For this reason, all-electric machines are making inroads into Australia. Sumitomo agent Tasman Machinery (Cheltenham, VIC) has sold 25 machines in Australia this year, most for DVD molding, but Managing Director Dermid McKinley says the processing sector in general is starting to appreciate the advantages of going electric. “What we are seeing is that molders are appreciating the better repeatability and faster cycle times more than anything; energy savings are viewed as a bonus,” he says.

One recent Sumitomo convert is Haigh Tooling Ltd. (Christchurch, New Zealand). Commenting on repeatability, Chris Henderson, operations manager of the plastics division, says, “If you set the V-P switchover at 8.00 mm, it will stop there time and time again. We have even used a 2-mm injection stroke with an 18-mm screw to mold a 4.5g polyacetal sleeve with no problems at all.” Haigh’s original reason for purchasing the electric machine was energy savings, and it reports a 65% cut in energy consumption.

Bennett Precision Tooling (Kings Park, NSW), meanwhile, invested in an Arburg (Lossburg, Germany) all-electric machine for its precision and repeatability. “We will use the machine to test liquid silicone rubber and thermoplastic tooling, and it helps that the machine also runs quiet,” says Managing Director Mark Bennett. “We export our tooling to Europe so we need to test under a high-quality environment,” adds Bennett. “We need to know whether a problem is in the mold or the machine.”

Servo-driven hydraulic machines are also making a splash in the Australian market due to their energy saving advantage, according to Mark Folley, managing director of Haitian Direct Pty. Ltd. (Williamstown, VIC), the local agent of Chinese injection molding machine maker Haitian. “We’ve delivered     25 Mars Series machines this year, and the invertor motor-driven gear pump hydraulics save up to 80% energy,” Folley says, adding the Mars machines only cost 20–30% more than standard Haitian hydraulic machines.

Another advantage is lower cooling water requirements. “We’ve installed two high-speed machines for houseware applications—160- and 320-tonne units—and they haven’t used any cooling water for the hydraulics yet,” Folley claims. “Molding of housewares is viable anywhere in the world if you have the right cycle time,” he adds. “If your labor costs are higher, you have to make the machine run faster.”

Injection molders in Australia are also adopting production monitoring to remove bottlenecks from their processes. Hugh Moore, director of Greenmoore Enterprises (Bayswater, VIC), says users of Mattec (Loveland, OH) software have found it helpful in identifying bottlenecks such as part assembly time and identifying solutions.

Film flexibility
One strong market down under in 2008 was flexible packaging, according to Windmöller & Hölscher Asia Pacific (W&H; Samutprakarn, Thailand) Managing Director Michael Fischer. “We’ve upgraded film lines, and delivered flexoprinting lines as well as a bag making machine, and the common theme has been production flexibility.” He adds, “Both film processors and their customers want to carry less inventory, meaning most production runs in Australia these days are less than 20,000m, and can be as low as 2000m.”

Fischer says the emphasis is thus on quick-and-easy blown-film line turnaround (now achievable on W&H lines in four minutes) as well as minimal wastage for color matching and other print set-up requirements. “Color matching normally is the most time-consuming step, and you don’t want to be wasting much time and material at all if your run is only 2000m,” says Fischer. W&H’s Easy-Col color matching set-up module, as well as automatic modules for impression setting, register setting, and rotogravure cylinder zero positioning, are proving popular among Aussie processors to get jobs up to speed promptly and to minimize material waste. W&H set up a local subsidiary in July in Melbourne, and will have a direct presence in the market starting January 2009.

While there are indeed bright spots in the Australian market, processors are, in general, watching their wallets. “In the old days, processors wouldn’t think twice about buying a mold temperature regulator, but these days they put a lot of thought even into small investments,” says Ian Smith, stores manager at Handelsons Pty. Ltd. (Leichhardt, NSW).

Fluctuating exchange rates have also removed much of the certainty when making investments. The Australian dollar had bottomed out at close to US$0.60 during the Ausplas show in early October, after near-parity in July, only to rebound to around US$0.70 in subsequent weeks. Like many processors around the world, Australian firms may be waiting for more stable financial markets before making any significant investments.