| Battenfeld Extrusion (BEX) md Wolfgang Studener, will take over management of Cincinnati (CET) with effect from 1 September.
BEX and Cincinnati issued a joint statement today, that said the two brand strengths will be “accentuated” by the move.
Studener said the change was a response to the economic downturn and had said in May this year that BEX expected “a noticeable slowdown of the market”.
Studener added that both BEX and CET will be streamlined, with pooling of strategic purchasing, production, logistics and financial administration.
Production of components such as extruder screws and dies will remain at CET in Vienna, Austria, and Bad Oeynhausen, in Germany, plus American Maplan in the USA. However, there will be a “focus on a drastic reduction in delivery times”.
But Studener added, “we see strengths primarily in our engineering and process technology skills rather than in making every single screw ourselves”.
Studener said previously that the overall market for extrusion equipment will shrink by some 10 to 12% over the next two years following the 2006/7 peak.
He had forecast the largest decline of about 20% to be faced in profile extrusion, but with compensation by further growth in pipe and packaging film. The overall pipe extrusion equipment market was expected to remain stable.
Former general manager of the BEX pipe product group Rainer Kottmeier will take on Studener’s responsibilities in Bad Oeynhausen. He will be joined on the BEX board by Dr Henning Stieglitz, previously head of mechanical construction for extrusion machinery at Krauss-Maffei. Walter Häder remains as md at CET in Vienna.
Formerly part of SMS group, BEX and CET have a total of 800 employees and have belonged to private-equity investor Triton since early 2007. Combined turnover in 2007 amounted to �230m. |
