show review | 2016 Engel enters innovative new era
The biggest story for Engel at K2016 was the handover of the company’s leadership position from Dr Peter Neumann to fourth generation family member Dr Stefan Engleder, great grandson of company founder Ludwig Engel. However, the company also managed to unveil a complete- ly new range of hydraulic injection units and demon- strate a whole raft of innova- tive manufacturing solutions, including a fully automated production cell for one-piece interdental brushes. Neumann’s retirement was
marked with a gala dinner for 500 customers and colleagues on the penultimate evening of the exhibition. While he confessed to some sadness about stepping down from the head of a business he has been part of for 35 years there was some consolation in being able to reveal that Engel was on its way to yet another sales record for the 2016/17 financial period of €1.36bn. Engleder’s transition to CEO has been long planned and certainly does not mark a change in Engel’s approach to the market. “Together with my colleagues in the executive
Retiring Engel CEO Peter Neumann (left) with successor Stefan Engleder
board we aim to continue the business in Dr Neumann’s way and follow up from where we are today,” he said. “Our vision is to be and to remain the leader in delivering customer benefit and value.” The company is investing
around €100m in plant expansions this year. The first staff have moved into a new Technology Centre at its headquarters in Schwertberg in Austria and new expansions are underway at its large machine plants at Shanghai in China and St Valentin in Austria, while its component plant at Kaplice in the Czech Republic is being extended. At K2016 Engel announced a further €17m investment that
will update its plasticising screw capabilities and double capacity to 11,500 screws a year by 2020. The company also revealed two new screws: the Universal Automotive Screw (UAS) G18 is claimed to provide good plasticising performance with a full range of automotive industry materials from PP to glass reinforced PA; The Mixing Barrier Screw (MBS) G16S is designed for more effective dispersion of masterbatch colorants. The new screw introduc-
tions come ahead of a complete overhaul of the plasticising units for the company’s hydraulic Victory and Duo models. Available from April next year initially in
the 45-170mm range, the new units feature revised barrel heating and cooling, improved thermal barrier at the feed throat, and faster changeover features. The new units can also be used with Engel’s iQ weight control software, which compensates for shot-to-shot variations in material and was previously only offered on all-electric moulding ma- chines.
Among the wide array of
processing exhibits on the Engel stand was a system for production of one-piece interdental brushes, each comprising 208 individual 0.1mm diameter bristles moulded on a 0.4mm diameter shaft. The parts, developed by medical device firm Pheneo, were produced on an 8-cavity mould by Hack on a 170 tonne e-Motion all-electric machine on a 4.2s cycle time. Shot weight was just 1.93g. Pheneo Managing Director Michael Essler said careful selection of glass fibre length is used to prevent penetration of the fibres into the bristle cavities, allowing the company to achieve a rigid shaft with a soft flexible bristle. ❙
www.engelglobal.com
In-mould label producers see growth in US
Verstraete and Korsini updated on their plans for IML label production in the fast develop- ing US IML packaging market. “The US is our fastest grow-
ing market,” said Verstraete Business Development and Marketing Manager Dieter Maes. The Belgian company is
54
building its first international production plant at Clarksville in Tennessee alongside an existing pressure labels facility operated by parent company Constantia.
The $20m US investment is
modelled on Verstraete’s facili- ties in Belgium. It will start up
INJECTION WORLD | November/December 2016
in the second half of 2017 with two label lines but will have space for two more. Meanwhile, Korsini
President and CEO Enrico Corsini said the company’s joint venture IML production plant with CCL Industries will begin production at Memphis,
also in Tennessee, in February. CCL-Korsini Director of
Sales Dan Webb also predicts good growth in US IML and sees synergies with CCL’s existing decorative sleeves business. ❙
www.verstraete-iml.com ❙
www.ccl-korsini.com
www.injectionworld.com
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