07.21.21
Alfred-Keller-Strasse 55
53721 Siegburg, Germany
Phone: +49 2241-3040
www.siegwerk.com
E-mail: info@siegwerk.com
Sales: $1.36 billion (€1,141 million)
Major Products: Provider of solvent-based, water-based, energy curable and oil-based inks and coatings and related point-of-use services for the packaging and label industries. Product applications include flexible packaging, labels, folding cartons, corrugated boxes, cups and tubes using flexographic, rotogravure, offset and digital printing.
Key Personnel: Dr. Nicolas Wiedmann, CEO; Dr. Oliver Wittmann, CFO and global purchasing; Ralf Hildenbrand, president Americas and global technology, PSR and sustainability; Dr. Jan Breitkopf, president EMEA and global SCM.
Number of Employees: ~5,000 in more than 35 countries.
Comments: As the largest ink manufacturer that is predominantly dedicated to packaging ink Siegwerk has continued to grow in recent years. Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Siegwerk’s sales grew slightly overall.
“As a global company, we have felt the effects of COVID-19 from the very beginning in 2020 - first in China, India and Southeast Asia, then in Europe and finally in North and South America,” Siegwerk CEO Dr. Nicolas Wiedmann reported. “But as inks and coatings are essential for the manufacturing of packaging ensuring the access to critical supplies for food, pharma and hygiene, we have generally seen a solid demand for ink solutions in 2020.
“During the first half of the year, flexible packaging and labels for packaging have witnessed unusually strong growth in Europe and the US, primarily driven by overstocking during the initial months of the pandemic, but this demand normalized again during the second half of the year,” Dr. Wiedmann added. “The demand for water-based inks for paper & board applications like paper cups, tissues or similar has abruptly collapsed due to restaurant closures and event cancellations throughout the year. Besides, sheetfed inks for commercial and luxury packaging have experienced a strong collapse in demand as well due to retail shop closures and a related declining demand for luxury packaging last year.”
Dr. Wiedmann added that Siegwerk has been running its production facilities at peak levels while adhering to recommended practices designed to keep employees safe and healthy.
Compared to 2019 and adjusted for currency effects, Europe remained the most important region for Siegwerk, although it showed a slightly declining sales growth, mainly in the print media business. Asia also showed a slight growth decline, especially related to the pandemic, while North and Latin America in turn showed positive sales growth. As in the years before, the print media business continued to decline, while the market for packaging printing inks showed stable development throughout 2020.
Dr. Wiedmann observed that, in general, the demand for sustainable solutions aligned with the requirements of a Circular Economy has further increased in 2020, making it one of the key drivers in the ink and printing industries going forward.
“Siegwerk is already well-positioned to support customers in the development of sustainable and circular packaging solutions today,” he noted. “Our overall strategy remains focused on packaging printing inks and coatings and the expansion of our market leadership in labels and flexible packaging applications while becoming a circular and digital packaging solutions company enabling the development of forward-looking circular and digitalized packaging innovations.”
In terms of major news, Dr. Wiedmann was appointed CEO, succeeding Herbert Forker. A three-month transition period from January to March 2021 ensured an in-depth handover and smooth leadership transition. Dr. Wiedmann will continue to drive Siegwerk’s most recent strategic transformation to become a circular and digital packaging solutions company, further accelerating company growth with new business models beyond the company’s traditional printing inks business.
“It has always been in Siegwerk’s DNA to combine tradition and trust in a family business with innovation and modern skills,” said Dr. Wiedmann. “The global pandemic has rapidly changed the way of doing business around the world, which has led to economic challenges facing complete industries. Finding ways of working that protect employees and minimize the risk of infection has been in the center for many companies worldwide. Enabling virtual collaboration and work from home became key aspects for change and further drove the need for digitalized solutions.”
Siegwerk’s first priority is always to offer customers the best possible service, and the company opened new blending center sin Vietnam and Bangladesh, in order to optimally serve the local markets and expand its market position in the region.
From a product perspective, one highlight in 2020 was that Siegwerk became sales partner for Varcotec’s Lock 3 technology, further expanding its range of packaging inks and coatings with an antimicrobial dispersion varnish suitable for a wide range of applications and packaging types. Siegwerk also developed a new UV offset ink series and UV flexo coatings with outstanding deinking properties for commercial and packaging printing.
“These newly launched solutions increase the recyclability of UV-coated paper and board packaging and support the material-specific recycling targets according to the EU Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC),” said Dr. Wiedmann. “Besides, we were able to set a new standard for the recycling of PET bottles with our AQUANTUM Alkali Strippable Primer and SICURA UV/LED ink technology. According to the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) this proprietary washable ink technology significantly facilitates the deinking of UV/LED-printed PET shrink sleeves.
“In line with our commitment to drive packaging circularity, we also joined different industry alliances and initiatives such as Project STOP, HolyGrail 2.0 or the Circular Packaging Alliance to actively support the realization of a global circular packaging industry by improving waste management and recycling rates. “Here it should be noted that sustainability is not just a lip service for Siegwerk. We strongly believe that the circular economy will be one of the most important success factors for our society in the future and thus also for our business as well as for that of our customers. That’s why packaging solutions for a circular economy are at the center of our innovation efforts.”
The last years have been quite challenging for the ink industry dealing with significant raw material supply disruptions, and COVID-19 accelerated these challenges.
“A number of interrelated problems are still exerting considerable pressure on printing ink manufacturers throughout Europe, with higher raw material costs, bottlenecks in key supply chains, and rising freight costs – to just name a few current concerns,” Dr. Wiedmann reported. “That’s why we still remain on high alert continuing to closely monitor overall developments. As global operator with a global purchasing organization, Siegwerk has long-term experience in establishing and tracking alternative suppliers and materials for the manufacture of our products and solutions. We are leveraging our robust global supply network across the world to maintain a competitive advantage and secure a supply as stable as possible.
“Moreover, we are continuously looking for formulation alternatives to ensure a consistently high-quality supply of raw materials meeting the discerning demands of our customers and have again raised our own benchmarks regarding long-term sustainability and recycling standards, which will impact all areas of our business including our raw materials,” he added.
Dr. Wiedmann observed that the ink and printing industries continued to normalize in early 2021.
“We already see that the paper packaging ink business is recovering after the demand plunged last year,” said Dr. Wiedmann. “At the end-consumer level, because of the increased security of availability of basic products, we didn’t experience overstocking and unusually high demand for food and hygiene packaging, which were the biggest winners in 2020. This was despite that lockdowns continued in various parts of the world.”
Going forward, Dr. Wiedmann said that the growing focus of printers and brand owners on sustainable packaging solutions and the use of renewable materials in ink formulations will drive the development activities in all ink technologies in line with the general market demand for sustainable solutions.
“Meeting the Circular Economy requirements will be the driving key trend across the packaging value chain,” said Dr. Wiedmann. “We will further intensify our Circular Economy approach throughout 2021 to make our mark as a differentiator in the marketplace by assuming a leadership position on this important issue for our future and the future of generations to come. Siegwerk is already at work focusing on our new strategic positioning to become a Circular Economy solutions company by 2025.
“Furthermore, with an increase in industry standards, especially with regards to consumer and employee safety, we expect the demand for low migration solutions to further increase worldwide,” he continued.
“Digital printing will also gain market share as it enables manufacturers to react even faster to specific customer demands. We will also see a continued development of digital platforms and digitalization tools streamlining processes and simplifying collaborations.
“We headed into the year with ambitious goals to continue growing our strong position within the packaging market. We are focusing on differentiation via innovation and digitalization to build new business opportunities while further investing in our infrastructure, technology and personnel to promote long-term growth for our future. All in all, we aim for continued growth throughout 2021 and beyond,” Dr. Wiedmann concluded.
53721 Siegburg, Germany
Phone: +49 2241-3040
www.siegwerk.com
E-mail: info@siegwerk.com
Sales: $1.36 billion (€1,141 million)
Major Products: Provider of solvent-based, water-based, energy curable and oil-based inks and coatings and related point-of-use services for the packaging and label industries. Product applications include flexible packaging, labels, folding cartons, corrugated boxes, cups and tubes using flexographic, rotogravure, offset and digital printing.
Key Personnel: Dr. Nicolas Wiedmann, CEO; Dr. Oliver Wittmann, CFO and global purchasing; Ralf Hildenbrand, president Americas and global technology, PSR and sustainability; Dr. Jan Breitkopf, president EMEA and global SCM.
Number of Employees: ~5,000 in more than 35 countries.
Comments: As the largest ink manufacturer that is predominantly dedicated to packaging ink Siegwerk has continued to grow in recent years. Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Siegwerk’s sales grew slightly overall.
“As a global company, we have felt the effects of COVID-19 from the very beginning in 2020 - first in China, India and Southeast Asia, then in Europe and finally in North and South America,” Siegwerk CEO Dr. Nicolas Wiedmann reported. “But as inks and coatings are essential for the manufacturing of packaging ensuring the access to critical supplies for food, pharma and hygiene, we have generally seen a solid demand for ink solutions in 2020.
“During the first half of the year, flexible packaging and labels for packaging have witnessed unusually strong growth in Europe and the US, primarily driven by overstocking during the initial months of the pandemic, but this demand normalized again during the second half of the year,” Dr. Wiedmann added. “The demand for water-based inks for paper & board applications like paper cups, tissues or similar has abruptly collapsed due to restaurant closures and event cancellations throughout the year. Besides, sheetfed inks for commercial and luxury packaging have experienced a strong collapse in demand as well due to retail shop closures and a related declining demand for luxury packaging last year.”
Dr. Wiedmann added that Siegwerk has been running its production facilities at peak levels while adhering to recommended practices designed to keep employees safe and healthy.
Compared to 2019 and adjusted for currency effects, Europe remained the most important region for Siegwerk, although it showed a slightly declining sales growth, mainly in the print media business. Asia also showed a slight growth decline, especially related to the pandemic, while North and Latin America in turn showed positive sales growth. As in the years before, the print media business continued to decline, while the market for packaging printing inks showed stable development throughout 2020.
Dr. Wiedmann observed that, in general, the demand for sustainable solutions aligned with the requirements of a Circular Economy has further increased in 2020, making it one of the key drivers in the ink and printing industries going forward.
“Siegwerk is already well-positioned to support customers in the development of sustainable and circular packaging solutions today,” he noted. “Our overall strategy remains focused on packaging printing inks and coatings and the expansion of our market leadership in labels and flexible packaging applications while becoming a circular and digital packaging solutions company enabling the development of forward-looking circular and digitalized packaging innovations.”
In terms of major news, Dr. Wiedmann was appointed CEO, succeeding Herbert Forker. A three-month transition period from January to March 2021 ensured an in-depth handover and smooth leadership transition. Dr. Wiedmann will continue to drive Siegwerk’s most recent strategic transformation to become a circular and digital packaging solutions company, further accelerating company growth with new business models beyond the company’s traditional printing inks business.
“It has always been in Siegwerk’s DNA to combine tradition and trust in a family business with innovation and modern skills,” said Dr. Wiedmann. “The global pandemic has rapidly changed the way of doing business around the world, which has led to economic challenges facing complete industries. Finding ways of working that protect employees and minimize the risk of infection has been in the center for many companies worldwide. Enabling virtual collaboration and work from home became key aspects for change and further drove the need for digitalized solutions.”
Siegwerk’s first priority is always to offer customers the best possible service, and the company opened new blending center sin Vietnam and Bangladesh, in order to optimally serve the local markets and expand its market position in the region.
From a product perspective, one highlight in 2020 was that Siegwerk became sales partner for Varcotec’s Lock 3 technology, further expanding its range of packaging inks and coatings with an antimicrobial dispersion varnish suitable for a wide range of applications and packaging types. Siegwerk also developed a new UV offset ink series and UV flexo coatings with outstanding deinking properties for commercial and packaging printing.
“These newly launched solutions increase the recyclability of UV-coated paper and board packaging and support the material-specific recycling targets according to the EU Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC),” said Dr. Wiedmann. “Besides, we were able to set a new standard for the recycling of PET bottles with our AQUANTUM Alkali Strippable Primer and SICURA UV/LED ink technology. According to the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) this proprietary washable ink technology significantly facilitates the deinking of UV/LED-printed PET shrink sleeves.
“In line with our commitment to drive packaging circularity, we also joined different industry alliances and initiatives such as Project STOP, HolyGrail 2.0 or the Circular Packaging Alliance to actively support the realization of a global circular packaging industry by improving waste management and recycling rates. “Here it should be noted that sustainability is not just a lip service for Siegwerk. We strongly believe that the circular economy will be one of the most important success factors for our society in the future and thus also for our business as well as for that of our customers. That’s why packaging solutions for a circular economy are at the center of our innovation efforts.”
The last years have been quite challenging for the ink industry dealing with significant raw material supply disruptions, and COVID-19 accelerated these challenges.
“A number of interrelated problems are still exerting considerable pressure on printing ink manufacturers throughout Europe, with higher raw material costs, bottlenecks in key supply chains, and rising freight costs – to just name a few current concerns,” Dr. Wiedmann reported. “That’s why we still remain on high alert continuing to closely monitor overall developments. As global operator with a global purchasing organization, Siegwerk has long-term experience in establishing and tracking alternative suppliers and materials for the manufacture of our products and solutions. We are leveraging our robust global supply network across the world to maintain a competitive advantage and secure a supply as stable as possible.
“Moreover, we are continuously looking for formulation alternatives to ensure a consistently high-quality supply of raw materials meeting the discerning demands of our customers and have again raised our own benchmarks regarding long-term sustainability and recycling standards, which will impact all areas of our business including our raw materials,” he added.
Dr. Wiedmann observed that the ink and printing industries continued to normalize in early 2021.
“We already see that the paper packaging ink business is recovering after the demand plunged last year,” said Dr. Wiedmann. “At the end-consumer level, because of the increased security of availability of basic products, we didn’t experience overstocking and unusually high demand for food and hygiene packaging, which were the biggest winners in 2020. This was despite that lockdowns continued in various parts of the world.”
Going forward, Dr. Wiedmann said that the growing focus of printers and brand owners on sustainable packaging solutions and the use of renewable materials in ink formulations will drive the development activities in all ink technologies in line with the general market demand for sustainable solutions.
“Meeting the Circular Economy requirements will be the driving key trend across the packaging value chain,” said Dr. Wiedmann. “We will further intensify our Circular Economy approach throughout 2021 to make our mark as a differentiator in the marketplace by assuming a leadership position on this important issue for our future and the future of generations to come. Siegwerk is already at work focusing on our new strategic positioning to become a Circular Economy solutions company by 2025.
“Furthermore, with an increase in industry standards, especially with regards to consumer and employee safety, we expect the demand for low migration solutions to further increase worldwide,” he continued.
“Digital printing will also gain market share as it enables manufacturers to react even faster to specific customer demands. We will also see a continued development of digital platforms and digitalization tools streamlining processes and simplifying collaborations.
“We headed into the year with ambitious goals to continue growing our strong position within the packaging market. We are focusing on differentiation via innovation and digitalization to build new business opportunities while further investing in our infrastructure, technology and personnel to promote long-term growth for our future. All in all, we aim for continued growth throughout 2021 and beyond,” Dr. Wiedmann concluded.
