AEP relies on W&H machines for printing and extrusion
The AEP Group has been a customer of ours for many years. It all started in 2010 with the establishment of their first print shop. At that time, two flexo presses were installed, including one from W&H. Today, AEP owns 5 W&H presses, with an extrusion machine to follow in 2024.
AEP is a family business located in the beautiful town of St.-Pal-de-Mons in Haute-Loire. With a strategic focus on a highly technical and state-of-the-art production, they have become a key player in the flexible packaging industry in France. Their latest-generation machinery, combined with an ERP that covers all the company's processes, allows them to manage all their industrial processes much more efficiently AND in real time: traceability, production monitoring, analysis is what defines their daily work.
Today, W&H is a major contributor to the AEP Group's printing business. In fact, out of a fleet of 8 flexo presses, 5 are W&H machines. "Investing in several W&H flexo presses has allowed us to grow rapidly and be at the forefront of technology in our business. The reliability of the W&H machines has allowed us to develop with greater peace of mind," says Hubert Quincelet, CEO and owner of AEP. AEP's W&H fleet includes four 8-color MIRAFLEX and one 8-color PRIMAFLEX. The latest acquisition (8-colour MIRAFLEX) started up in November 2023 in AEP's second printing facility built in March 2021.
To allow smooth processes from the beginning the operator team received an in-depth machine training at the AEP site to get familiar with the specific features and developments. Such trainings are offered by our skilled trainers at the W&H ACADEMY and can be carried out at the customers site or in our technical center in Lengerich.
On the extrusion side, the AEP Group has traditionally worked with other partners. When visiting our headquarters in February 2023 Hubert and Charles Quincelet were in the process of looking for a long-term partner for their extrusion business. With the strategic vision to build an even stronger extrusion business it was critical for them to find a partner with the same mindset and values, backed by excellent technical equipment and service. During their stay at our new technical center for extrusion and printing we had ample time to discuss technical and business alignment. As a result of these discussions, we are proud to share, that the decision was made to integrate a W&H machine to their machine park. The 3-layer OPTIMEX II will be installed in May 2024.
We are pleased that our level of reliability, service and technical vision was able to convince them and further deepen the partnership, in which our long-standing sales agency PBH France played a vital role. "An increase in our production capacity, coupled with a 100% W&H workshop, means that our operators can easily switch from one press to another.” Seeing this in the broader picture of the latest acquisition of the 3-layer OPTIMEX II, we are very pleased to see that the benefits of being a full system supplier of flexible packaging machinery is coming to life within AEP.
About AEP
AEP Group is a family-owned SME and over 25 years in the market and located in St-Pal-de-Mons in Haute-Loire, in the heart of France. It specializes in the manufacture of flexible polyethylene plastic packaging, with recognized expertise in blownfilm, flexographic printing and bagging. It offers a wide range of made-to-measure products for a variety of sectors, particularly the food industry.With 140 employees and sales of over € 65 million (40% export rate), AEP Group is a key player in polyethylene packaging in France. Every year, the company converts 24,000 tonnes of PE, of which over 50% is printed film. This makes it one of France's leading flexo printers. AEP is very committed to sustainability. All of their products have been 100% recyclable for a very long time, all of them are single material. But AEP not only makes recyclable products, they also use recycled material in their extrusion products. Recycled materials are incorporated into specific products based on customer applications.
