GRANULATORS | TECHNOLOGY
be sold on the second-hand market, consumers today are willing to spend more money on them. Circular thinking is finally getting a good foothold.” Rapid has production in Sweden and also in the
US, where Martensson says the company continues to gain market share. He claims Rapid has the broadest offering of any producer in North America. Cumberland, a division of ACS, is an estab-
lished leading company in North America, with offerings in beside-the-press and centralised granulating, and for all sorts of processors. Joe Platek, Business Development Manager for Cumberland granulators, says the company has also experienced a big uptick in orders from customers producing DIY goods and products for home, gardening, and camp- ing use – another effect of the Covid pandemic. Teel Plastics in Baraboo, Wisconsin, a
key customer, has adopted Cumberland’s FX granulators in its injection and extrusion operations to make a major dent in its waste output and its carbon footprint. It has been significantly expand- ing its moulding operations to produce swab stick handles for Covid-19 test kits. Nine new fully auto- mated lines are already in operation, and several more are due for installation, each one with its own FX712 granulator that is fed sprues by a pick-and- place robot. All the granulators are linked by vacuum lines to a centralised conveying system – something possible since they are all running with the same material. ACS Group has two main manufacturing facilities: one located in New Berlin, Wisconsin, where final assembly, QC and shipments are carried out; and (in common with some other Western brands) a facility in China producing some components, mostly sub-assemblies and larger elements. That brings costs down, but price competition from major all-Asian brands like Shini (headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan and with manu- facturing on the island and in mainland China) is still very tough, especially when it comes to beside-the-press units; Platek acknowledges that such equipment can be attractive for small trade moulders operating on tight budgets. The Cumberland strategy is to emphasise the quality and longevity of its products. “There are still machines from us in the market that were built in the 60’s,” he notes. Rotors, for example, are machined to tight tolerances, eliminating the need
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for adjustable rotor knives and welded-on counter- weights on lower-cost rotors. Pallmann has traditionally been known for its
large equipment, which includes not only granula- tors but also mills, shredders, and agglomerators, not only for post-consumer and post-industrial plastics but also for (especially) wood, pharmaceu- ticals, and various chemical products. In the Americas, however, it has also partnered with an unidentified company manufacturing equipment in Mexico on a toll basis. The arrangement, enabling Pallmann Industries in the US to offer smaller machines, was first put in place in 2017. One of the reasons for the different local arrangements has to do with sales reps in North America preferring to take on complete ranges of equipment within particular sectors. There is also the fact that Pallmann Indus- tries in the US (as well as
Pallmann do Brasil) is owned by a member of the Pallmann family based in Germany, whereas Pallmann Maschinenfabrik in Germany has since 2017 been owned by Siempelkamp, a systems supplier of plant and equipment for the wood-based panel industry (as well as for metal forming and composites). Jeff Taylor, VP of sales for
Pallmann Industries, says: “We are
still best known for the large machines, even in the USA, but we are taking on more regional reps
and raising our profile in smaller granulators too. Our approach is to offer complete solutions, entire size reduction systems.” Pallmann Industries’ rebadged machines include the PP2060 for beside-the-press granulation of sprues, runners, and small parts; and the TXX60160 for centralised size reduction.
CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: �
www.cmg-granulators.com �
www.matsuiamerica.com �
www.hellweg-granulators.com �
www.triaplastics.com �
www.wittmann-group.com �
https://en.getecha.de �
www.rapidgranulator.com �
www.cumberlandplastics.com �
www.acscorporate.com �
www.pallmannindustries.com �
www.conairgroup.com
January/February 2022 | INJECTION WORLD 43
Left: PP2060 beside-the- press granula- tor from Pallmann
Industries for small parts and runners
IMAGE: PALLMANN INDUSTRIES
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