//wifag is a business division of the WIFAG-Polytype Holding AG based in Fribourg, Switzerland and is successfully active in the market with a new self-image. The premium supplier of printing technology has transformed itself into a development and automation expert.

About 40 senior employees from German //wifag user plants as well as from Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway and Finland obtained an exclusive insight at the user meeting into new developments from Fribourg and //wifag newspaper technology of tomorrow as well as retrofit possibilities and press repurposing solutions.

Participants welcomed the words of //wifag CEO Jörgen Karlsson in particular. His main message to customers and users had to do with certainty, the certainty that an economically successful supplier has potential in the newly restructured WIFAG-Polytype Holding AG for intensive research and development.

Jörgen Karlsson: "Today //wifag is very, very stable, not just when you look at its financial statements but also because our business model works." This model also features contracts involving retrofits and upgrades. Within this group of companies, //wifag is the frontrunner, especially in automation. The developers for newspaper printing machine technology derive the financial base they need from the fact that other business areas profit from innovations in web monitoring, for example.

A substantial part of the German speaking user meeting 2013 was devoted to insights into the Rhein Main printing center. For two and a half years, this facility has been operating a //wifag evolution 473/6, a six-plate wide web printing press in nine cylinder satellite design with a total of eight printing towers, eight reel stands and five folders. Every day, the four 48-page machine sections print about 300,000 daily newspapers of Verlagsgruppe Rhein Main (VRM) and Medienhaus Südhessen (MHS) in 31 different editions. In addition, this press handles numerous weeklies and church newspapers with runs amounting to about 1.5 million copies per week. The 160 employees in the new printing center use a grand total of about 25,000 tons of paper every year.

Polytype AG in Switzerland (a company of the Wifag//Polytype group) and Mechatronica Co in Bulgaria have entered into a close partnership to mutually develop and market packaging machinery for the oral care, cosmetic and beverage market. For this purpose Polytype has acquired 49% of Mechatronica shares.

Mechatronica, located in Gabrovo (Bulgaria) has developed best price-performance packaging machinery for laminated plastic tubes, form-fill-and-seal equipment for semi-liquid and liquid cosmetics and beverages as well as specialty forming equipment for metal containers over the last 15 years.

Polytype is a leader in the decoration and finishing of extruded plastic tubes for the cosmetic market. With this partnership Polytype will get access to the growing market of laminated tubes and is complementing its portfolio for the oral care and cosmetic market. The form-fill-and seal concept for plastic tubes allows new production approaches for latest stage customization and reduced inventory and logistic cost for the oral care and cosmetic packaging market for semi-liquid goods. The sales and service organization in USA, China, Thailand, Brazil and India of Polytype can improve the market coverage for the Mechatronica products and increase the sales channel efficiency of Polytype. With the low cost basis of Mechatronica and the Polytype reputation both companies can leverage their respective strengths to participate better in the fast growing market for extruded as well as laminated tubes.

A similar form-fill-and-seal concept has been introduced by Mechatronica to the beverage market for non carbonated juices packaged in cylindrical pouches and is complementing the Polytype packaging solutions for the beverage market. Polytype offers decoration concepts for low cost plastic drinking cups as well as highly sophisticated metal bottles in aluminum or steel under the brand of Mall&Herlan.

Untapped potentials exist in a special forming technology of Mechatronica, which allows new kinds of shaping of metal containers, typically recognized as “cola bottle ripples type shapes”. This technology could enlarge the leading position for the metal container offering to existing and new Mall&Herlan customers in the beverage industry.

Polytype and Mechatronica will remain active under their respective company and product brands and continue to act as separate companies but jointly on the market. An exclusive dealer agreement for India has been already signed before closing this partnership between Mechatronica and wifag//polytype Marketing India Ptv, other distribution agreements between the Polytype Group companies and Mechatronica will be implemented in the near future.

Mr. Alain Berset, Business Unit Leader of the Plastic Packaging Division in the wifag//polytype Group (www.wifag-polytype.com) and Mr. Miroslav Hinkov, founder and owner of Mechatronica (www.kombis.net) will be the main contacts for any kind of questions regarding this strategic cooperation.