Langenpac NV has over 20 years experience of producing ‘robust and reliable’ packaging machinery for a wide variety of consumer good products. Specialising in solving challenging packaging projects, Langenpac is enjoying a period of positive growth in partnership with many of its blue chip clients. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to sales director Ruud Dippell.
Langenpac NV was established in the Netherlands in 1988 as a daughter company of Toronto-based Langen Inc, which by that time already had 30 years of expertise in producing packaging machines. In 1997, both companies became part of Molins PLC with the aim of generating a stronger focus in their own territories, with them joining forces again in 2008 under the Langen Packaging Group name.
Throughout the company’s history, Langenpac has been dedicated to providing packaging solutions that enhance its customers’ total packaging process. Sales director Ruud Dippell told Packaging Europe, “Our long-term aims of greater globalisation of our brand, exemplary service and support for our customers has always been and continues to be the driving force behind our growth.”
Cartoning systems adding value
As a leading European supplier of cartoning systems, the Langenpac packaging machinery portfolio is designed for minimum operator intervention through sophisticated automation. Mr Dippell continued, “We are committed to adding value to our customers’ businesses by offering a competitive edge to their packaging processes. Our quick, reliable and repetitive format change is an example of this, combined with minimum service sensitive machine design and construction. Service requirements are also kept to an absolute minimum, so that the customer’s own service team can easily handle first line issues quickly and effectively. We also offer service training and remote support as key elements to our after sales support so, if a customer needs us quickly on-site, we’re there.”
With its best selling products currently the easy-to-service Chinook, Vento and LRC top load series cartoners, Langenpac develops machinery after close cooperation with its customers. The aim is always to deliver exactly what the customer requires and, as Langenpac’s client list includes some of the biggest household names in the consumer products sector, it’s often called upon to create solutions for very demanding projects.
“We have a reputation for innovative and robust solutions for challenging packaging projects, thanks to our ability to offer higher speed product handling,” Mr Dippell explained. “The collations needed for this are not straight forward and this is our real strength. It’s no longer enough to simply offer machines that are capable of cartoning processes – we differentiate ourselves by creating quicker product handling capabilities in different ways for different clients. It’s a bespoke process that gives great rewards.”
Building relationships
This product development process is understandably time consuming, with some Langenpac client collaborations taking years to get to the installation phase. Mr Dippell is clear that this investment of time and money delivers a positive outcome for both parties, however, because the intense understanding of its customer requirements ensures the packaging machinery is perfectly integrated. “We don’t just create and integrate packaging machinery for our clients’ current demands,” he continued. “We look at their current machinery, at our past solutions that may be suitable in some way and then work together to make a choice that best suits both their current applications and the future aims for their production lines. Langenpac machinery isn’t just for one moment in time, it’s an almost future-proof packaging solution for our clients’ changing needs.”
The extensive technical capabilities at Langenpac’s facilities are utilised by its global design team. Using the very latest 3D engineering software, the design process is a carefully-controlled use of the knowledge and experience of the team. The Langen Packaging Group has around 200 employees, equally spread between Canada and the Netherlands and, as a Group, has the capacity to offer single cartoning applications or full end-of-line packaging, including turnkey solutions with other upstream machinery.
Investment and development
Investment in people and equipment underpins the Group’s continued success. Langenpac is looking forward to the introduction of a new cartoner machine in Q3 2010, which is only one illustration of an important phase of technical development, with the majority customer-specific and not to be disclosed. This represents the Langenpac commitment to establishing and maintaining long-term relationships with its clients by developing packaging machinery solutions that give them the extra edge in an often exclusive contract.
The next twelve months will also see Langenpac focus on growing its presence in Asia Pacific and Australasia to complement its existing strength in European and North American markets. Mr Dippell concluded, “We will continue to cooperate with a number of global accounts and the current global accounts will intensify and increase. We regularly prove ourselves as a packaging partner that adds value to our global customers’ offer, so we intend to enhance these relationships through greater agency networks and face to face meetings. We work alongside our customers and want to learn from them, so we can continue to provide exemplary packaging machines that perfectly suit their needs. It’s a challenging and exciting time for Langenpac.”
Contact Springvale Equipment for further information on Langenpac
