"The past financial year made one thing clear to us as the Group: with our quality-oriented recycling solutions, we are exactly in tune with the times. The end of China as an international customer for post-consumer plastic waste, the strategy for plastics presented by the EU Commission and initiatives such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation are just some examples of the current period of strong change for the plastics industry. One of the reactions – among others – to this is the increasing willingness of raw material manufacturers, international producers and recyclers to invest in modern and quality-oriented extrusion technology, says Manfred Hackl, EREMA Group CEO. This development is reflected in the sales figures of the entire Group.
The plastics recycling machine manufacturer EREMA Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen Ges.m.b.H increased its turnover by around 18 per cent compared to the previous fiscal year, generating sales of 144 million euros. According to Manfred Hackl the positive development is thanks to an increase in sales in all three recycling markets – Post-consumer, Inhouse & Industrial and Bottle Recycling – throughout the world. In Inhouse Recycling, the proven INTAREMA® K fully automatic processing system for edge trim is on a successful course. Sales have increased by 100 per cent compared to the previous financial year. A total of over 40 of these processing systems were shipped within twelve months up to the end of March 2018. The Bottle Recycling segment is just as successful as it is innovative: in autumn 2017 the 200th VACUREMA® – a Prime designed for the bottle-to-bottle sector – was sold to a client in Venezuela, Latin America. The first VACUREMA® Inline Preform system to be sold is another highlight. This plant was supplied to a Japanese customer. With regard to filtration systems, the special Laserfilter for PET has already been sold a number of times in the inline sheet, strapping and pelletising sectors within a year of the product launch.
In the Post-consumer field both the INTAREMA® TVEplus for film and the RegrindPro for regrind material continue to be major sales generators. More and more customers are also using the ReFresher which, in combination with the INTAREMA®, ensures thermal-physical odour minimisation. This technology considerably broadens the field of application for recyclates from post-consumer material – a significant step in the direction of the closed product loop.
EREMA Engineering has also positioned itself successfully in terms of smart factory principles. Especially customers who count on documenting the quality of their recyclates/products are increasingly deciding in favour of EREMA's QualityOn package for the online quality monitoring of colour and MVR value. The Manufacturing Execution System re360 was also sold a number of times last year.
Sales success spans all EREMA Group companies
PURE LOOP, founded only recently in 2015, can look back on a very successful business year with turnover growing by more than 30 per cent. The company, which specialises in shredder/extruder technology, was able to increase its revenues thanks to a notable increase in sales of the ISEC evo recycling machines within just a few years to 6 million euros. The other subsidiaries of the EREMA Group – 3S GmbH which focuses on the fabrication of core components for the extrusion and oilfield industry and used machine specialists UMAC GmbH – likewise recorded a positive development. Both companies were able to increase their turnover.
