Optima ends fiscal year 2014 with 10% growth

OPTIMA Packaging Group (Schwäbisch Hall, Germany) has posted about 10% performance growth for fiscal year 2014, with consolidated turnover exceeding €330 million. More than 85% of the company’s packaging machines were shipped overseas like in the previous year. 

 

The company expects the positive growth to continue this year. It plans to begin a major investment in its infrastructure this year to centralize purchasing, materials management, and logistics departments in Schwäbisch Hall. It is currently undertaking a workshop expansion of 1,000m² to expand the nonwovens manufacturing area as opposed to investments in latest metal processing lines and software solutions made in 2014.

 

The company is leveraging new service technologies such as condition-oriented maintenance of machines and digital replacement parts catalogues with additional information and video instructions. These also apply to customer enquiries, which are sometimes addressed through interdisciplinary cooperation. 

 

Packaging innovations from Optima include the new integrated packaging plant technology introduced in February that enabled the production, filling, and closing of carton packaging on a single line. By resolving the problem of transporting and storing empty packages, the company offers substantial logistics efficiencies. 

 

OPTIMA provides branch solutions in packaging and processing fields with its four business divisions: Pharma, Consumer, Nonwovens, and Life Science. 

 

Executive director Hans Bühler said that although there are considerably larger mechanical engineering companies, only a few can offer a comparable spectrum of individual technological solutions. “Optima is structured as totally flexible, such that all the competitive advantages of one field can be incorporated and utilized as appropriate in other fields, where and when applicable. Our capacity for 2015 confirms the ongoing growth trend. In particular in the USA we expect further revitalization on the grounds of economic recovery,” he said.