Paper Technology Journal - Voith

Hans Müller,
President and CEO
Voith Sulzer Papiertechnik
Dear customers, dear readers,
We have now put the first six months of the 1997/98 fiscal year successfully
behind us and exceeded our own ambitious targets. This is surely reason
enough to cast a brief glance back.
Asia has been one of the major markets since the formation of Voith Sulzer
Paper Technology, contributing more than 30% of the overall bookings of
DM 2.2 billion for the 1996/97 fiscal year. And this in spite of the ongoing
economic turmoil in an area which, with the exception of China, cannot be
expected – even in the most optimistic of views – to undergo any decisive
upturn before the start of the next century.
The European market and the North-American free-trade association, NAFTA,
including South America, made contributions of 40% and 25% respectively
to our order book and are developing during the current fiscal year much
better than anticipated during the planning stage. Even if the markets in
Eastern Europe and South America only show slight signs of improvement,
the major projects under consideration in South America in particular are
closer to being realised than ever before.
Altogether, new orders received in the current fiscal year have reached the
same level as the comparable of last year, with an ongoing upward trend in
evidence.
You can see which developments, innovations and records are primarily
responsible for this optimistic outlook in this sixth issue of the “twogether”
magazine. In particular, it is our innovative concept solutions which have
served to improve quality and productivity, impressed our customers and
helped to set new standards.
Without an active dialogue with you, our customers, this would not have
been possible. I would therefore like to take this opportunity of thanking
you for your cooperation and hope you enjoy reading the interesting articles
in this issue.
Yours sincerely,
Hans Müller
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