Engel opens new technical center in California

A new 7300-ft² technical center was opened Tuesday in Corona, CA to support regional customers of machinery supplier Engel North America (York PA). The event included a welcome from Stephan Braig, president and CEO of Engel North America, and Peter Neumann, CEO of Engel Holding Austria; a ribbon cutting ceremony; and presentations on the state of the industry, processing technologies, and energy efficiency incentives. The new facility features space for machinery demonstrations, mold trials, customer training, and spare parts and machinery inventory.

“We see ourselves as a solutions provider and if we look at the West Coast, particularly California, we see a very diverse market here,” said Braig. “With the establishment of the tech center here, we’re now really able to work with our customers here side by side to do process development, mold trials, and also to help customers specify the best possible solution and the best possible machine for their application.”

In addition to Engel’s customers, several representatives were in attendance from the Corona Chamber of Commerce, of which Engel is now a member, as was Steve Nolan, the mayor of Corona. “It builds our economy and our community when businesses like this come here, so we want to make you feel welcome,” said Nolan.

“In our new concept of our sales organization in North America we said we want to have a technical center on the West Coast,” said Neumann. “We looked around to see what location was the best because we also wanted to service the northern part of Mexico, Phoenix, and the region, then we were looking around to find the best facility.”

Chris Kightlinger, regional/technical sales manager for Engel, said that once the location was selected, the project moved along quickly. An architect was hired on Dec. 9 last year, the deal closed on Dec. 23, and in four weeks, the space went from bare frames in the interior to the current layout, complete with offices, meeting rooms, and a loft that will soon be the spare parts inventory area.

After the ribbon cutting ceremony, Al Damico, executive VP of the Society of the Plastics Industry, gave a presentation on the state of the plastics industry, and Joachim Kragl, manager of processing technology for Engel, informed the audience about how Engel is “pushing the limits in injection molding processing” by outlining applications involving Engel’s Combimelt, Xmelt, Fluidmelt, and Foilmelt technologies. Ed Tiso, energy consultant for Bruce Blau & Assoc., talked about the energy incentives available in California when purchasing energy-efficient, variable-volume hydraulic injection molding machines, and the even greater incentives for all-electric machines.

Attendees then had a chance to see some of Engel’s machinery in action, including an 85-ton Victory and an eMax 110, part of the all-electric range of Engel machinery introduced to the U.S. market nine months ago. Three other eMax machines were also present at the technical center, which will be used to keep a small inventory of five to seven all-electric machines to meet the growing customer demands, according to Neumann.

Engel also plans to break ground on another technical center this June in Querétaro, north of Mexico City, to support customers in the growing molding region of Central Mexico. The company currently leases a facility in Mexico City, but will build a center twice the size of the Corona, CA location, which will offer customers mold trials, process development, training, and spare parts inventory. —[email protected]