A confident Arburg focuses on Industry 4.0 at Fakuma trade show

As one of the first exhibitors and ‘virtual co-founder’ of the Fakuma trade show, Arburg (Lossburg, Germany) is once again presenting a host of numerous innovations and developments, said Managing Partner Michael Hehl at the Fakuma trade event, that underscored the company’s position as “trendsetter within the industry.”

“This is emphasized by our focus on Industry 4.0—powered by Arburg,” he continued. "At Arburg, Industry 4.0 extends above and beyond the injection molding sector.”
A convincing demonstration of this is displayed at the Arburg booth with a combination of an Allrounder injection molding machine and the Freeformer for additive manufacturing as part of a fully networked and automated production line for individualizing high-volume parts.

With the development of IT solutions such as ALS, automated Allrounders and the freeformer for additive manufacturing, the German machinery manufacturer is increasingly developing into a system supplier for networked production in the digital factory. In that capacity, the company has contributed substantially to the development of the "Industry 4.0 Guidelines" published by the German industrial organization VDMA, as well as being cited as one of the exponents of best practice. Arburg has had 30 years of experience in digitally networked production, both for the plastics industry and in the company’s own production processes.

"Only those companies which can individualize large-volume parts in a personalized production process to manufacture single-unit batches cost effectively, integrating customers and their specific requirements directly in the value added chain – only those can really call themselves system suppliers for cyberphysical production systems and make a genuine contribution to the development of the 'Smart Factory' and Industry 4.0," said Heinz Gaub, Arburg Managing Director Technology & Engineering.

On the business side, the company was equally confident, reporting that sales were expected to exceed the €548m figure posted in 2014. “We are highly satisfied with the business trend so far and the incoming orders for 2015,” Hehl said.

The USA market situation continues to be very positive and it remains the strongest foreign market in 2015, with growth well in the double digits, according to Helmut Heinson, Managing Director of Sales. With three locations, Arburg is well-positioned there. Hehl also noted that the company had expanded its activities in Asia—especially China—in recent years and would continue to intensify these in the future. The situation in Europe was also satisfactory, particularly the UK, partly as a result of the ongoing reshoring trend. “And the best news: In Germany—still our most important market—business is going very well in 2015,” he concluded.

These positive developments are reflected by the 6% growth in number of employees at Arburg. Currently, some 2,050 people work at the headquarters in Lossburg, Germany, and another 450 around the world.

Also, as Arburg must compete in the region for the very best and brightest, the machinery manufacturer is very active in apprenticeship training. A total of 56 new trainees and students from the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) began their training in September 2015, Hehl said.

“Also, we have for the first time set up our own Arburg recruiting stand next to our exhibition stand in Hall A3: An innovation for us as well as for the Fakuma,” he added.