NEWS
European machine makers lean towards North America to grow
Pressure in European markets is causing injection moulding machinery groups to look outside their home region for growth – with several discussing plans at NPE 2024 recently. Austria-based Wittmann’s US subsidiary opened a larger facility in Torrington, Connecticut in 2023, providing a new production base in North America for robots and other equipment. Wittmann USA had record revenue of US$88.5m, said the company. “The US has become our biggest market,” said Michael Wittmann, CEO of Wittmann Group. “Germany has dropped to second place and Mexico is third.” The group is responding to rising costs in Europe with a project to relocate production of some Wittmann Battenfeld injection moulding ma- chines and other equipment from Austria to Hungary. “At Kottingbrunn [pro- duction facility in Austria], we are running at 70% of normal levels,” he said. Production of SmartPow- er machines up to 120 tonnes and EcoPower machines up to 110 tonnes will be relocated to the new facility in Ikrény when it is completed in 2025. Some ancillary equip-
ment production is also being relocated to a facility in Dilovası, Turkey. Group activities are increasing elsewhere too, such as Poland and Bulgaria in
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In March, it announced a plan to start producing machines in Pinghu, China – and the US is the group’s next target location. At NPE, Guido Frohn-
Above: Austria-based Wittmann recently opened a larger US facility for robots and other equipment
Europe and in Asia: in June its Indian subsidiary moved to a larger site in Chennai. However, Michael Wittmann underlined the group’s ongoing commitment to the Kottingbrunn site, where larger tonnage machines will continue to be made.
American expansion At Engel, the Americas region has also become more important, as Stefan Engleder, CEO of the Austrian group, discussed at NPE 2024. The region has increased
its share of Engel’s turnover from around 25% to 30%, while Europe accounts for 50% and Asia 17%. The group’s total turnover of €1.6bn in 2023 – though 6% lower than in 2022 – was “not so bad”, he said, given the economic situation affecting the global injection moulding industry. (See Engel’s financial results in the news section of Injection World May-June 2024.) There is a strong reshor- ing trend with customers
relocating production from Asia to Mexico, said Engled- er. Customers headquartered in Europe are also near-shor- ing to eastern and southern Europe or looking to build a manufacturing footprint in the Americas, he said. Vanessa Malena was appointed President of Engel Americas in April, when the group reorganised its sales structure around the three core regions of Americas, Europe and Asia. “We are setting ourselves
up for growth,” said Malena. That growth in the Americas has begun, with a plan to buy 70,000 m2
of
land for a plant in Queretaro in Mexico. As well as making machines, it will add to the market presence of Engel’s North American subsidiary, said the company.
Global business Arburg has been successful in recent decades in building a business in global markets from one large production facility in Lossburg, Germany – but that is about to change.
haus, managing director of technology and engineer- ing, said the group’s strategy to stay close to customers involves interna- tionalisation of the value- added chain and plans for an assembly plant in North America. No specific location or other details have been revealed. Frohnhaus cited Arburg’s first time in celebrating a world premiere for a new machine outside of Ger- many as further proof of the continued expansion of the company’s international business. The Allrounder 720 E Golden Electric, launched at NPE, has a clamping force of 2,800 kN which extends the electric series upwards. itcombines electrical precision and process stability with low investment costs and short delivery times, which Arburg says is “exactly what the North American market is looking for”. Martin Baumann, presi-
dent of Arburg Inc in the US, said: “With over 14,000 installed systems, we occupy a leading position in the USA that we will further expand – among other things with new machines and even more intensive support.” �
www.wittmann-group.com �
www.engelglobal.com �
www.arburg.com
July/August 2024 | INJECTION WORLD 13
IMAGE: WITTMANN
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