The evolution of biax films: Andreas Walder on technology, markets & the future

Andreas has over 30 years of technical service experience within the biax films industry, having started as a commissioning engineer at Brückner in the late 1980s, where he held various positions including Director Aftersales for Brückner Servtec. Choosing to start his own consultancy business in 2023, today he offers technical support and market analyses to film producers worldwide. 

Here he speaks to ORIENTATE about the evolution of biax film technology and the challenges and opportunities now and in the future for film manufacturers and machinery suppliers around the world. 

OR: Andreas, can you tell us a bit about your background and how it has helped you in your current advisory role to the biax film industry?

AW: I started my career in the biax film business back in 1988 as a young commissioning engineer with Brückner Maschinenbau. Between 1997 and 2000 I was employed by J.G. Summit Philippines as Plant and Engineering Manager, responsible for their first two BOPP lines and guiding the petrochemical plant in developing their polymer for the BO production lines. Afterwards, back at the Brückner Group I served in various positions before handling the Brückner Servtec Sales Department until 2022. Since 2023 I have had my own consultancy business, focusing on technical support of production lines as well as marketing analyses for new and existing film producers. 

OR: Your service offering includes technical support to new and existing film producers, specifically within packaging and optical applications. In your view, what are some of the major developments that have shaped/are shaping these industries? 

AW: There have been tremendous developments in speed and width of BO lines in the past few years and as a result, a huge output increase for a single BO line. In addition to that, the technology these days also supports huge energy savings. So, both of these items reduce the production cost enormously. And due to the automatisation and handling, the manpower required for running such a production line has basically remained the same as it was many years ago. On the other hand, it has also led to an oversupplied market in recent years. 

OR: In that increasingly oversupplied market, how are film producers able to maintain a competitive position? What sort of strategies are you seeing from your customers? 

AW: This is exactly the challenge many producers are facing now, especially companies with a fleet of older production lines. Even with the older lines’ amortisations already paid off. It is still a tremendous challenge to keep up with modern equipment in terms of output, respectively the productivity and manufacturing costs. Here, there is not only one answer for the correct strategy, as it can differ from region to region, from BO producer to BO producer, market situation and also depends on innovation, set-up, and growth possibilities within each individual organisation. It also includes the political situation, environmental regulations and many others. This is the support I offer as an independent consultancy; looking into all these individual items and providing the best solution to the BO film producer. 

OR: How important is their choice of equipment to their film manufacturing processes? What are the major technological considerations for players entering or expanding within these markets? 

AW: The choice of equipment, and more so the technical configuration of the film line is, in my opinion, the key for every film producer in order to be competitive and successful. The equipment has to match the market needs of the specific film producer. For example, configuration for white, matt, or barrier film, or even more specific for BOPE and so on. And here again, the size and the needed output are also considered. But also, the technical film know-how, R&D integration and future outlook should play a major role in the line configuration. And it is not only the so-called main line (stretching line) but also the downstream equipment like roll handler, slitter, coating, etc. 

Honestly, here I see that some improvements should be made. It might also be the fact that the machinery suppliers are the ones who led the direction in the past. In my opinion, importance should be more focused on the film producer, the converter and even more on the consumer. Customised solutions need to be strengthened, and not just for the good of the film producer; it could also be a big opportunity for the machine suppliers. 

ORIENTATE subscribers can read the full interview in the March 2026 issue. 

Not an ORIENTATE subscriber? click here to subscribe today!