Starlinger-Sahm shows its investment in US with new facility

Fountain Inn, S.C. — Ask Angelika Huemer. Ask Jimmy Cranford. Ask Alan DiUmberto.

They will all tell you the same thing. American Starlinger-Sahm Inc. is in it for the long haul.

As a subsidiary of Vienna, Austria-based machinery maker Starlinger & Co. GmbH, the Fountain Inn-based company is investing millions into a new 23,000-square-foot facility that is part showroom, part technical center, part spare parts depot and part offices.

The company's new building replaces 9,000 square feet of rented space in nearby Greenville.

“We want to make a statement. We want to let our customers know that we're serious about being in the U.S. market,” said Jimmy Cranford, president of American Starlinger-Sahm.

Housed in the new facility are two plastics recycling lines, solid state polycondensation equipment, and a sheet line that all demonstrate the company's technology to potential customers. Solid state polycondensation equipment is used to increase intrinsic viscosity and decontaminate recycled polyester pellets or flake.

Prior to the opening of the new site, these potential customers had to head over to Austria to actually see trials on their recycled plastic. That can all take place now in South Carolina.

Sending thousands of pounds of recycled plastic over to Austria to be tested on Starlinger machinery can be an expensive process.

“It's very costly for customers to send the material over and then travel over. The idea, as they say, ‘If you build it, they will come,'” Cranford said. “It's more convenient for the customers.”

Developing the new location also sends a message — company officials hope — about the importance of the North American market to Starlinger-Sahm. They hope the permanency of a company-owned site signals to customers that Starlinger-Sahm is here to stay.

That's an important message for potential customers who are considering spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more, on equipment, company officials realize.

ness in the United States,” Huemer said. “We think it's one of the keys to have testing equipment here.”

Huemer, managing partner of Starlinger, said it sometimes is impossible for prospective clients to travel to Europe to see Starlinger equipment first hand, so committing to the new facility will help make it easier for those potential buyers to check out her company.

“Seeing is believing, always,” she said. “We have very good experience in Austria where we have a very large showroom.” That site is located in Weissenbach.

Huemer pointed to Starlinger's history of being in the United States for several decades, but also said it was time to relocate from the smaller, rented space.

“We needed more space and also the facility for the showroom where we can have the demonstration line to offer our customers material tests and to look at the machines before they invest,” she said. “Often, it's not possible for them to fly to Europe.”

“That's a commitment to the U.S. market. I think we already had a commitment because we have been here for a long time with our company here and more than 20 employees working here in the U.S. But this is additional commitment when you invest in your own property,” Huemer said.

As sales manager for Starlinger's recycling division, Alan DiUmberto has had to rely on videos, brochures and his own know-how to sell machinery if clients were not able to travel to Europe.

The new facility makes his job a lot easier and frees up time that would otherwise be spent flying back and forth to Austria with clients. He can now spend more of his time trying to engage additional clients.

“I can tell anybody anything. But the proof is in the process,” he said. And having the ability to show off that process in the United States makes a huge difference.

“I can take the customers materials that they want to recycle, bring it into my facility and hand them an end product. I've got a much shorter sales cycle having the machinery here,” DiUmberto said.

Huemer said Starlinger's recycling equipment is customizable, so running trials of particular recyclables is important to determine the exact design of an order.

She also said customers throughout North American and South America, and not just in America, will benefit by having a Starlinger demonstration facility located closer.

Along with Starlinger equipment, the company has space in the new facility to showcase its winders and systems sold through its Georg Sahm GmbH & Co KG in Eschwege, Germany. Sahm makes winders for technical yarns, carbon fiber, foils, adhesive and paper and plastic tapes, and monofilament and multifilament yarns.