Plastics extrusion: Gear pump repairs, minus the Swiss customs clearance

Business is easier and faster for processors requiring repairs of their gear pump from Maag Pump Systems. The merger last year of Switzerland's Maag with pelletizing machinery manufacturer Automatik Plastics Machinery GmbH means that, starting now, processors can avoid sending the pumps to Switzerland—and through laborious Swiss customs—and now can instead have them repaired or serviced at Automatik's facility in Germany.

Keeping gear pumps in top condition is a crucial aspect to running successful extrusion lines. Until now, repairs of gear pumps from Maag Pump Systems AG have only been available at the company's Swiss headquarters and at its U.S. facilities in Charlotte, North Carolina. Following the merger with Automatik, these services will now also be available from the Automatik headquarters in Grossostheim, Germany.  

The new pump repair facility at the Automatik headquarters in Germany marks one of the first moves to operationally integrate Maag and Automatik. "Because of the requirement for customs clearance in Switzerland, the sending in of pumps for repair in the past entailed a certain amount of paperwork, delay and extra cost," recalled Thomas Willemsen, director of after sales at Maag Group. The Automatik facility in Grossostheim has the space and technical infrastructure, as well as a vacuum pyrolysis unit for rapid cleaning of pumps and components, making it a legitimate alternative to the Swiss HQ.

The Grossostheim repair team was trained in Switzerland, and the spare parts facility in Germany is now stocked, with the first repair orders already completed. —MPW Editorial