Good morning, Mr. Wasserman. You opened your fifth business location in Europe this year. Where do you get the energy to continuously expand?
I get the energy because I see our great potential; we are well respected by our customers and have really good people in the company. In addition, we manufacture high quality and value products / services in Europe, not in Asia or the rest of the world. We have to show in Europe, that we have the potential to create jobs.
The new company, TLS Anilox GmbH, is located in Salzkotten. Why did you choose this location?
The reason for choosing this location here in Paderborn/Salzkotten is that we have a lot of companies with expertise in the field of engraving and precision mechanical work in this area. The importance of this expertise is that here we have the experts who are well trained in this kind of work.
How can we imagine the size of the TLS Anilox GmbH? How large is the plant? How many people work in Salzkotten?
Currently, the built-up area encompasses 2,000 square meters with the option to expand to 4,000 to 5,000 square meters. At the moment, we have twenty five employees and hope that one day the company will double its staff.
The official opening took place in June 2015. Which parties were invited to the inauguration? Did the press report?
Yes, we were fortunate that all members of the Anilox team were there, including those of TLS Germany from Langenfeld who work together with Salzkotten. Representatives of the City of Salzkotten, the mayor, some customers and suppliers as well as local community members and neighbors were present at the inauguration as well. All the major stakeholders who worked during the building process with us were also there. The press reported in detail in different newspapers.
The plant buildings are brand new, the machine park is first-class high-tech and the equipment is governed by the principle of sustainability. Is this interaction a result of your company’s strategy?
Yes, it is! And I’m glad about this. It is the first time that we built a completely new plant. We did our best to learn from the existing plants and improve the new one. This was a great chance to build something from scratch with state of the art equipment, renewable energy and optimized production flow. This is an essential part of our shared value strategy, where sustainability is at, the heart of our strategy and our activities.
Your company in Langenfeld focuses on the coating of new components in the engineering sector. What is the core competence of the TLS Anilox GmbH?
The core competence of Anilox is laser engraving and finishing, complete part manufacturing for individual and serial parts, new parts and repairs, as well as analysis and consultancy.
In parallel with the expansion of the company you are currently pushing a new product which is named “TeroLux”. What is behind this?
TeroLux is a patent pending new coating and engraving technology which is intended to assist the printer with some specific advantages compared to standard ceramic engraved Anilox rolls.
What is the difference between this innovative coating and the standard coating of an anilox roll?
The new coating is a metal coating providing a much finer surface roughness. This is the primary difference compared to the standard ceramic coating. The main advantage is that with the same number of lines you get a longer lifetime and better ink volume, resulting in a much better quality print. Another benefit is that you can print finer lines yielding a better graphic design on the packaging. With this Anilox TeroLux the wear on the doctor blade as well as the vibration of the machine during operation are reduced and homogeneity is improved. The Anilox cylinder also takes less time to clean, thus reducing the setup time.
Will you be present at trade fairs this year where we could get more information about this interesting project?
We were at the LabelExpo, the main fair for labels and the packaging industry worldwide which takes place in in Brussels at the end of September. We were also represented at the FachPack in Nürnberg and in the future probably at the Drupa tradeshow.
Can you tell me at the end of this interview, where you will see the TLS Anilox GmbH heading over the next five years?
If we work well this company should be one of the leading companies in Europe in this field with a sales volume of 6 to 10 million Euros.