Starlinger intern, 2024/01 - Issue 36

Dear Colleagues!

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Five decades in China

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Thinking back to our European Football Championship summer clubbing at the end of June, where Austria beat the Netherlands 3:2 in a thrilling match to finish top of their group and advance to the round of 16, I can’t help but feel excited. Even though we then lost against Turkey 2:1, it showed what can be achieved when the team spirit, strategy, performance and, last but not least, the overall set-up are just right. Our company Starlinger reached a high point in the past financial year: It was the year with the highest turnover in the company’s almost 190-year history. I would like to thank you all for the part you played in this success. It would not have been possible without your dedication. However, it will be difficult to replicate this success, as the economic situation continues to be weak and our customers hold back investments, waiting for the market to recover. Team spirit, strategy, performance – we will continue to need them. The topics and measures defined as part of the strategic realignment of our “textile packaging” division were presented to a strategically selected group of people at the end of January, and some projects are already being implemented. You can read more about this on the following pages. In the course of this, Starlinger India has founded a new subsidiary, STP Machinery India LTD in Ahmedabad. At the company’s site in India we plan to produce tape extrusion systems by mid-2025, at the moment mainly for the large subcontinent market. This measure will safeguard our production sites in Europe and China: In the future, it enables us to gain market shares in countries where our starEX extrusion systems are difficult to sell due to their price, thereby generating follow-up orders for winders, looms, as well as coating, printing and conversion systems. The opening of our production site in Taicang, China, had the same background. Starlinger has been doing business in China for 50 years. It all began in 1974 when we took part in the first Austrian machinery exhibition in the Chinese capital, Beijing: On the cover of this issue, you can see my father Franz Huemer standing in front of the exhibition building. When it became increasingly difficult to compete against Chinese loom producers, we opened our branch in Taicang in 2005, which proved its worth in the years that followed and, among other things, contributed to unprecedented sales of AD*STAR ® bag conversion lines in China between 2019 and 2022. It might not be fifty years, but four of our employees are celebrating their 40 th company anniversary this year. Furthermore, and in keeping with the theme of China: Franz Höpflinger, the Managing Director of our Taicang site, retired at the end of May; he is succeeded by Konstantin Hinterplattner, a young man from Upper Austria who has already gathered relevant experience abroad, particularly in China. The “Fit & X’sund Weissenbach” ("Fit & Healthy Weissenbach") project is also making good progress – the sessions of the employee working groups have finished and we are now working on the catalogue of measures. Certain projects, such as providing fruit baskets to all departments, are already being implemented; more will follow after the company holiday. I hope you enjoy reading the Starlinger Intern magazine and wish you a relaxing summer with your family. Enjoy your holiday!

Plastic – are alternative materials really more environmentally friendly?

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Girls’ Day at Starlinger

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STP Machinery Ltd. India: New production facility in India

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Starlinger canteen in Weissenbach

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Trade show reviews – 1 st half of 2024

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Sustainability at Starlinger – from compulsory to voluntary

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New Starlinger website now online

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Euro 2024 live screening

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CSR newsflash

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The Absolut Starlinger 2028 strategy – textile packaging 17

“Fit & X’sund Weissenbach” project

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Change at the top of the CSR and sustainability team

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Running shoes on – 3, 2, 1 … Go!

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viscoSPORT – Hansbergland Cross Triathlon

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Bus advertising in Schwerin for Starlinger and uniROTA

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Art installation at the Berndorf water tower

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Franz Höpflinger: A retirement farewell

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Konstantin Hinterplattner: New Head of our Taicang Plant

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Personnel matters

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The terms used throughout this magazine to refer to individuals should be understood as being gender-neutral.

Idea/concept/realisation: ED / KEK Starlinger Intern 1/2024 – the following people are responsible for the content: ah, AUT, cg, ED, FRC, HT, JÜ, LK, NMH, WIL, WIR Images used in this issue are the property of © Starlinger, unless otherwise stated. Images in this issue were also provided by ah, gg, HGN, PAL, N. Wirth. Email: mitarbeiterinfo@starlinger.com

Angelika Huemer

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