Gefit plans big push into U.S. market

If you attend European plastics tradeshows, or have visited closure molders there, then it's a certainty you are familiar with injection molds and assembly systems manufactured by Italy's Gefit. They're practically everywhere. 

Now, the company is making a concerted push into the U.S. market, following its showing, for the first time, of one of its molds (a 64-cavity closure mold) running on a BMB injection molding machine at last June's NPE tradeshow. (For a lot more on Gefit, check out this 2003 article written after a visit to the firm.)

Helping the expansion effort in the U.S. is HB Automation LLC (Deep River, CT), which will represent Gefit and spearhead its expansion efforts in the U.S., led by Heinz Bockard, formerly of Global Automation, and Bill Bodine, formerly of Bodine Assembly Systems. Bockard announced last summer he would leave Global Automation when it was acquired by Swiss firm mta automation.

Based in Italy, Gefit has five production facilities worldwide. Current gross revenues are about €50 million per year, with more than 70% of the revenue generated by exports.

In 2006, Gefit established its first foothold in North America with its acquisition of Livernois Engineering, now called Gefit Livernois Engineering. This facility, in Michigan, serves as a technical service and support center for Gefit's Plastics Division customers, who maybe interested in its high-speed assembly systems (see photo). —mpweditorial@cancom.com