When the company was founded in May 1962 by Conrad Niehaus and Herman Stiegler, it was originally known as CF Niehaus & Co. It changed to Hestico in 1970 when Conrad left and Herbert Seitz joined the business and is an abbreviation of the two partners’ names.

Current MD, Juanita Stiehler-Brits, emphasises that Herman was integral to Hestico’s early success because he oversaw the implementation of the systems that enabled the company to operate effectively and provide professional technical backup and an extensive inventory of spare parts to customers.

Technical expertise

The partners gained exclusive agency agreements with several top European machine manufacturers, including Werner & Pfleiderer (extruders and compounding machines), Berstorff (twin screw extruders), Mann + Hummel (conveying equipment) and D-M-E (tooling components/hot runners).

Hestico’s technicians are Siemens OEM qualified and this high level of service and standard of converting equipment served as a training ground for many technicians, who became respected field service technicians and later switched to the converting sector, in the process helping build a world-class industry.

1974 was to become one of Hestico’s standout years: it was operating from premises in Richard Street, Selby, and employing nine people, including Heiner Wolber, who joined as sales engineer and was also tasked with sales of D-M-E and related products.

Branching out to Durban and Cape Town

Four years later, Hestico signed an agreement with Internatio, a Dutch group involved in machinery and material sales, to act as its sub-agent in Durban and Cape Town.

In 1981, Fritz Kettner and Heiner Wolber became directors and shareholders, paving the way for one of the company’s heyday periods. Fritz specialised in the supply of Illig thermoforming machines, while Heiner was responsible for DME mould component sales.

Hermann Stiegler – one of the industry’s most well-known individuals who was integral in helping set up the Plastics Federation of SA – died after a heart bypass operation in 1985.

Herbert Seitz took over as MD from Herman. Later that year, Herbert’s son, Wolf, joined Hestico as a sales engineer. Three years later, the company purchased a 3 000m² property in Kew to build its premises, which has remained its headquarters since 1989.

An unexpected spin-off from the agreement with Internatio – after the Dutch group closed its plastics machinery division in South Africa in 1990 – was that the managers in Durban (June Smith) and Cape Town (Gerhard Greiner) both remained with Hestico for the rest of their careers and helped establish its presence in these coastal cities.

Entering the blow moulding arena

Hestico also inherited the agency for Arburg injection moulding machines from Internatio, alongside Rinco ultrasonic welding equipment and Madag printing equipment.

By this time, Hestico had become the biggest plastics machinery supplier in South Africa, with a staff of around 40. In 1992, Herbert Seitz retired as MD and Heiner took over this role.

Then, in 1997, Hestico merged with Affirm Machinery Sales – the renamed entity Peter Hengst had started when he left Hestico and formed Bekum SA in 1976. Peter had achieved considerable success with Bekum blow moulding machine sales, which became the standard for container production in South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s.

Affirm had a strong presence in the blow moulding market, an area in which Hestico wasn’t yet involved. Peter became a shareholder of what had, with the formation of Coprah Investment Holdings, become a group consisting of Hestico, Satcor and Affirm Machinery Sales.

Affirm’s entry to the group signified the acquisition of several important agencies for blow moulding equipment, including Aoki of Japan (injection stretch blow moulding) and Uniloy of the US (blow moulding and structural foam machines).

Management and ownership changes

In 1998, Juanita Stiehler-Brits joined Hestico as a sales engineer, responsible for sales of Arburg machinery and downstream equipment from Maguire.

Hestico’s founding strategy included an agreement that directors and staff had to depart at age 60. One notable retirement was that of Fritz Kettner, who moved to Austria with his family at the end of 2002. This resulted in Juanita becoming a director and shareholder and Kelvin Mills joining in 2004 to take over from Peter Hengst upon his retirement at the end of that year. Kelvin had worked in the blow moulding arena and was well suited to sales of this equipment.

Further evolution was in store six years later, when discussions at the K Show with one of Hestico’s top principals, hot runner manufacturer Yudo of Korea, resulted in it buying a stake in the company. The following March, Yudo CEO Francis Yu became chairman of Hestico when Heiner Wolber retired. Juanita was then appointed MD and Kelvin as technical director. Kelvin opted to return to the converting sector in 2014, leaving Juanita at the helm to continue supporting regional customers with state-of-the-art equipment and excellent technical service.

The deal with Yudo opened opportunities for Hestico to trade with the Far East and start supplying equipment from China and Taiwan, falling in line with competitors selling machines from the region.

Juanita notes that things didn’t change too much during Covid-19, except that suppliers and customers now rely more on Hestico as they see the value of having an agent representing their choice of machinery locally.

The vision for Juanita and the Hestico team – who have set a high standard of equipment supply and technical backup – over the next few years is to establish a stronger technical team that customers can depend on. ‘We see the need in the market for qualified engineers to support customers on all levels mainly due to high skills shortages. If we can assist our customers to be successful, then everyone is successful,’ she states. ‘We are constantly scouting the market for new opportunities and introducing equipment to customers to improve their productivity and international competitiveness.’

Ed’s note: PPM will feature details about the technology that Hestico’s principals showcased at K 2022 in a review of the show in the Festive 2022 and 2023 New Year issues.