Visit from the Minister of Economics in the Rhein-Sieg district: Peter Altmaier gets to know Siegwerk

At 6:30 p.m., the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy arrived at Siegwerk's gates, accompanied by his Parliamentary State Secretary Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker and her husband Jürgen Becker, as well as by his staff member Christian Sandmeier. Jürgen Peter, Deputy Chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in the Siegburg City Council, was also in attendance. As Siegwerk CEO Dr. Nicolas Wiedmann introduced the guests to the company, Peter Altmaier was interested in Siegwerk's long history, now in the sixth generation of ownership, and the important role the ink manufacturer plays in the packaging industry. Through several initiatives, Siegwerk supports and enables circular packaging solutions to make packaging recyclable and more sustainable. Examples include cooperation with Werner & Mertz's Recyclat initiative and with CEFLEX, a joint European consortium of companies and associations spanning the entire value chain of flexible packaging.

The topic of sustainability remained the keyword of the day. During a tour of Europe's largest fully automated production facility ("Blending Center") for printing inks, Peter Altmeier was also able to gain an impression of Siegwerk's modern technology. The blending center is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and is thus an example of networked Industry 4.0. The blending center was opened in December 2019 and is a reflection of Siegwerk's ongoing focus on digital and thus high-quality as well as sustainable production processes. In a subsequent round of talks with the guests, the focus remained on topics such as opportunities and challenges around the European Green Deal, sustainable design of the industry, and solutions for how Siegwerk can continue to contribute to this.