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 in 1955 of new winders specially designed for man-made fibres, Starlinger was pioneering a new field. At that time, artificial fibres were reaching the European market for the first time (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 hangar was erected in 1968 on the grounds of the former Pittel Cement Works. With the industrial production of circular looms.Starlinger took on an entirely new focus, that of an export-oriented enterprise. A new generation of winders, together with specially designed sack conversion lines, printing machines, baling presses and externally sourced tape extrusion lines completed the plant for production of woven sacks.
At the first Austrian machinery exhibition in China (Peking) in 1973, Starlinger showed the circular loom. 30 complete sack plants were sold to China in the following 10-12 years. In 1990, Starlinger purchased a license for the production of tape extrusion lines and subsequently developed its own technology in this field. In 2006, Starlinger delivered its 400th starEX tape line.
From its position as global player in the plastics machinery industry and as world market leader for tape extrusion lines and circular weaving technology, our company founded the Starlinger Recycling Division in 2000 with the goal of developing recycling technology 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, joins the Starlinger Group. SAHM winders are in use all over the world. Close cooperation with customers and partners has brought about technological developments that point the way forward for the world market.
2007 is the year of opening the Starlinger production operation in Taicang/China. In the same year the Export Award in the Industry category was presented to Starlinger & Co. GmbH. in recognition of the company’s exceptional export success.
2010, the year after the global financial and economic crisis, is not only Starlinger's anniversary year but also the year with the highest turnover in the company’s 175 year long history.
In 2012 Starlinger opened a new production site and technical center on a 20,000 m² premises in St. Martin/Upper Austria for the Starlinger division viscotec.
Picture gallery
