A company with a long history

Our corporate beginnings go back to 1835, to a company founded under the name Franz Laubek. Its initial business was the production of stationary steam engines and drive elements for the young and booming industry. In 1895 the company was registered under the name Franz Laubek’s Successors.

In 1897, under the management of Franz Starlinger, the company changed its production to textile machinery, particularly machines for making passementerie – fringes, trims, braiding.
In 1913 the company was registered with the authorities as Starlinger & Co.

1920 again saw a change in production to specialised winding machines for the weaving industry.

With the development of winders specially designed for man-made fibres in 1955, Starlinger pioneered a new field. At that time, artificial fibres first entered the European market (in 1963, the developers of polypropylene were awarded the Nobel Prize for their innovation).

Franz X. Starlinger-Huemer (1933-2002) took over ownership and management of the company in1959; his wife, Erna Starlinger-Huemer, became commercial director. In Weissenbach an der Triesting, the first assembly hall was erected in 1968 on the grounds of the former Pittel Cement Works. With the industrial production of self-developed circular looms for PP tapes, Starlinger took on the entirely new focus of an export-oriented enterprise. A new generation of tape winders, together with specially designed sack conversion lines, printing machines, baling presses and externally sourced PP tape extrusion lines completed the machine portfolio for the production of woven plastic sacks made of polypropylene tapes.

At the first Austrian machinery exhibition in China (Peking) in 1973, Starlinger showed the circular loom – with the consequence that in the following 10-12 years 30 complete sack plants were sold to China. In 1990, Starlinger purchased a license for the production of tape extrusion lines and subsequently developed its own technology in this field. In 2022, Starlinger delivered its 1000^th starEX tape line.

Well established as global player in the plastics machinery industry and as world market leader for tape extrusion lines and circular weaving technology, Starlinger founded the Business Unit Starlinger recycling technology in 2000 with the aim of supplying recycling systems for a wide range of plastic materials and applications.

2002 saw a change of generations in the Starlinger management, with Angelika Huemer taking over as managing partner in her parents’ enterprise.

In 2002, Georg Sahm GmbH & Co. KG of Eschwege, Germany, joined the Starlinger Group. SAHM supplies its specialised winders to customers all over the world.

In 2007, Starlinger's new production facility in Taicang, China, took up operation. In the same year, Starlinger was presented with the Austrian Export Award in recognition of the company’s successful export activities.

2010, the year after the global financial and economic crisis, did not only mark Starlinger's 175^th company anniversary but was also the year with the highest turnover in our history.

In 2012 Starlinger opened a new production site and technical center comprising 20,000 m² in St. Martin in Upper Austria for the division Starlinger viscotec. For the second time, Starlinger is awarded with the Austrian Export Award for our exceptional success in the export business.

In 2015, coinciding with the 180^th company anniversary, American Starlinger-Sahm, Inc. moved into the new company headquarters with showroom on 2,200m² in Fountain Inn, SC, in the USA.

In 2017, the division Starlinger recycling technology moved into its new headquarters with state-of-the-art architecture in Weissenbach.

In 2018, Starlinger Group took over the Chemnitz-based business unit Barmag Spinnzwirn from Oerlikon: Oerlikon Barmag Spinnzwirn becomes the independent company STC (Starlinger Textilmaschinen Chemnitz) Spinnzwirn GmbH.

In 2019, Starlinger presented its "Circular Packaging" concept for big bags to the public at the K trade fair in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Subsequent record turnovers in 2021 and 2023 make those years the most successful ones in Starlinger's more than 185-year history.