FAKUMA 2023 | EVENT REVIEW


Despite the difficult


market conditions, Arburg has not changed its growth strategy that has led to a 6% increase in staff this year to 3,800 employees. Jürgen Boll indicated that a strategy of maintaining staff levels has served the company well in the past, noting that “in the last crisis [during the Credit Crunch]… we managed at that time and we are hopeful we will manage again”.


Family plan At the press event, Arburg stressed the importance of being a family-owned business, as it has done all year in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Hehl family’s enterprise. Michael Hehl – one of Arburg’s managing partners along with Julianne Hehl and Renate Keinath – said Arburg wishes to secure its future family ownership and, for that purpose, it is setting up an advisory board consisting of members of the partner families and external members. Keinath is planning to retire from Arburg and one of the options that the advisory board will look at is the introduction of younger family members at the top level.


Right: New infrared heating system for injection moulding machine screw barrels


Low-energy barrel heating


Fakuma 2023 was once again a showcase event for injection moulding technol- ogy, not just from the machine manufacturers but also from equipment suppliers. Bexte Kunststoff-Technik


(BKT) introduced a new type of infrared heating system for screw barrels. Andreas Bexte, CEO, told Injection World the system reduces energy costs and allows moulders to start


Like Arburg and other injection moulding machin- ery groups, Engel has seen its sales fall in 2023. It is expecting group turnover to be €1.6bn this year, down from €1.7bn in 2022, due to a reduction in orders of approximately 30%. Stefan Engleder, CEO of Engel, said at the group’s Fakuma press conference that it expects volumes to continue decreasing in the coming months. The downward trend is


Above: Stefan Engleder, CEO of Engel


www.injectionworld.com


particularly pronounced in Europe, he said, due to high energy and personnel costs causing investments to be shifted to other countries. Asian manufacturers are increasingly growing their share of western markets,


production much faster compared with established products, such as ceramic band heaters. The quartz halogen tubes in the alloy metal heater bands emit IR rays with high temperature control precision onto the barrel during the plasticis- ing process. The surface temperature


of the installed heater bands does not exceed 65°C and energy loss to the outside is extremely


particularly in the automo- tive sector. Engel is benefit- ing from investments in the Americas, although strikes by the United Auto Workers in the US have created uncertainty in the automo- tive sector.


Staff concerns Engel is reluctant to reduce its staffing levels for similar reasons to Arburg. “If we lose employees, we will never get them back when there is an economic upturn,” said Engleder. During the first quarter of 2024 the company will look at taking “certain measures”, for example short-time working, he told journalists at the event. Engleder was particularly gloomy about


low. The IR technology works with standard heater band connectors. Andreas Bexte says BKT is the distributor of the Chinese technology and takes responsibility for meeting all German standards and regulations. The company works with customers to evaluate the technology in tailor-made installation projects. BKT supplies to Germany, Austria, Italy and Poland.


Europe in the medium to long term as the region goes through structural change. “Even if the energy prices


drop again one day, and the Ukraine war comes to an end, we have a substantial problem in Europe that has come to stay: the shortage of skilled workers,” he said. Unfortunately, there is a “kind of de-industrialisation” happening in Germany and Austria, he said. The unfavourable situation is leading SMEs to consider establishing footholds outside Europe, in Turkey and North Africa, for example. Some SMEs have closed down businesses that are still viable, said Engleder, who called this a “very negative trend”.


� November/December 2023 | INJECTION WORLD 15


IMAGE: BKT


IMAGE: ENGEL


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