NEWS Polykemi starts up first US plant
Swedish compounder Polykemi has started production at its new plant at Gastonia in North Carolina, its first compounding operation in the US. The company has invested around €18m in the new facility, its largest ever single investment, which will employ around 20 employees in the first year. The plant has an initial production capacity of around 6,500 tonnes and is equipped with two twin-screw com- pounding lines — 75mm and 92 mm variants. Polykemi has been supplying the US
market from Sweden and via toll partners for 10 years. “This lays the foundation for Polykemi Group to grow further on the North American conti- nent and it is great that the time has come to really start up the operations,”
OGM expands cleanroom
UK-based injection moulding company OGM, which celebrated its 60th birthday last year, is investing £500,000 (€570,000) to expand the cleanroom at its factory in Oxford. The first stage of the project is due to be complete in May. The investment will fund a 25% increase in the footprint of the existing cleanroom as well as the acquisition of two new machines: a 100-tonne Arburg and a 160-tonne KraussMaffei. This will enable OGM to run higher cavitation tooling to produce larger compo- nents and increase overall cleanroom capacity. �
www.ogm.uk.com
www.injectionworld.com Above: Polykemi’s new plant in North Carolina is its first in the US
said Johan Hugoson, CEO of Polyke- mi’s US subsidiary. The opening of the Gastonia plant gives the company four production plants on three continents: its head- quarters operation at Ystad in Sweden; the new US facility at Gastonia; and two production units in China located
at Kunshan and Chongqing. “We guarantee customers the same high quality of customised plastic compounds based on both virgin and recycled plastic raw materials deliv- ered from all of our global factories,” said Hugoson. �
www.polykemi.com
Protolabs unveils digital manufacturing network
Digital manufacturer Protolabs has invested in a new manufacturing model combining its digital factories in the UK and Europe with a distributed network of manufacturers powered by Hubs that it says will help customers access advanced produc-
tion capabilities, reduced part costs, and higher volumes.
Customers across
aerospace, automotive, construction, medical and renewables can benefit from the new capabilities across CNC machining, injection moulding, and 3D printing
IMAGE: PROTOLABS Above: Protolabs’ faciltiy in Telford, UK
services by tapping into the digital network, it says. This complements the low-vol- ume, on-demand manufac- turing services already available from Protolabs sites in Telford, UK, and Putzbrunn, Germany. “Whether in Europe or worldwide, customers have told us that speed is still a priority when producing parts to support their product innovation or mitigate supply chain pressures,” said Bjoern Klaas, Vice President and Managing Director of Protolabs Europe. The network serves moulding projects in need of larger and deeper parts (1,200mm x 700mm x 300mm). �
www.protolabs.com
April 2023 | INJECTION WORLD 11
IMAGE: POLYKEMI
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