Kautex Maschinenbau has announced additional investments to extend its packaging businesses for 2020. The measures will see the reallocation of human resources from the automotive division. The reduction in staff levels announced in 2019 should be completed by the end of this year.
Kautex Maschinenbau is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of extrusion blow moulding machines for plastics processing. The reorganisation and restructuring project involves a shift of focus from automotive to packaging solutions, as announced by the Kautex management team during K 2019.
Although Kautex has seen strong growth in this sector, it cannot entirely compensate for the sudden drop in new orders in the automotive business. Despite the current downfall in the automotive sector, Kautex expects that demand in the automotive market will recover. The company will therefore continue to develop composite applications in this business.
The outlined structural adjustment became necessary due to a noticeable, worldwide reluctance of automotive suppliers to invest. However, by implementing the planned measures, Kautex is also reacting to fundamental changes in the plastics industry. Alongside digitalisation, other dominant issues include waste prevention and the processing of recycled, raw materials.
CEO Thomas Hartkämper said: "We have launched a large number of initiatives in the company. These will help Kautex Maschinenbau secure and extend its excellent position in the worldwide plastics market in the long term. We have created and approved the strategic roadmap for the future, and informed the worldwide Kautex organisation about it. We have delegated responsibilities to exceptional talents from within our own ranks and will bring in external experts to join our global team, to further strengthen it."