NEWS Engel increased sales last year


Engel Group achieved a 6% increase in sales to €1.6bn in the 2018-19 fiscal year, according to CSO Christoph Steger, who was speaking at Chinaplas in Guangzhou in May. This was largely due to growth in Asia and the German- speaking countries of Europe. Europe accounted for 54% of the Austrian injection moulding machinery and systems firm’s turnover, Asia for 21% and the Americas for 24%. Custom-built systems and Engel’s capabilities in digitalisation and the networking of injection moulding processes were also major drivers of growth, Steger said.


However, like other suppliers, Engel has noticed a fall in production


Röchling sells panel plant


Injection moulder Röchling Automotive is selling its 13,000 m2


plant


in Wolfsburg-Hattorf, Germany, to the Japa- nese automotive supplier and component manu- facturer Kasai Kogyo as part of its new focus on its core business. Terms are not being disclosed. Built in 2001, the plant


produces door and side panels for cars, while Röchling Automotive is now more focused on systems and components for aerodynamics, propul- sion and new mobility. All 170 employees will remain and Kasai Kogyo has said that it intends to invest both in the location and the existing business. � www.roechling.com


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since last summer in its main end market, the automotive industry, with tariffs, Brexit and regulation all playing a part. China played a major role in this relative decline and the firm is expect- ing “sideways movement” for Asia for the current fiscal year. Engel is hoping that its strong position in electric


Moulding of LED


headlight lenses from LSR was shown at Chinaplas 2019


vehicles, thanks to its own Centre for Lightweight Composite Technologies and its various organomelt projects with Chinese firms, will help to counter the trend downwards. Another positive is increased use of composite technologies to reduce vehicle weights, notably liquid silicone rubber (LSR) in lens material. The automated manufacture of LED headlight lenses from LSR, in a process that requires no reworking, was a major focus at the Chinaplas stand. Engel is also seeing growth in the use of its all-electric and tiebarless E-mo- tion TL injection moulding machines in the telecommunications and electron- ics markets in Asia. � www.engelglobal.com


Solvay supplies materials in recyclable plastic e-bicycle


Solvay has worked with Monaco-based Stajvelo to develop a new daily lifestyle bicycle made entirely out of plastics. This uses a newly developed high-gloss, long fibre thermoplas- tic (LFT) compound from Solvay that both addresses demanding applications, like wheel rims, and makes the bicycle recyclable, by avoiding carbon fibre reinforcement. Stajvelo began the production of its RV01 model in April and now makes 15 each week. � www.solvay.com


Ferrari racing driver Charles Leclerc with the Stajvelo e-bike


Westfall Technik buys three more


Westfall Technik, the growing US injection mould- ing group, has acquired Delta Pacific Products and its stand-alone operating subsidiaries, Prism Plastics Products and NxTBio Technologies, bringing its total number of recent acquisitions to seven. Combined, they add over 4,600 m² of additional


INJECTION WORLD | June 2019


production space, ahead of a planned expansion at Delta.


Delta itself is one of the


largest injection moulders in the San Francisco Bay area, mainly supplying the growing medical device start-up industry there, and in greater Minneapolis, through Prism. It works with customers from prototyping


through to full production and describes tooling design as its core compe- tence.


NxTBio makes bioscience


laboratory consumables, including pipette tips, filter tips, tubes and strip tubes, vials, multi-well plates and related racking systems for these products. � www.westfall-technik.com


www.injectionworld.com


PHOTO: STAJVELO


PHOTO: ENGEL


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