Introduction
Starlinger & Co GmbH is an Austrian family-owned machinery company headquartered in Vienna, with production sites in Austria and China and a global sales-and-service footprint. It specializes in machinery and complete lines for woven plastic packaging, plastics recycling, and plastic refinement, making it a significant supplier to packaging converters and recyclers in the global plastics industry.
Founded in 1835 under the name Franz Laubek, the company began as a producer of stationary steam engines and drive elements before evolving into an industrial machinery group focused on plastic tape extrusion, woven sacks, and recycling systems. Starlinger says it has been producing machinery for sacks, packaging fabrics, and technical textiles for more than 50 years, and it positions itself as a technology leader in high-performance fiber, carbon fiber, and slit-film winding technology through its group structure.
The company is best known for equipment used to manufacture woven plastic sacks such as standard sacks, valve sacks, Leno sacks, AD*STAR block-bottom valve sacks, and FIBCs (large industrial bulk bags). Its recycling and refinement portfolio covers machinery for materials including PE, PP, PA, PS, BOPP, and food-grade PET, reflecting a broad role in circular plastics processing and in converting post-consumer or post-industrial waste into new products.
Starlinger reports a worldwide customer base in more than 130 countries, an export quota above 99%, and a long-standing international service network. Publicly available company disclosures place the group’s workforce at about 1,200 and turnover at more than EUR 450 million in fiscal 2023/2024, while earlier sustainability and industry sources reported somewhat lower figures for prior years, indicating growth over time.
History and Development
Starlinger traces its origins to 1835, when Franz Laubek founded the business in Vienna. Over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the company moved from general industrial machinery into specialized engineering, eventually building a plastics-focused platform in woven packaging and recycling.
A key development came in the 1970s, when Starlinger began delivering machinery for woven plastic sacks and packaging fabrics made from plastic tapes. This period established the company’s core industrial niche in machinery for polypropylene-based woven packaging.
Another major milestone was the expansion into plastics recycling technology more than three decades ago, followed by continued development of PET recycling and refinement systems. This broadened the company from a packaging-equipment supplier into a circular-economy machinery provider.
In recent years, Starlinger has added international manufacturing and service capacity, including production in Taicang, China, and service centers across multiple regions. Company disclosures also show a further emphasis on sustainability reporting and circularity, including its first sustainability report for 2022 and subsequent reporting updates.
Business Operations and Segments
Starlinger Group is structured as a family-owned machinery group comprising Starlinger & Co GmbH and Georg Sahm GmbH & Co. KG, with associated companies including unistrap GmbH and UNIMAS GmbH. Within Starlinger & Co GmbH, the business is organized around three principal areas:
- Textile packaging
- Recycling technology
- Viscotec
The textile packaging segment develops complete systems for woven packaging production, while recycling technology focuses on machinery for washing, processing, and upgrading plastics. The viscotec activity covers extrusion and refinement technologies for specific plastics-processing applications.
The company operates from headquarters in Vienna and additional Austrian sites in Weissenbach an der Triesting and St. Martin im Mühlkreis, with a manufacturing presence in Taicang, China and sales/service centers in multiple countries. This geographic structure supports both equipment delivery and technical aftersales service in export markets.
Products and Technologies
Starlinger’s product portfolio combines upstream tape extrusion, weaving, coating, conversion, recycling, and refinement systems. The company’s machinery is used to build integrated lines rather than isolated machines, which is important for industrial customers seeking repeatability, productivity, and process consistency.
Textile packaging equipment
The textile packaging portfolio includes:
- Tape extrusion lines
- Winders
- Circular looms
- Coating lines
- Printing machines
- Sack conversion lines
These systems are used to manufacture woven sacks and industrial bags from plastic tapes, typically based on polypropylene. Company and industry sources identify products such as coated and uncoated sacks, Leno sacks, valve sacks, AD*STAR block-bottom valve sacks, and FIBCs as core application formats.
Recycling and refinement systems
Starlinger’s recycling technology covers machinery for thermoplastic waste streams, including PET bottles*, **fibers/filaments, and other plastics such as **PA, PE, PP, PS, XPS, and PET. The company also emphasizes PET **recycling and PET **refinement*, which are central to rPET production for applications requiring improved material quality and, in some cases, food-contact suitability.
Technical characteristics
The company’s machinery is designed for industrial throughput and turnkey deployment, with machinery packages typically combining extrusion, winding, weaving, coating, printing, and conversion into a single production chain. In recycling, the technical challenge lies in removing contamination, maintaining material properties, and producing consistent output suitable for downstream reprocessing; Starlinger’s product range is positioned around these process requirements.
Applications and End Markets
Starlinger machinery serves sectors that require durable, low-cost, and high-volume packaging or recycled polymer feedstock.
Major end markets include:
- Cement
- Seed
- Grain
- Flour
- Sugar
- Citrus fruits
- Fertilizer
- Animal feed
Woven plastic sacks are widely used in bulk-packaging applications because they combine strength, moisture resistance, and cost efficiency. In recycling, the company’s equipment serves processors seeking to convert plastic waste into recycled pellets or refined materials for reuse in packaging, fibers, and related products.
Global Presence and Market Position
Starlinger describes itself as the world’s leading supplier of machinery for woven plastic packaging production and plastics recycling and refinement. External industry listings similarly characterize it as a world market leader in woven plastic bag production and PET recycling.
The company reports customers in more than 130 countries and an export quota above 99%, indicating that it is overwhelmingly export-oriented rather than dependent on the Austrian domestic market. Its sales and service centers in markets such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, the United States, and Uzbekistan support this global reach.
The company’s main operational base remains Austria, but its manufacturing presence in China and international support network are strategically important in serving the packaging and recycling sectors across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Sustainability and Environmental Initiatives
Starlinger presents sustainability as a central part of its business model, stating that it has combined innovation and responsibility since its foundation in 1835. The company’s first sustainability report highlighted its role in enabling more circular plastics use through recycling and refinement technologies.
Its environmental positioning is closely tied to its machinery portfolio:
- Recycling systems support the recovery of post-consumer and post-industrial plastics.
- PET refinement technologies help produce higher-grade recycled material for demanding applications.
- Efficient woven packaging systems can reduce material use in certain bulk-packaging formats compared with alternative packaging designs, depending on application and performance requirements.
The company is also listed as an active participant in the UN Global Compact, indicating formal engagement with international sustainability principles.
Financial Performance and Economic Impact
Publicly available disclosures show a business of substantial scale for a specialized machinery manufacturer. Starlinger Group reported around 1,200 employees and more than EUR 450 million in turnover for fiscal 2023/2024. Earlier company materials and third-party reports listed lower figures for prior periods, including about EUR 397 million in 2023/24 and about EUR 356 million in FY 2021/22, suggesting continued expansion over recent years.
The company’s economic impact extends beyond direct employment. Its machinery supports downstream industries in packaging, agriculture, construction materials, recycling, and plastics reprocessing, while its export intensity makes it an important contributor to Austrian industrial exports.
Leadership and Corporate Governance
Starlinger is a privately held family-owned company, and public company materials identify Angelika Huemer as CEO. The group structure includes multiple operating companies, with Starlinger & Co GmbH at its core and related businesses in winding and strapping technologies.
As a private family enterprise, governance appears oriented toward long-term industrial continuity rather than short-term market disclosure. Public information is limited compared with listed companies, but the available materials indicate a management model centered on engineering, international sales, and specialized industrial production.
Innovations and Future Outlook
Starlinger’s future trajectory is closely linked to two industry trends: the shift toward circular plastics and the need for higher-efficiency industrial packaging. Demand for recycled-content materials, especially in PET and other thermoplastics, is likely to remain a strategic driver for the company’s recycling and refinement business.
In woven packaging, the company’s continued relevance depends on maintaining performance advantages in strength, conversion efficiency, and turnkey integration for sack production. The company’s global service network and manufacturing footprint suggest a strategy built around close technical support, faster response times, and localized market access.
At the same time, the company operates in a sector facing increasing pressure from regulatory scrutiny, packaging reduction targets, and recycling-system improvements. Starlinger’s combination of packaging machinery and recycling technology positions it to serve both conventional industrial packaging demand and the growing market for recycled polymer processing.
References
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CPS+ eMarketplace. (n.d.). STARLINGER & CO GMBHSTARLINGER & CO GMBH. CPS+ eMarketplace. https://www.chinaplasonline.com/eMarketplace/ExhibitorInfo?CompId=1017208Link