Kickstart: Machinery sales and supply chain shortages

As the global plastics industry gathers this week in Friedrichshafen, Germany, for the Fakuma trade show, machinery suppliers find themselves in a complex business space.

The COVID-19 pandemic that shut down most trade shows and business travel for 18 months seem to have not had as great an impact on sales as first feared. In fact, Michael Wittmann, CEO of Vienna, Austria-based Wittmann Battenfeld Group, said there were opportunities available for machinery makers.

"Not only did we learn to cope in a difficult situation, but we saw a truly dramatic increase in slower moving segments, such as garden furniture. People had to stay at home and therefore started doing more around the house. In the end, in terms of business figures the impact has been small," he said.

But individual companies and trade associations both worry that supply chain problems will hold back growth potential this year.

Thorsten Kühmann, managing director of German trade group VDMA, said that companies faced the paradox of full order books but having to limit their own production.

"The bottlenecks in the supply of plastics — which is impacting the willingness on the part of manufacturers to invest — as well as in the sector of metals and electronic components, could soon lead to the paradoxical situation of machine manufacturers having to curb production despite full order books," he said.

For the auto industry, the name of megasupplier Continental AG brings up images of tires or drivetrain systems.

But as it celebrates its 150th anniversary this month, the German company made certain to point to its experience with plastics. The company added plastics to its portfolio in 1967, the company noted in a series of photos highlighting its history.

The addition of plastics was "part of a diversification strategy," the company said. In 1974, it produced the first extrusion blow molded polyurethane gaiters for the European auto industry.

In an interview with sister paper Automotive News, CEO Nikolai Setzer said Continental no longer views itself as a tire maker or traditional parts. Instead it is sharpening its focus on areas it sees as having high growth potential, particularly in software and self-driving vehicle technology.

Will this mean the company may invest more in plastics? Radar, lidar and other sensors typically are placed within plastic housing to avoid interference with metal, so it may mean the plastics from the "diversifcation strategy" of 50 years ago could remain part of the company for years to come.

It's also a big birthday year for Rieke, a company that got its start as a closure specialist for industrial drums that was founded in 1921.

Now part of TriMas Packaging, Rieke has been key in developing and making specialty dispensing and closure products such as lotion pumps, foaming pumps and aseptic beverage caps.

"As one of only a few packaging companies to reach this [100-year] milestone, Rieke has proven it has a unique ability to adapt and refocus its business model across generations, successfully managing through economic cycles to remain a front-runner in developing new products to provide innovative solutions to its customers," TriMas President and CEO Thomas Amato said in a news release.

But don't let Rieke's advanced corporate age fool you into thinking it has nothing new to offer. The company recently introduced an e-commerce locking dispenser that can stand up to the extra handling — such as being tossed onto a porch during delivery. I'm sure that's something that founder Theodore W. Rieke wasn't thinking about in 1921.