Arburg talks Belgium expansion

Simon Bemong, the subsidiary manager of Arburg Belgium, told PlasticsToday that in Europe, injection molders have to be competitive, which means staying ahead by investing in special applications.

"In the past, a plant would often run for years with one and the same product," he said. "Today, it often has to be able to produce two or three different products economically. Highly flexible production is essential due to falling batch sizes and an increasing proportion of special parts. We notice that there is an increasing demand for robot systems and complex production cells."

As such, Arburg recently announced the company is expanding the team at its Holsbeek subsidiary in Belgium due to a high order volume.

After the overall plastics processing market in Belgium declined significantly in recent years, the sector has now largely recovered, according to Arburg. Bemong said with the automotive sector declining in Belgium, some customers are looking for new industries that offer good prospects, such as packaging and medical technology.

He sees the most potential in the packaging and automation sectors.

"On the whole, the packaging industry represents a growth market," he said. "As packaging is a comparatively new segment for us, our market shares increase significantly."

Earlier this year, the Arburg range includes hybrid and fully electric injection molding machines in the "Packaging" line that is designed specifically for the packaging industry. The "Packaging" machines of the Allrounder Hidrive (H) and Alldrive (A) series have been optimized for the sector, the company stated. One example of this is the variety of options for key parameters like distance between tie bars, clamping force and opening stroke. The "Packaging" versions are available in five sizes with clamping forces from 1800 to 4600 kN.

"Arburg is clearly a forward-looking, dependable family business committed to long-term activities," he said. "This is why we also expect 2014 to be a positive year. As an injection molding machine manufacturer, we focus on production efficiency in all of our activities. Top priority in the packaging sector is given to short cycle times, which are achieved through the use of high-speed machines. Further requirements are durability and high availability. In addition, a reduced energy requirement and the topic of precision are becoming increasingly important."