News from Plast-Ex: Billion makes N.A. sales bid

Mississagua, ON — French injection molding machinery maker, Billion SA (Bellignat), which concluded a management buyout from former owners mpm three years ago, continued its renewed push into the North American market, making its show debut on the continent at the Plast-Ex event in early May. mpm had forbade Billion from pursuing North America, limiting its presence in the region to Mexico and a handful of imported presses into the states, according to Billion General Sales Manager Olivier Crave. Six months ago, Billion announced it would begin direct sales into North America, procuring the services of Oaktree Consulting out of Detroit for sales representation and Service Tech and Matcom for installations and machinery service.

Olivier says Billion has already sold two machines into the U.S., cosmetic packaging lines for companies in Detroit and New York, with an initial goal of eight to 10 machine sales. Olivier said the company sells approximately 200 machines/yr, with the majority of its 13,000 machines in Europe and North Africa. mpm had also hindered efforts to penetrate the German market, and as part of a reinforced presence there, Billion plans to open a sales and service subsidiary in Offenburg by June. Within two years, Billion will decide whether or not to establish a North American office.

At the show, Billion displayed a 200-tonne high-speed machine from its Chronoma packaging line launched in 2004. The all-electric multimaterial press molded a fork, knife, and plate in one 5.4-second cycle from a family mold, using polypropylene and polystyrene in two different colors and three shot volumes. The machine featured an integrated Wittmann three-axis robot and a mold with a copper beryllium cavity from that company’s Regad division. Founded by Léon Billion in 1949, the company offers machines ranging in size from 40 to 2500 tonnes and specializes in multimaterial.—[email protected]