WINTEC: Fearless after two years

CHINAPLAS 2016 was as much a platform for buying and selling plastics processing technology as it was for discussing the global factors impacting the sector. With the four-day Shanghai-hosted event pointing the worldwide industry's gaze in an easterly direction and on top of its early success in China, ENGEL's additional brand WINTEC has plans for arguably the Middle East's most exciting marketplace at this moment in time - Iran.

EPPM sat down with Peter Auinger, President - Sales and Service for WINTEC, and his colleague Franz Füreder, Vice-President of ENGEL AUSTRIA's Automotive business unit to discuss the potential for WINTEC in Iran and other emerging markets on the back of the mid-level injection moulding machinery brand's triumph in the Chinese market.

A kind of déjà vu

Auinger and his ENGEL colleagues are more familiar with the Iranian marketplace than one might think, partially because for ENGEL, there was never any hiatus in business dealings between the mother company and Iran's plastics processors. Auinger first travelled to Iran in the early 1980s and described WINTEC's growing presence in the country more recently as a kind of déjà vu.

"Iran is most definitely a good market for the mid-level injection moulding machine - and there is a global market for mid-range machines - but Iran has been a long-term market for ENGEL which helps [WINTEC] and it is one of the next countries on our list to roll out the export activities of WINTEC machines," Auinger explained.

This proposed rollout benefits from WINTEC being part of the ENGEL Group, which offers WINTEC structure, administration and service already in the exciting Middle Eastern marketplace.

"All the administration, all the finance and the face of the organisation is already there and that makes the decision [for WINTEC] to start doing business in Iran easier. It's like we made a decision today and we can start as soon as tomorrow - we have everything already," Auinger stated.

"Iran has a huge plastics industry," explained Füreder. "Even during the [time of the] sanctions, Iran was working with China and Chinese machines were being delivered [to Iranian customers]."

"It was important the sanctions were released," stated Auinger. "It gives a stronger motivation to Iran to go out and to see the technology available outside of Iran."

Iran's newly-unsanctioned status makes it an exciting market for investors and like other key Middle Eastern marketplaces such as Turkey and the UAE, ENGEL has witnessed the evolutionary journey these key economies have undergone over recent decades.

"There's constant evolution in these markets Auinger said. "Turkey for example, is definitely undergoing an amazing development overcoming industrial hurdles."

WINTEC broadens horizons

The WINTEC brand - which boasts the cost-effective e-win all-electric injection moulding machines and hydraulic injection moulding t-win machine series - was launched in 2014 as a company in its own right, targeting Asia as an industrial region ripe for quality-assured plastics processing technology for the mid-market sector. As a member of the ENGEL Group, WINTEC has been quickly mobilised, targeting first the Chinese mid-range injection moulding machine market, separating it completely from ENGEL's high-end technology, while demand for lower-end technology is met by local machine manufacturers.

"ENGEL can never be the cheapest," said Auinger, "this is not the ENGEL philosophy – but we aim for the highest efficiency.

"WINTEC machines offer high quality and repeatability  - the constant quality on a WINTEC machine is the same as an ENGEL but it has a limited product range. WINTEC is not submitting lower-priced ENGEL machines - that would result in internal competition - so when we had this concept of separation, we would not compromise the machines or the moulded part but clearly identify WINTEC machines with a smaller range of application possibilities, so when a WINTEC setup is offered to a customer, they are in no doubt as to the quality."

WINTEC's ambitions are rippling outside of the confines of China across the global economic pond.

Auinger said: "All BRICS markets are a target, and Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, but while we have a good position in the prime segment, we have to secure our position in the middle segments."

With worldwide potential and a mother company based in Austria, Auinger stated that the decision to base WINTEC in China "is absolutely the correct one" due to China's strength as a domestic market quickly absorbing big quantities of injection moulding machines that WINTEC wants to supply.

ENGEL's long-term strategy has worked to WINTEC's advantage, as the notion of starting a spin-off machine manufacturing company to appeal to a new slice of the marketplace might be considered high-risk to many plastics machinery players who may still be exercising caution post-economic crisis.

"ENGEL is the mother, ENGEL Prime is the big brother, WINTEC is the little brother and we feel confidence in doing what we do and overcoming any difficulties as we go," said Auinger.

"Financially, ENGEL is a very stable company and in establishing WINTEC the ENGEL Group will have an additional growth potential. To be member of the ENGEL Group brings unique potential to WINTEC. It helped us to convince our first customer to sign for the first WINTEC machine. And it is still an added value now after more than 50 customers have bought WINTEC machines."