Marbach acquires automation specialist

Thermoforming tool manufacturer Marbach (Heilbronn, Germany; www.marbach.com) on February 18 announced it had acquired Systec Komplettsysteme GmbH (Bad Urach, also Germany; http://www.systec-komplettsysteme.de), best known as a manufacturer of automation systems (inmold labelling and parts handling systems) for injection molding. Systec Komplettsysteme has 90 employees.

From the outside, Marbach’s acquisition makes good sense, with thermoforming processors increasingly looking beyond the extrusion and thermoforming machines towards downstream automation as a means to improve their process’ economics. The acquisition also enables Marbach to compete on equal footing with another well-known European thermoforming tool maker, Mould & Matic (Micheldorf, Austria), which also offers automation for thermoforming and injection molding.

Marbach intends to keep Systec’s Bad Urach facility. Human resources, controlling, IT and purchasing will be controlled centrally from Heilbronn. Marbach says the decision to acquire Systec was driven by recognition that most of its customers use both thermoforming and injection moulding, and processors in both fields prefer suppliers that can offer turnkey solutions.