Milacron continues to invest in fast-growing Indian market

Milacron Holdings Corp., an industrial technology company headquartered in Cincinnati, OH, serving the plastics processing industry, recently completed another round of expansions to its injection, blow and extrusion molding machine manufacturing facility in Ahmedabad as well as its hot-runner manufacturing facility in Coimbatore. This is the third phase of a planned expansion project for the company’s India operations.

The completed addition to the Ahmedabad facility created another 9,304 square meters, bringing the total footprint to 65,000 square meters. The additional space primarily will be used for machining and assembly. The ground floor of the facility is air-conditioned and features a state-of-the-art rainwater harvesting and recharging system.

Milacron is boosting production volumes to meet increasing demand for Milacron’s equipment, said the company in a release.

Milacron CEO Tom Geoke and Ron Krisanda, COO, were on hand for the traditional Indian Pooja inauguration ceremony along with Mahendra Patel, Vice Chairman, Ferromatik India; Shirish Divgi, Managing Director, Ferromatik India; and Kannan Venkatraman, Managing Director of Mold-Masters India. Goeke commented: “The Indian plastic market continues to impress, and Milacron continues to grow alongside it to ensure we’re able to make our customers’ possibilities a reality.”

Meanwhile in Coimbatore, Milacron’s hot-runner brand Mold-Masters completed a 10,000-square-foot expansion in Q2 2015 and recently added a large brazed furnace, allowing the India operations to manufacture Mold-Masters’ proprietary iFLOW manifold technology. The iFLOW manifolds are suited for applications requiring balanced fill, fast color changes and complex cavity layouts. “Milling the melt channel paths into individual pieces allows for endless melt channel layout possibilities and eliminates the need for manifold plugs,” said the company’s information. “The smooth and gentle corners reduce pressure drop in the manifold, helping to flush colors through the melt channels and provide exceptional fill balance.”

India appears to be an excellent industrial market, and the good economic news coming out of that country makes it appealing to global manufacturers such as Milacron. India reported that the country’s GDP rose by 7.9% in the final quarter of India’s fiscal year, ending March 31, 2016, and saw a 7.6% GDP for the entire fiscal year.