quality and hygiene demands for packs continue to increase in most regions. In economic terms this can only be realized with constant, reproducible, high product quality and high productivity at the same time“, says Schäuble.
The increasing demand for packaging machines and form, fill and seal lines is very noticeable at ILLIG. This can be illustrated by using a major contract from Iran as an example where investment is made in state-of-the-art technology. ILLIG supplies a total of nine thermoforming and packaging systems. The thermoforming machines are equipped with the latest IML-T technology as well as the current IC generation.
The packing systems are equiped with ultra clean and aseptic versions. End of line systems are also inclued.
ILLIG continues to expand its network
We founded a further sales office in Brazil due to the positive development in the non-European markets. And we signed a contract to install a customer center for thermoforming machines and molds with representatives of the Chinese local government „Administrative Committee of Zhejiang Haining Economic Development Zone“ at the last K fair“, explains Schäuble. It is the intent of Haining Economic Development Zone to establish companies of the plastic processing and supplying industries there. From Haining ILLIG will provide technical training for thermoforming technology for Chinese customers and offer on-site services. The production site in India, founded at the end of 2015, runs very well in the meantime. Production lines are manufactured for local markets.
Especially southern European markets clearly show weak investment performance since their economic growth will most likely be minimal. The same also applies to the eastern European markets, according to Schäuble.
The future of thermoforming
With a look to the future of thermoforming ILLIG sees the focus of development in the coming years on the expansion of automation and “clean” production. „We expect that in the future the increase of quality time for ILLIG lines will be of major importance, also with large batch sizes and a high automation level. This will result from the fact that we will continue to increase speeds in the thermoforming and punching process since quality and reproducibility of parts can thus be further improved. We are convinced that by optimizing the so-called planned standstill times we can considerably improve the productive running time of thermoforming lines“, says Schäuble. ILLIG also meets the requirements of the trend that batch sizes of packs are getting smaller in many sectors which calls for shorter tooling times. Cleaning intervals are also a major factor today, so increasing hygiene demands can be met. Here, ILLIG is developing solutions so dust development during material transport in the machine or during punching is prevented, as well as lubricant or oil ingress.
In Heilbronn ILLIG continued to make investments in efficient production technologies in 2016, such as the replacement of machines in mechanical processing and further optimization features in the flow assembly of individual modules and machines.
Industry 4.0 at ILLIG
The world of production and the production technology will continue to fundamentally change in the future. There is no way around Industry 4.0. ILLIG engineers succeeded in creating a significant basis with the „IC“ Intelligent Control Concept. One single module controls all steps in production sequencing and synchronizes with all compatible modules. ThermoLineControl® allows individual machines in a line to be centrally controlled by one control panel. ILLIG NetService allows direct remote diagnosis of the thermoforming line.
ILLIG is a leading global supplier of high-performance thermoforming machines and molds, as well as solutions for the packaging industry. The company's product and services portfolio includes the development, design, manufacture, installation and commissioning of complex production lines and components. With branches and sales agencies in over 80 countries, ILLIG is locally present in all markets around the globe. For nearly 70 years, the owner-operated enterprise has been serving its customers across the globe as a reliable partner for the cost-effective manufacturing of complex precision thermoplastic parts with innovative technology of unsurpassed quality and comprehensive worldwide after-sales support.
