Taking stock after its appearance at the drupa fair, Kugler-Womako feels very positive. The EcoBinder and the paper binding have both been the subject of a multiple market launch, and the other business sectors too are registering a very healthy order book.

After an eventful fortnight, the company from Nürtingen feels more than satisfied with its experience at the fair. Kugler-Womako managed to conclude numerous deals in some very diverse sectors. Although the drupa fair actually recorded fewer visitors than it did four years ago, the number of customer contacts made at the Kugler-Womako stand went up. This was partly due to the EcoBinder binding-machine, which is taking sustainability into the binding sector with its paper-bound end products. Several companies availed themselves of the opportunity to buy there and then, grasping the chance of being the first provider in their market environment. As well as the sustainability of the binding, visitors were particularly interested in the use of the printable rings for advertising purposes. "We are absolutely convinced that the environmentally friendly nature of the product and the newly created advertising space on the binding will bring about an additional value which will be reflected in the market price of the end product," says Wenke Terbuyken, marketing & communication manager at Kugler-Womako. The first company to offer the paper-bound products is Switzerland's BL Blockfabrik, which will be manufacturing EcoBinder books as from June.

Yet it was not only the new development which awakened visitors' interest. The ProBind binding-machine for metal and plastic-bound products and other machines exhibited by Kugler-Womako from its product portfolio were also the subject of transactions concluded at the fair. 

Drupa was just as much a success for sister companies E.C.H. Will and Pemco, which presented themselves together with Kugler-Womako in a fresh, modern design. At the beginning of May the three companies were sold to a group of investors centred around Orlando Management AG of Munich. "We're very much looking forward to the future. This new chapter of our company history could not have begun in a more auspicious way," said Dr. Hakan Ispaylar, managing director of Kugler-Womako, at the end of the fair.