Interview with Dr. Clemens Willée, CEO Mauser Group
We publish an interview with Dr. Clemens Willée, Chief Executive Officer, MAUSER Group. The company is a leading manufacturer of plastics industrial packaging.
Please tell us more about Mauser in a few words and give some key figures.
Clemens Willée: - MauserGroup is a worldwide leading producer of industrial packaging with a consolidated revenue of some EUR 1 billion and approx. 4,000 employees. The company is headquartered in Bruehl, Germany and looks back on 115 years of experience. We offer a comprehensive portfolio of professional packaging solutions for customers in the chemical, petrochemical, agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors as well as in the food and beverage industry.
Mauser is present in 16 countries. Presence in what country is most important for the company? Where do you see your strongest business and manufacturing activity?
Our aim is to globally grow with the customer. This means that our focus is on strategic growth and overall expansion in order to be closer to the customer. Consequently, we have a strong presence in all regions and are still expanding. In order to meet market requirements, we recently acquired businesses in North America and in Asia, for example.
Are there any differences in your activity and market position between Europe and Asia? Where are you also present?
Mauser is present around the globe – not only in Europe and the Asia Pacific region but also in the Americas. We see a great demand for rigid industrial plastic packagings globally and are a market leader in this field.
When it comes to our major customer industries, we see a more dynamic market in the Asia Pacific region - therefore a significant part of our future investments will be concentrated on this region. Especially as the Asian industrial packaging market, compared to the European market, is still dominated more or less by steel drums - with a lot of potential for plastic drums and composite IBCs.
Mauser is a leading manufacturer of plastics packaging. What types of packaging (shapes, sizes, technology of production) can you offer?
Mauser is not only a manufacturer of plastic packaging solutions. We furthermore offer steel drums, fibre drums, Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBC) as well as reconditioning services through our subsidiary National Container Group (NCG). The product portfolio is very multifaceted – in order to meet the specific needs of our customers.
Our plastic packaging ranges from the 100 mililitre laboratory bottle to the 1,250 litre IBC and includes for example a wide selection of bottles, cans and jerrycans for the pharmaceutical and laboratory industries, as well as UN-approved plastic drums with volumes from 20 litres up to 260 litres.
These drums as our global standards include the one-piece blow-molded Tight Head drums in L-Ring and L-Ring PLUS design and the blow-molded Open Head drums in O-Top and Vanguard design. Customer and market segment specific designs like our SquareDrum , the Small Volume Returnable SVR-Drum and the straight-sided V-Press Drum complement our diversified plastic drum portfolio. We offer mono as well as multilayer packaging providing additional functionality like e.g. electrostatic protection, barrier functionality or use of recycled materials.
Due to modular design concepts, our Composite IBCs can be easily adapted to specific customer or market segment requirements. Designed for hazardous and sensitive filling goods, Mauser SM IBCs are supplied at the same high quality standard throughout the globe. Specific configurations include innovative multilayer technology for electrostatic or light protection.
In the field of steel drums we comply with global standards such as the standard for 55 US Gal. Tight Head or Open Head drums. Predominantly UN-approved, these drums are available in multiple colours – lined and unlined. Our steel drum portfolio is complemented by smaller as well as conical drums. The Mauser fibre drums offer cost-effective and light-weight solutions for transporting solids. In addition, we supply injection-moulded hobbocks and medical waste bins as well as accessories including covers, caps, handles or valves to enable customized products.
Which achievements of the company in the field of plastics packaging brought Mauser the greatest recognition?
We are happy to say that in the course of our history, Mauser innovations have initiated a series of transitions in industrial packaging. We have been one of the pioneers in bringing plastics to industrial packaging.
After starting with the first all-plastic cans for lube-oil and chemicals in the 1960s, Mauser presented its 120 litre Open Head plastic drum in 1967 – the first out of many innovative and award-winning plastic packaging solutions developed by Mauser. One piece blow-moulded L-Ring Tight Head drum design launched in 1977 or its later successor L-Ring PLUS launched in 1990 are even today industrial benchmark and have become international standards.
Introducing multilayer technology to plastic drums in the late 1990s opened new areas for the use of recycled plastic materials as well as providing additional functionality. In 2002, Mauser introduced the first 3-layer conductive plastic drum for use in EX-Zones. In the field of plastic drums we even squared the circle – our SquareDrum or the V-Press drum, developed in 2007, are only some examples of our unbroken spirit when it comes to innovation in plastic industrial packaging.
Your company focuses its attention on managing the entire lifecycle of industrial packaging products. The company developed strategy named ECO-CYCLE. What is ECO-CYCLE?
As you already mentioned, the ECO-CYCLE strategy is about managing the entire lifecycle of industrial packaging. Providing both economic and environmentally friendly packaging solutions for decades we recognised that our business should not only be about manufacturing new packaging. With the acquisition of National Container Group (NCG) as one of the leading reconditioners for industrial packaging in 2004, we started to develop our company into becoming a full service provider – managing the entire lifecycle of industrial packaging in a more sustainable way. Our ECO-CYCLE strategy is based on the following five pillars – covering the life cycle from development to end of use:
RENEW – frontrunner in investigating materials for the future,
REDUCE - minimise raw material use, energy consumption and environmental impact,
RECOLLECT – worldwide recollection system for industrial packaging,
REUSE - reconditioned packaging as a high-quality, low environmental impact solution,
RECYCLE – closing the cycle, giving materials new life.
The ECO-CYCLE approach is embedded in our overall and comprehensive sustainable company strategy. More details on ECO-CYCLE, its market success and our general sustainability approach can be found in our Sustainability Report or by visiting us at Interpack 2011.
Since the 1960s, Mauser has been designing, developing and building high performance blow-molding machines. What is the biggest company success in this field?
The blow-molding machines have been originally designed for our own production. In the early 1970s, Mauser started to sell blow-molding systems and to grant licences to the world market. So we are able to ensure high-quality solutions all over the world, enabling our partners to realize new growth opportunities. In addition to providing machines, Mauser makes available its entire experience of packaging and blow-molding technology to its partners and licensees worldwide.
The Mauser programme includes tailor-made high performance blow-molding machines for containers from 20 to 1.500 litres, state-of-the art blow-molds and the full range of up- and downstream equipment for the most cost-efficient production of industrial plastic packaging.
The company says in an official statement that after a successful year in 2010, it is well-positioned and looks confidently into the future. What are the main reasons of this optimism?
In 2010, Mauser has experienced increasing demand in all product areas and countries – in particular due to the upswing in the chemical and oil/lubricants industries.
We are expecting demand to be strong this year as well in these sectors.
However, we still face greater challenges in terms of rising electricity, transport and freight costs as well as volatile raw material prices. But Mauser is known as an innovative and reliable company that meets the specific needs of its customers, which is the decisive factor for them.
Mauser will be one of the exhibitors at interpack 2011. What are your expectations related to this trade fair? Will you show any novelties during interpack?
Interpack is an important platform for Mauser that gives us the opportunity to get in touch with our target group face-to-face. Our presence there will be dedicated to the ECO-CYCLE concept.
Innovative light-weight plastic packaging, new materials and more sustainable plastic drum concepts as well as background information like LCA and Carbon Footprint data are only a few topics we would like to share and discuss openly with our visitors. To us, sustainability and sustainable packaging is not a one-way street – it involves exchange, communication and cooperation.
Interpack will be the perfect platform to reflect on the ecological and economic benefits which we clearly see with our future-oriented ECO-CYCLE concept.
One of your slogans is “We protect your business and our planet”. What does it mean? What is a secret of this motto?
There is not much secret about this motto. It is the perfect summary of what we do and what Mauser stands for. We provide industrial packaging solutions often used for transport of hazardous and sensitive filling goods.
Doing this in the most responsible and reliable way and in conformity with applicable regulations, our packaging protects our clients’ products as well as their reputation. By combining new and reconditioned packaging, we offer economical benefits and help our clients to reduce their packaging spendings and to operate their business in a more successful way.
At the same time our approach reduces the environmental impact of packaging. Recollection and reuse as well as reduction and material recycling are the aspects to address in terms of a more responsible use of limited resources on our planet. With industrial packaging solutions made by Mauser, economy and ecology go hand in hand – we protect your business and our planet.