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The story is far from over!

Audion was established in 1947. Our founder, Stephan Reichsthaler, developed the first hand sealer. As a pioneer, he took to the world with this innovation; this and his entrepreneurship laid the foundation for the organisation we are today. I’ve now been working for this great company for 30 years, and if you ask what drives me, it’s still the same values: innovation and entrepreneurship. This is how we distinguish ourselves. As you’re accustomed to, I’ll be looking back in this Quarterly. How did the Interpack go, how did the first three quarters go, and where do we see growth and consolidation? But I’d also like to look ahead, because even 76 years after our founding, we’re still here, and our story is far from over.

Looking back on Interpack 2023

The purpose of our participation in this trade fair is to see and speak with our network. And we succeeded in this. We shook hands with our distributors, got caught up on news, and were properly informed about market developments and how we respond to these at Audion. I personally view our network as the “eyes and ears” of our organisation and the knowledge and experiences that distributors gain from the market contributes to the development of our strategy. We also succeeded in recruiting new distributors at Interpack. Both in existing and new markets, such as South Korea. Our network is growing, which is the foundation of our success. The fact that the focus we applied in establishing the four strategic target markets gives us and our network direction and helps enormously. It was of course extra festive that we were able to launch our new website and Dutch web shop at the Interpack 2023 and the reactions were very positive.

Speedpack High Speed Medical: A Great Success

In life science and healthcare, we see a significant increase in the demand for (semi) automatic packaging solutions. Just like in many other markets, staff shortages are an issue. With the Speedpack High Speed Medical, we provide an advanced packaging solution which is specifically designed for the medical and pharmaceutical industries. This machine uses Audion’s advanced seal technology, which is fully validatable and meets strict packaging requirements. With an integrated bag-maker assembly, medical and pharmaceutical products are packed quickly and safely to size, resulting in efficiency improvements and cost savings.

Food, Industry, and Order Fulfilment

In summary, we see significant progress in Healthcare. Order Fulfilment is still booming as well. The Speedpack offers a truly effective solution for these markets where challenges in terms of efficiency are a daily reality. But we are also doing good business with the Speedpack in Industry. There, we introduced a table model Speedpack with a thermal transfer printer. This prints directly onto film and there is a lot of demand for this. We see a decline in growth in Food. We're still growing, but this growth is slowing down.

Paper introduced to our packaging machines

We introduced this innovation at the Interpack as well. Orders have been placed, with the UK currently as the frontrunner. We delivered the first machines and paper material there this quarter. As an innovative company, and a long-standing specialist in foil, we like to evolve with these new developments and movements in the market.

Finally: better availability and faster delivery times

We have welcomed a few new colleagues in recent months. From here as well, I wish them much joy and success within our fine organisation. That we have filled many positions with these new people, especially in production and service, is a great development. This, in fact, combined with the better availability of parts and sub-assemblies, is causing us to see delivery times fall. I foresee a good final quarter and expect to conclude 2023 with good results.