WEENER PLASTIC INTERNATIONAL EAST KFT in Hungary was ...

EXPANDING
HORIZONS
WEENER PLASTIC INTERNATIONAL EAST KFT in Hungary was the first of the foreign
subsidiaries of the German WEENER PLASTIC PACKAGING GROUP. The company has
since become a long-term supplier of caps and closures for some of the major international
brands and is increasing its presence in the industrial plastic ball manufacturing sector. Edina
Beale reports.
Located in the Hungarian capital city of Budapest, WEENER PLASTIC INTER-
NATIONAL EAST KFT was established as a German-Hungarian joint venture in
1990. At the time of its establishment the plant was the first in Hungary to meet
the expectations of international corporations in manufacturing plastic caps and closures
for a wide variety of industries. Following a steady development, in 1997 the Hungarian
company moved its location to a large industrial estate in the 22nd district of Budapest,
where the new foundations were built from scratch for the current manufacturing plant.
Having been extended several times to meet the growing demands for its products,
WEENER PLASTIK Kft. today employs over 80 people and operates 30 injection
moulding machines on a 6000m2 area to manufacture plastic caps and closures for the
household, beauty and food industry.
Focus on quality
Colgate and Unilever are just two of the most prominent clients of WEENER PLASTIK
Kft.. The company’s products are distributed mainly in nearby countries; Poland and Italy
are the most significant markets, although the Hungarian plant often utilises its capacities
to help out other plants in the group and therefore delivers products to places much
further afield including Brazil and Japan.
According to Mr Sass, the company’s steady growth is owing mostly to its high quality
products and excellent customer service: “We are fast and precise. We manufacture good
quality products that meet international standards which enables us to stay competitive.
We have acquired all the quality assurance certificates that are required to maintain this
high standard.” The company meets the ISO 9001:2008 criteria for quality management
and also adheres to the ISO 14000 environmental standards. In order to serve the food
industry, the plant has been controlling its operations under the HACCP rules for many
years and recently achieved ISO 22000 and also the global standards set by the BRC/
IOP 04 food packaging programme. Mr Sass believes these standards will also help
the company to enhance productivity: “We aim to create a clean and organised work
environment, which encourages our staff to be productive and make them feel a personal
responsibility for the smooth operation of our company.”
Throughout its 20 years of activity, WEENER has continuously invested into
enlarging its capacities and modernising its technologies at its Hungarian plant. A
significant development in 2009 enabled the company to provide two component
injection moulding that were needed to produce a plastic cap for Colgate’s newly
launched premium product. “New projects are now in the pipeline, which will require
new investments for the near future,” says Mr Sass. “We plan to invest mostly in new
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“We are fast and precise. We manufacture good quality products that
meet international standards which enables us to stay competitive.”
machinery for the next couple of years, but also hope to turn our tool repairing plant
into a tool manufacturing plant.”
New dimensions
Since a Danish acquisition made by WEENER in 2006, the Hungarian subsidiary has
also been producing hollow industrial plastic balls that require a special manufacturing
technology. “These plastic balls have a great variety of usage,” explains Mr Ákos Sass,
managing director of WEENER PLASTIK Kft. “Apart from being widely popular in
children’s play areas they are a suitable tool for therapies and can be used for many different
industrial applications as well as in sewage systems or galvanising plants. This new
element of the company’s product portfolio today contributes a significant €1.4 million to
our total annual turnover of €9 million.”
The company’s strategic plan is to strengthen their presence and operations in the
plastic ball manufacturing sector. “We believe there are many unexploited opportunities
in this market,” claims Mr Sass. “The environmental usages of these plastic technical balls
are extremely extensive; therefore we are currently focusing on modernising our facilities
in this area so we are prepared to take on these possible future projects.” The company
expects 20 per cent growth for this year, and hope to achieve similar results for next year.
After opening the Hungarian plant, the international expansion of the WEENER Plastic
Packaging Group has continued. The company has established itself in Spain, Ireland,
Egypt and Russia. In 2004 a string of acquisitions began and as a result of that, today the
group has operations in 21 countries.
The WEENER Plastic Packaging Group was first taken over in early 2012 by an
American investor, Lindsay Goldberg, LLC, represented by Lindsay, Goldberg Vogel
GmbH in Düsseldorf, and then, as a follow-up acquisition in the plastic packaging
industry, PLASTICUM Group B.V., based in Tilburg, Netherlands in September 2012.
“The recent change in the ownership structure brings significant growth potential for
the group and therefore good future prospects for the Hungarian subsidiary too,” says
Mr Sass. “Our long-term goal is to become a significant element in the entire WEENER
Plastic Packaging Group.”
Visit: www.wppg.co.uk
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