Neuwied April 07 2015 Winklerduumlnnebier Wd From Neuwiedrhine Celebrated Its 100th Anniversary In 2013 Its Core Business Revolves Around Machines And Systems That Produce And Process Envelopes And Mailing Solutions Machines That Process Hygiene Products Are Its Second Mainstay One Seventh Of Its Approximately 350employees Work In The Areas Of Research Development And Construction The Company Has Sites In The Usa China Malaysia And The United Kingdom In This Interview Managing Director Frank Eichhorn Explains What Wdrsquos Strategy Is For Asserting Itself In A Declining Market Overallmreichhorn With Winkler Duumlnnebier Gmbh You Manage A Company That Is Around 100 Years Old Can You Please Introduce It Brieflyfrank Eichhornof Course Our Company Has Focused On Envelopes Since It Was First Founded In 1913 Our Invention Of A Method Of Manufacturing Them In A Rotative Manner Was The Reason It Was Founded Before There Were Only Machinesthat You Could Place A Sheet Of Paper In And Then Fold It In Multiple Stationswithrotative Manufacturing The Process Ranges From Placement To Transport And Processing All The Way To Delivery Of The Finished Envelope We Have Perfected Andacceleratedthis Process And Integrated More And More Process Steps Into It Over The Yearswhere Do You Currently Stand With Iteichhorn Today The Entire Envelope Including The Window Gluing The Silicone Strip And Printing Are All Performed By One Machine Starting With Either White Or Preprinted Paper That Comes From The Roll Or Is Laid Into The System As Sheets Our Machines Manufacture Up To 1600 Finished Envelopes Per Minute Speed Is Also Important In Our Second Field We Have Been Building Machines For Hygiene Products Like Incontinence Pads And Paper Handkerchiefs Since The 1970s These Operate At Speeds Of 8000 Units Per Minuteyou State On Your Website That Ldquowd Lives And Loves Envelopesrdquocan You Please Explain Thiseichhorngaining Attention Is A Problem In The Area Of Digital Communicationadvertisers Have Been Proven To Obtain Much Higher Response Rates With Mailings Sent Out By Traditional Mail In 2010 We Acquired The Former Buhrs Itm And Its Expertise In The Area Of Insertingndash Here I Am Referring To The Insertion Of The Contents Into An Envelope Since Then We Are The Only Company In The World That Offers Complete Mailing Solutions From A Single Source Envelope Manufacturing Including Customized Printing And Inserting Even The Postage Can Be Printed Onto The Mailpieceat The Last Drupa We Introduced A Machine That Cuts Out The Envelope Prints On It And Then Folds It Around The Mailpiece All Starting With A White Roll Of Paperthe Mailpiece And Envelope Can Then Be Completely Personalizedis The Market Accepting These Types Of High End Solutionseichhornyes The Demand For Our Products Comes Primarily From Niche Markets Although The Total Volume Of Mailings Is Declining We Firmly Believe That The Envelope Has A Futureparticularly In The Area Of Direct Mail Mailings Are Becoming Much More Complex And More Intelligent The Better Availability And Analysis Of Customer Data Allows For Individual Customers To Be Addressed With Advertising In A Much More Targeted Manner There Is A Higher Degree Of Individualizationand Therefore Also The Share Of Digital Printing Processes In Your Systemseichhorn Exactly The Trend Is Moving Towards Smaller Individualized Or Often Even Personalized Runs This Can Be Aspecialphotograph A Personal Approach Of Specific Target Audiences Or An Excerpt From A Map That Shows The Route From The Customerrsquos House To The Company That Is Doing The Advertisingrsquos Nearest Site This Information Is Extracted From A Database Then Printed Onto The Mailing Onthefly And Inserted Into The Respective Envelopethis Individualization Is Performed Using Digital Printing At The Same Time We React By Offering Reduced Set Up Times And Easy Adjustments To Accommodate Smaller Runs And The Shortage Of Trained Operators The Demand For Maximum Speeds With Mass Mailings Differs From The Demand For Easy Operation And Set Up Digital Printing Is Coming From Two Sides On The One Hand In The Form Of Economical Printing Of Smaller Runs For Specially Selected Customer Groups On The Other Hand As Complete Individualization Of A Mailingrsquos Contentshow Are The Prospects Looking For Being Able To Continue To Grow Internationally With These Types Of Solutionseichhorndue To The Fact That Wd Has Been Present In Nearly All Countries For Quite Some Time We See Limited International Growth Potential Many Of The Emerging Markets Are Skipping Analog Developments Especially In The Mailing Market We Are Taking Different Routes To Achieve Diversificationwhat Routes Eichhornnot All Of Our Customers Are Able To Purchase New Machines Or Interested In Doing So Especially Because Our Machines Last Such A Long Time We React To This By Offering Comprehensive Service We Remain Our Customersrsquo Partner Throughout The Entire Lifecycle Of Our Machines And Upgrade Overhaul And Repair Our Systems With Extremely Short Reaction Times We Can Also Manufacture Replacement Parts Very Flexibly And Quickly Deliver Them To Anywhere In The World And Install Them Furthermore We Offer Overhauled Used Machines Through Our Subsidiary Poem Which We Occasionally Upgrade To Meet Today39s Requirements By Integratingmodern Modules This Is Only Possible Because The Technological Foundation Of Our Machines Is So Strong Even After 20 Years Of Use We Also Offer Training Courses And Educational Programs To Ensure That Customers Are Able To Leverage The Full Potential Of Our Systemsis The Market Accepting Your Offeringseichhornour Service Generates A Significant Share Of Our Sales So We Are Apparently Meeting Our Customersrsquo Needs By Engaging In Partner Like Relationships We Are Able To Minimize Breakdowns And Get The Highest Outputout Of Every Machine Our Customers Realize This We Recognized Early On That We Canrsquot Change The Market But Rather Must Adapt To New Developments Our Customers Are Broadening Their Presence And This In Turn Means That Their Demands Change With Respect To Both Systems And Serviceyou Mentioned That The Mailing Market Is Basically Shrinking Do You Expect To See A Turnaroundeichhornthe Level Of New Systems Will Remain Stable The Service Business And Tissue Market On The Other Hand Can Definitely Growcan Your Expertise In Processing Inhomogeneous Materials Be Put To Use In Other Areas As Welleichhornwe Are Already Doing This By Supplying Modules To System Builders In The Securities Sector There Are Definitely Other Areas Of Application In Which Our Drive Technology And Our Knowhow In The Area Of Cutting Gluing And Other Process Steps Included In Our Portfolio Could Be Of Interest So Far However We Have Concentrated On Developing Our Service Business Building New Machines And Upgrading Existing Systems We Can Definitely Imagine Exploring Other Markets At Some Point In The Futureyour History Was Impacted By The Entry Of A Financial Investor An Ipo And Being Integrated Into A Group What Is The Current Situation Eichhornwe Are A Gmbh Again That Is Fully Owned By The Koumlrber Group That Suits Us Just Fine Koumlrber Is An Internationally Active Technology Group With Over Eur 2 Billion In Salesthat Engages In Lively Exchanges On Technological Solutions We Are Identifying More And More Synergy Effects This Will Ultimately Pay Off Particularly For Our Customers