Green Box to expand staff, product offerings following successful K

Fresh off a highly successful K show where the company launched a new product that combines two temperature controllers and a chiller in one small footprint, Green Box America Inc. (Bensenville, IL) is expanding its staff, with plans to bring on a new sales manager and sales representative. Jose Garcia-Hernandez, Green Box's director of operations, said the company, the U.S. subsidiary of the Italian firm Green Box S.r.l. (Piove di Sacco), has seen a strong improvement in 2010 business over 2009, estimating sales are up 80%, year over year.

Green Box Minibox

The company is hoping to keep up that momentum with the recent introduction of two new technologies. At the K, Green Boxhighlighted an air-cooled chiller that uses high-pressure fans, instead of a centrifugal blower, as well as the aforementioned Minibox chillers.

The Minibox has two zones for heating and/or cooling, with an integral, portable water-cooled chiller, two temperature control units, and three stainless steel pumps, with one for chiller recirculation, and one more each for each zone. In addition to cooling capacity from 0.5 to 40 tons, the heaters range from 6 to 24 kW. The chillers use scroll compressor technology and the new Ecologic R410a refrigerant to further boost sustainability cred.

Exiting water temperatures can range from 20F or 200F for each mold half, and with this design, a molder can use one Minibox to replace a chiller and two temperature control units. The design also means that the Minibox could either service two machines or a single large mold, where different temperatures between the two sides are required. The system features what Green Box calls "Free-Cooling" via an integral stainless steel heat exchanger that will automatically shut off the system's compressors if the plant water is already cool or warm enough for the process at hand.

Green Box America was founded in January 2009 in response to a large number of the company's multinational customers buying its technology in Europe and shipping it to the states. The company has also been boosted by some exclusive machinery OEM contracts, including one with Husky Injection Molding Systems that has helped it place more than 3000 of its systems globally with the machinery supplier.

Garcia-Hernandez says a lot of the company's early growth in the North American market was propelled by its Cap Cooler product, which promises uniform cooling of the complete cap before they're discharged into the collecting box. "[The Cap Cooler] was the first thing we started selling when we opened an office in the U.S.," Garcia-Hernandez says. "For our reps, it is fantastic because it's a piece of equipment that will open the door into the company." —Tony Deligio