中文Kongskilde Industries has brought the label-waste handling expertise of Matho Absaugtechnik into its global portfolio, naming Matho its label specialist and enabling the group to offer complete systems that run from press-side waste capture to central collection. The deal unites two complementary capabilities: Matho’s decades of know-how in cutting and extracting continuous matrix waste and trim at the press, and Kongskilde’s pneumatic conveying and material-handling technologies.
Matho and the Thor family were among the original innovators of equipment for handling label production waste, pioneering the cutting and extraction of continuous matrix waste and edge trim directly at the press. Over several decades the company built deep knowledge of self-adhesive materials, edge trim and other difficult production waste — the kind of bulky, awkward offcuts that have historically been swept, bagged and manually removed by operators. Combined with Kongskilde’s conveying and collection systems, that knowledge now supports installations configured around each customer’s production process, from compact machine-side units to centralised systems serving multiple lines.
The first fruit of the combined development is the CUB Compact Unit, which captures, cuts, conveys and collects label production waste close to the press in a single compact system. With multiple collection options to suit different materials and waste volumes, it is designed to significantly reduce manual handling and removal. Kongskilde says its waste-handling systems can cut press interruptions linked to matrix and trim removal, minimise manual handling of bulky waste, reduce waste volume and keep production areas cleaner and free up floor space.
Oscar William Gunner, CEO of Kongskilde Industries, framed the acquisition as building on what Matho started. By bringing that expertise in-house, Kongskilde can develop stronger systems for label producers while adding the capacity to engineer and support complete lines worldwide through its international organisation. Thomas Thor continues to play a central role, supporting Kongskilde teams globally on label applications, best practices and product development.
For narrow-web and label converters, matrix and trim waste is a deceptively large cost centre. At high web speeds, uncut or poorly managed matrix can wrap rollers, trigger stops and generate safety hazards, while the labour of bagging and hauling waste adds up across shifts. Integrating cutting, conveying and compaction at the press turns a manual chore into a continuous, near-invisible process — and frees floor space that many converting plants desperately lack. The strategic logic of the Kongskilde-Matho combination is therefore less about a single product and more about selling a guarantee: waste leaves the press and disappears, with minimal operator touch.
The move also illustrates a consolidation pattern across print ancillary equipment. As the core press market matures, growth is increasingly found in the subsystems around the press — waste, inspection, curing, workflow — where specialist firms with deep but narrow expertise become attractive acquisition targets for larger automation and material-handling groups. Integrating those specialists lets the acquirer offer a complete solution rather than a parts list, and gives the specialist global reach it could never afford alone.
Converters evaluating such systems should look past the headline unit and assess the whole path: capture at the press, conveying distance and routing, separation and compaction, and eventual disposal or recycling. A well-designed system pays for itself not only in labour saved but in reduced unplanned stops and a cleaner, safer pressroom — benefits that compound across every shift it runs.
Source: Labels & Labeling (https://www.labelsandlabeling.com/news/ma/kongskilde-absorbs-matho-expertise).
The environmental angle is hard to ignore. Centralised collection and compaction not only tidy the pressroom but also make waste easier to recycle or divert from landfill, supporting converters’ sustainability reporting and, in some jurisdictions, avoiding disposal fees. As brand owners audit the environmental performance of their packaging supply chains, a converter that can demonstrate clean, efficient, documented waste handling gains a quiet edge in supplier qualification. Kongskilde’s ability to engineer complete systems worldwide means a multinational label group can standardise waste handling across sites rather than tolerating a patchwork of local fixes. That standardisation is itself a compliance and audit advantage.
For equipment makers, the lesson of the deal is that the most defensible position is to own the whole problem rather than a component of it. A press builder or converter does not want to buy a cutter from one firm, a conveyor from another and a compactor from a third, then bear the integration risk themselves. By assembling cutting, conveying, separation and compaction into one offering, Kongskilde removes that risk and captures more of the value. Expect further consolidation among niche ancillary specialists as the print-equipment groups seek exactly this kind of complete-solution story. The winners will be those who can wrap deep niche expertise in global engineering and support — precisely the combination this acquisition creates.
For the label sector’s sustainability accounting, waste handling is an increasingly visible line item. As converters report Scope 3 and diversion-from-landfill metrics to brand customers, a documented, centralised waste stream is easier to measure and improve than a patchwork of bins and manual removals. Kongskilde’s combined offering turns a messy necessity into a managed, reportable process — and that measurability is itself a selling point when a converter must prove environmental performance to win or keep a contract. The deal, in short, is as much about data and compliance as it is about hardware.
