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Engel cites drastic decline in global machinery market▲Plastics News photo by Caroline SeidelPaul Kapeller from Engel showing the new Sim Link System at the Engel booth at Oct. 16 at K 2019 in Duesseldorf, Germany. Photo: Plastics News/ Caroline SeidelDüsseldorf, Germany — Economic uncertainty and unresolved global issues are dragging down market volumes in the injection molding industry worldwide, Engel executives said.During an Oct. 16 news conference on the first day of K, the Austrian injection molding machinery maker said the impact of punitive tariffs and sanctions, a continuing lack of Brexit clarity, and an ongoing debate concerning regulatory tariffs and diesel driving bans as the biggest drivers leading both consumers and business decision-makers to delay purchases and investments."The declines are drastic and noticeable worldwide," said Christoph Steger, chief sales officer of Engel Holding GmbH.Steger said the company is seeing an inconsistent picture across industries. Technical molding, the company's second-largest contributor to sales, is "on budget," he said, and the company is experiencing continued growth in medical technology.But the automotive industry — the largest of Engel's five business units — has been the hardest hit."There is, within the [plastics machinery] industry, a significant decline in the automotive industry," Steger said, pointing to the monthlong United Auto Workers strike in the United States that has cost General Motors Co. millions of dollars a day from lost production. The union and GM anounced a tentative settlement Oct. 16.Engel's recent report of a global decline, especially in automotive, echoes what the Austrian company had previously warned of earlier this year in an annual earnings report.Globally, all regions are hurting from a slowdown in the automotive industry, but China and German-speaking countries in Europe have been especially impacted. Those two regions contributed the largest share of Engel's 6 percent sales growth for the 2018-19 fiscal year that ended March 31. Sales for that fiscal year were 1.6 billion euros.Steger said the uncertainty of global issues, mainly political, are making forecasting for the year "very difficult," but for the company's current 2019-20 fiscal year, he is anticipating significantly lower sales.Sales for the current year is projected to decline by 19 percent to 1.3 billion euros.▲Plastics News photo by Caroline SeidelJohannes Kilian from Engel showing the new Sim Link System at the Engel booth Oct. 16 at K 2019 in Düsseldorf, Germany.Opportunity in the downturnBut new market opportunities as a result of more digitalization, the disruption and transformation of the automotive industry and a growing focus on the circular economy could soften the negative impact, the company told press attendees.Though the plastics industry has increasingly come under pressure, the company reported its packaging business unit has been nearly unaffected by bans on single-use plastics."We call it 'plastics bashing' here," Steger said, while acknowledging that plastics pollution is a very serious problem that deserves the industry's attention and should not be neglected.In regard to the circular economy and recycling, specifically, he said it is "not an obstacle" for the plastics industry, but an opportunity.Engel's top executive, CEO Stefan Engleder, also spoke of the company's commitment and responsibility in the circular economy."It is of upmost important that everybody contributes to close the circle. … We are part of the problem, of course, but we are also part of the solution," said Engleder, adding that if everyone works together — this includes the plastics industry, consumers and governments worldwide — "real solutions, concrete solutions" can be found.In other news, the company's 2020 investment program is nearly complete. The strategy involved pumping nearly 400 million euros into capacity expansions and upgrades across its sites, including the large-scale production plant in St. Valentin, Austria. There, Engel is building a customer technology center and expanding the Center for Lightweight Composite Technologies.Earlier this year, Engel opened a customer center at its headquarters in Schwertberg with 1,700 square meters of production space. The center is connected via network to Engel's other technology centers in the United States, Mexico and China, and is equipped with the full Inject 4.0 portfolio.In automotive, future-focused trends such as new mobility, autonomous driving, car sharing as well as a gradual global ramp up of electric vehicles are also carving out opportunities for plastics, composites and injection molding applications, the company said. This includes integrated smart surfaces and an increasing demand for components for vehicle electronics such as connectors and seals.As more electronics go into vehicles, innovations in lightweighting becomes more important, too.From digital to realIn big technology news, Engel announced its collaboration with Autodesk Inc., a global 3D design, engineering and construction software firm, on a product called Sim Link.Sim Link, which will be available globally to both Engel and Autodesk customers next year, is designed to connect the simulation with the real injection molding process.At K, Engel is demonstrating this by showing how the results of simulations performed using the Autodesk's Moldflow simulation software can be transferred to Engel's CC300 control unit. The optimized process and measurement data can then flow back to the machine for use in the simulation."They are very keen on this product," Engleder said of early feedback from customers.With Sim Link, the company said, the optimized simulation parameters can be converted into a setting data record, or recipe, that can be used directly in the injection molding machine. The process parameters and measurement results can also be imported from the injection molding machine back into Moldflow.This also allows unfavorable process settings to be analyzed, enabling adaptations to be implemented more rapidly and precisely, the company said. And, as a result, it is becoming a more affordable competitive advantage for small injection molding companies, too.source : https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/engel-cites-drastic-decline-global-machinery-market?utm_source=pn-daily-report&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20191016&utm_content=article2-headline
editor 2019-10-26
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editor 2019-09-22
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Robot sales slide in plastics sector▲ Robotic Industries AssociationNorth American robot and orders rode a strong second quarter — 19.2 percent in unit volume over the same period a year ago — and are up 7.2 percent for the first half of 2019, thanks largely to a robust automotive sector, according to the Robotic Industries Association.Orders to the plastics and rubber sector, however, declined 8 percent in the first half.From January through June, North American companies ordered 16,488 robots, valued at $869 million, the trade association said.Automakers generated an 83 percent increase in units ordered in the first half, compared with the first half of 2018. Other industries that increased orders include semiconductor and electronics (12 percent), life sciences (8 percent) and food and consumer goods (3 percent).The North American robot market is back on track, after a first quarter where orders declined 3.5 percent from the year-ago first quarter — in what had been a record year in 2018, said Bob Doyle, vice president of the Robotics Industries Association in Ann Arbor, Mich.Doyle said automotive sales dropped toward the end of 2018 and first part of this year, before rebounding in the second quarter. That hit sales to automakers, who are a key automation market, he said.RIA is part of the Association for Advancing Automation. President Jeff Burnstein said automation creates factory jobs."Robot use continues to grow, which is helping make U.S. companies more competitive and leading to new job growth," Burnstein said. "We are currently experiencing the greatest period of robot expansion in history — over 180,000 robots have been shipped to American companies since 2010, and more than 1.2 million new manufacturing jobs have been created during this time."The association's next trade show is the Autonomous Mobile Robot Conference, in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 17. The International Robot Safety Conference follows Oct. 15-17 in Indianapolis.source: www.plasticsnews.com
Editor 2019-08-25
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Joe Wilssens Milacron displayed the Cincinnati 2250 Injection machine, staking the claim to the biggest at NPE2018. Hillenbrand Inc., the owner of Coperion, announced July 12 it is buying Milacron Holdings Corp.In a blockbuster deal in the plastics machinery sector, Hillenbrand Inc. — the Batesville, Ind.-based parent company of compounding extruder maker Coperion and auxiliary equipment firms K-Tron and Rotex — is buying Milacron Holdings Corp. in a cash and stock deal valued at about $2 billion.Executives of both companies said one key area will be in extruders, making a combined, stronger and more diversified company.Both companies also generate about one-third of their machinery-related sales from aftermarket spare parts and service — so-called "consumables," or business that brings in steadier sales than capital machinery.Milacron CEO Tom Goeke said that only about 35 percent of the total Milacron portfolio is sensitive to cycles thanks to the Mold-Masters hot runner, DME mold-component and metal-cutting fluids businesses.The boards of directors of both companies unanimously approved the sale, announced July 12, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020. The deal is subject to approval by Milacron shareholders.The combined company is expected to generate annual sales of nearly $3 billion and free cash flow of more than $325 million by 2021. Milacron had sales of $1.1 billion in 2018. It employs approximately 5,800 people. Hillenbrand is a $1.8 billion company with a global workforce of roughly 6,500. Both companies are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.The combined operation will have $502 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Joe Wilssens GoekeHillenbrand, the manufacturer of burial caskets under the 100-year-old Batesville Casket brand, went public in 2008 and has been diversifying into industrial machinery, building a Process Equipment Group.The acquisition of Milacron — the largest U.S. manufacturer of plastics machinery — is global diversification on steroids. Hillenbrand President and CEO Joe Raver said the deal gives the company more global reach in all areas of the plastics machinery sector."I firmly believe that this is the next step in Hillenbrand's vision to become a world-class global diversified industrial company," Raver said in a conference call after the announcement. "In the Milacron businesses, we're getting, you know, really great technology, sizable customer install base. And these are good businesses with good growth profiles and operating margins."Raver added: "Milacron advances our strategy to drive long-term profitable growth and value to our shareholders."Milacron brings Hillenbrand three business segments: Advanced Plastics Processing Technologies, which makes injection molding machines, extruders and structural foam machines; Melt Delivery and Control Systems, which makes hot runner and process control systems, mold bases and components under the Mold-Master, DME and Tirad brands; and Fluid Technologies, the Cimcool product line of fluids for metalworking.When the deal closes, Hillenbrand shareholders will own about 84 percent of the combined company and Milacron shareholders will own about 16 percent.Under terms of the agreement, Milacron stockholders will receive $11.80 in cash and Hillenbrand common stock under a fixed exchange rate of 0.1612 for each share of Milacron stock that they own. Based on Hillenbrand's closing stock price on July 11, the final trading day before the announcement, the cash and stock amount for Milacron shareholders is $18.07 per share, representing a premium of about 38 percent to Milacron's 30-day, volume-weighted average price.Milacron's stock soared 21 percent during July 12 premarket trading after news of the buyout was released. Shares were trading 24.5 percent higher to $16.84 in Friday's afternoon trading. Hillenbrand stock tumbled 15 percent before the market opened. Shares were trading down 11.09 percent to $34.56 in afternoon trading. The stock has a 52-week high of $53.41 and a 52-week low of $33.75.The $2 billion purchase price includes $686 million in Milacron debt. Hillenbrand Chief Financial Officer Kristina Cerniglia said Hillenbrand is funding the cash portion of the transaction with debt in a bridge financing facility. The company will refinance Milacron's debt, she told financial analysts in the conference call.After the deal closes, Hillenbrand will focus on deleveraging its debt and later will again look at strategic acquisitions, Cerniglia said. Within three years after the closing, Hillenbrand expects cost savings of $50 million from reducing public company costs, operating efficiencies and better procurement economics.Hillenbrand Inc.Raver‘A very good offer'The news also comes about a week after Milacron said it had completed the sale of its Uniloy blow molding machinery business to two private equity firms — Osgood Capital Group LLC and Cyprium Investment Partners LLC — for nearly $52 million.Goeke said Milacron's board carefully reviewed the offer to sell the company."This transaction represents a unique opportunity for Milacron," he said. "[Milacron leaders and board members] tested the waters and found out that it is, in fact, a very good offer."Raver and Goeke gave analysts some details about how the deal came together. It's only about 50 miles between Batesville, Ind., and Milacron's headquarters in the Cincinnati suburb of Blue Ash. Raver said the two met and when they started talking about their respective businesses, "we discovered a lot of similarities." One is in corporate culture, they said — the self-styled Hillenbrand Operating Model is similar to Milacron's business philosophy.Raver and Goeke said the two companies have very little overlap, including in the one product that they both make: extruders.Hillenbrand bought German compounding extruder maker Coperion in 2012. Coperion makes large, highly engineered extrusion lines for large projects at compounders and resin makers.Milacron extruders produce construction products such as PVC pipe, vinyl siding and decking."So [the deal] really expands a large, complementary position in extrusion," Goeke said.Raver said the companies can cross-sell extruders and material handling equipment in the short to medium term.The deal also extends the combined company's reach into end markets such as construction, consumer packaging automotive, electronics, medical and recycling, he said.Amy SteinhauserMachinery reactionOwnership changes — even big deals involving manufacturing behemoths like Milacron — are part of the plastics machinery industry."It happens and some for the good, some for the bad," said Bill Duff, general manager of sales and marketing at Chinese machinery maker Yizumi-HPM Corp. in Iberia, Ohio. Parent company Guangdong Yizumi Precision Machinery Co. Ltd. bought the intellectual property of HPM — one of the earliest U.S. manufacturers of injection molding presses — in 2011."We're doing quite well, but we couldn't have done well without the investment from Yizumi," Duff said.He added: "Will [Hillenbrand] invest in more capability with the company, or will they just take cash out of it? Time will tell."Glenn Frohring, president of Absolute Haitian Corp. in Worcester, Mass., said he wasn't surprised by the announcement, especially if Milacron was getting pressure from investors to sell."I don't expect business to change for Milacron," he said. "Hopefully it's a positive thing. We only wish the best for even the competitors in our industry."Bill Wood, Plastics News economics editor and founder of Mountaintop Economics & Research Inc., said the acquisition is "a pretty big deal.""I don't know of anybody bigger in the U.S. as a far as a machinery company for the plastics industry," he said of Milacron. Given Milacron's size and segment diversity in the U.S. plastics equipment market, Wood said he does not expect to see many deals like this in the future."This deal has clearly been in the works for a long time, but I don't really think these kinds of deals are going to be increasing," he said. "This might actually be the last one."SOURCE : https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/hillenbrand-purchase-unique-opportunity-milacron
Editor 2019-07-18
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Detroit — Electronics are creating new tensions in automaker-supplier relations.The key problem, according to a new survey: Auto makers are pressing their usual desire to whittle new-vehicle parts costs, while suppliers of advanced electronics are not eager to oblige.That spells potential trouble ahead, said Dave Andrea, principal of Plante Moran, the consulting firm that produced the 2019 North American Automotive OEM-Supplier Working Relations Index Study. The industry is speeding into a future in which new and more advanced electronics — sometimes supplied by companies new to the auto world — will hold powerful sway."One of the biggest red flags was a downgrade in the area of electronics," Andrea said about the annual report card on automotive purchasing and relationships. Plante Moran took over the study this year from industry researcher John Henke's firm, Planning Perspectives Inc.Combination of factorsAndrea said the purchasing complaints reported by electronic component companies resulted from a combination of factors, including suppliers' struggles to make a profit and reports of repeated auto maker engineering changes.Andrea warned that the arrival of advanced electrical systems will require buyers who are more familiar with emerging technologies, specific products and the suppliers themselves."If they don't start changing, there will be a rocky road," Andrea said of auto maker purchasing departments as vehicles electrify and become more connected. "But if the purchasing groups open up their relationships in how they work with suppliers in starting these new vehicle architectures, that will be helpful in building a trust factor."The question for us as we looked through the data," he said, "is whether the vehicle manufacturer purchasing departments are positioned to take on and deliver the supply base the industry's going to need as it transitions to electrified and autonomous vehicles."The annual survey looks at the supplier relations of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., Honda Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corp. Most auto maker-supplier ties improved slightly in this year's report, Andrea said.Toyota, Honda leadToyota and Honda again ranked highest, while FCA tumbled for the sixth straight year, falling to last. Nissan ended a four-year decline, posting the biggest improvement of the six auto makers, but still ranking second from the bottom.FCA issued a statement saying: "We are not at all satisfied with where we are. This feedback will help us make the kind of transformational changes we've embarked on as a business."The company said it will use internal surveys and meetings with suppliers to help improve.Daron Gifford, Plante Moran's automotive industry consulting leader, said automakers are learning how to work with suppliers that are new to the industry, including producers of software, cyberware products and artificial intelligence-based systems."The new suppliers they're having to deal with now are not so easy to deal with because they don't know the auto industry," Gifford said. "The new suppliers coming in are kind of like, 'What's this cost-down thing every year? Nah, we don't do that.' They're struggling with terms and conditions and intellectual property and who gets what on this whole thing."If the trust isn't there," Gifford said, "then the sharing of innovations gets a little difficult."source : https://www.plasticsnews.com
editor 2019-07-06
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American Mold Builders Association NixWorkforce development is the biggest ongoing challenge facing mold makers, according the American Mold builders Association's Business Forecast Report."The No. 1 challenge that all we face actually deals with recruitment and retention of our workforce," AMBA Executive Director Troy Nix said in a webinar to present the results."When we asked about the challenges, 100 percent said workforce development, locating talent. And what you see is for the last three years is that workforce development is at 100 percent," Nix said.Mold makers are beefing up recruitment and training. Some are teaming with local high schools, colleges and technical schools, he said.And Nix added that 75 percent of survey respondents said they plan to add employees in 2019.AMBA surveyed presidents, owners and senior executives of 136 mold builders. Companies with sales between $1 million and $14 million accounted for 83 percent of the total. Nix said 77 percent make injection molds, 16 percent produce molds for compression molding, rubber injection, thermoform tooling, blow molds, molds for liquid silicone rubber molding and stack molds. Another 7 percent make die-cast tooling.While current business conditions during the survey period were positive — 67 percent said business was good or excellent — the outlook for the next several months was slightly less optimistic, the survey said. In 2018, conditions were much stronger, when 81 percent said good or excellent. Nix said that decrease is a red flag.AMBA asked companies to list their most optimistic markets for 2019. The category of medical/dental/optical was first, listed by 33 percent, followed by automotive at 16 percent and consumer products at 13 percent, followed by aerospace and packaging.But at the same time, automotive was listed by 47 percent of respondents as the least optimistic market — by far the highest negative category.Nix said some of the caution is because U.S. vehicle sales are expected to drop below 17 million this year, and the industry is beginning to change to electric and autonomous vehicles.Mold makers also listed their major challenges. Nix said company size matters. Smaller companies, those under $5 million in sales, listed health care, insurance and foreign competition. Larger mold makers said continuous improvement is the biggest challenge.AMBA asked respondents what percent of revenue are represented by three expense categories expenses: sales and marketing (4 percent); employee health care (8 percent); and capital investments (10 percent).Forty percent said their backlog is up, looking back to the three prior months. Nix said that's about the same number as the last eight survey years. Profitability also stayed the course over the longer-term trend.Quoting activity was "slightly better than the eight-year averages," Nix said.
취재부 2019-05-15
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-LS Mtron Has Signed a Cooperation Agreement on MuCell Technology Development with Trexel, a Leading Foam Molding Company - The demand for foaming molding which specializes in product light-weighting is expected to increase with the needs for lightweight automotive and electronic product packaging.LS Mtron has signed a cooperation agreement on Mucell Technology development with Trexel(USA), a leading foam molding company to strengthen cooperation for foam molding technology, in order to respond positively to the future growth of the foam molding market. Foaming molding, which has been recently growing, specializes in product light-weighting as a technology for molding into plastics in a microcellular foaming state. For this reason, not only the global market but also the Korean market are scrambling to apply it, starting with the automobile industry. The demand is expected to grow further not only because of the needs for light-weighting due to the expansion of electric vehicles, but also for various electronic products packaging. Trexel, which LS Mtron has signed a Cooperation Agreement on the MuCell Technology Development with, is a leading company in the field of foam molding with long experience and know-how in foam molding technology since 1995. It holds more than 50 patents on foam molding technology, and the name MuCell is registered by Trexel to refer to microcellular foaming techniques and materials. LS Mtron is strengthening its technical development cooperation with Trexel to provide customers with the necessary technical support and further promote the popularization of foaming technology.“MuCell is an outstanding technology that satisfy both weight lightening and quality of products, and will contribute to customer productivity improvement and cost reduction." said Seung-Dong Park, head of Mtron Injection Research Center. He added ”Based on the foam technology and know-how, we will develop injection molding system for foaming, so that we can respond to any foam molding products of our customers."CTO Kyung-Nyung Woo, head of Technology Development Division, said, "Through this agreement, we will cooperate not only for current Micro cell technology but also for future Nano cell technology development to continuously strengthen lightweight technology."http://www.lsinjection.com
Editor 2019-04-26
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-West Pharmaceutical adds presence in India, South KoreaWest Pharmaceutical Services Inc. opened a new digital technology center in Bengaluru, India, and expanded its presence in South Korea.The Bengaluru site, which spans 17,000 square feet, will serve as a global center of excellence for West's digital and transformation team, alongside teams based in Exton, Pa., and Eschweiler, Germany, according to a company news release.Investment details were not disclosed.The DTC is part of West's efforts to reach out to customers through digital marketing, digital manufacturing and automation.West is recruiting technology professionals for the facility in areas such as network security, cloud architecture, ERP and applications development. The teams will work to support West's efforts in e-commerce, digital marketing, the SAP S/4 Hana (ERP) Cloud business suite rollout, digital manufacturing and product development, including artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and smart devices.West has had a presence in India since 2014, with a manufacturing plant in Sri City and a commercial office in Hyderabad.The company also expanded its presence in South Korea through a new sales office, West Pharmaceutical Services Korea Ltd. The office is a result of West's purchase of the distribution business of GIS Korea Ltd., a privately owned medical device and health care products distributor serving the South Korean market, and which previous was West's distributor in the Asia-Pacific region.Details of the purchase were not disclosed.The combined local insight of the GIS Korea team with West's global manufacturing reach will better serve customers and position the company for growth, according to Karen Flynn, senior vice president and chief commercial officer for West.GIS has partnered with West since 2003, building a network of customers across segments, West said. GIS, which has been operating for more than 95 years, distributes integrated containment and delivery solutions in pharmaceutical, biologic, generic and medical device customer groups.West, headquartered in Exton, Pa., is a manufacturer of packaging components and delivery systems for injectable drugs and health care products. It has locations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. It reported net sales of $1.7 billion in 2018.To obtain reprints or copyright permissions:E-mail: pnreprints@crain.comVisit: Reprintssource : https://www.plasticsnews.com
Editor 2019-04-26