Arburg opens doors for Technology Days 2008 (April 14, 2008)

German injection molding machinery supplier Arburg played host to more than 4,000 visitors at Arburg Technology Days 2008, which took place from Aprl 3 to 5 in Lossburg, Germany. Guests had the opportunity to tour Arburg’s facilities and view a number of product applications on the full range of Arburg machines.

Customers and journalists from around the world attended the event, with 135 visitors traveling from the U.S.

Michael Hehl, spokesperson for the company’s management team, commented on Arburg’s economic situation at a press conference. He called 2007 a successful year for the company, and although a final statement has not been calculated, Arburg’s consolidated turnover for the year exceeded 400 million Euros. “In comparison to the previous year, this represents an increase in the region of 10 per cent,” he noted in his speech.

The shares of the firm’s electric and Golden Edition machines rose by 2 per cent each year over year, and the share of incoming orders for the large Allrounders 630 S to 920 S including the large Golden Edition models rose from nine to 14 per cent.

Hehl also spoke on the subject of energy efficiency, and announced the launch of “Energy Efficiency Allround” as a new corporate objective. “Energy efficiency is currently a much debated subject,” he explained. “But, as always, Arburg is going one step further we have defined the efficient use of energy as a corporate objective and we take an all-round approach to optimizing energy consumption.”

According to Hehl, the company has worked to reduce energy consumption in its own production, but now also wants to help manufacturers reign in their energy use. Initiatives under the “Energy Efficiency Allround” package include a new special energy-efficiency label for all optimized Allrounder machines and equipment; an award for customers with a special achievement in energy-efficient production; and planned cooperation with the VDMA over an energy passport for Arburg’s machines.

The company also announced “Technology on Tour 2008,” a global tour with seminars and open houses about energy efficiency.

Technology Days attendees got to see a number of applications on the company’s machines, ranging from medical components to wood plastic parts. One of the more notable applications in the Demonstration Room was the Exjection process on an Allrounder 375 V machine with a clamping force of 500 kN, a new large vertically operating machine introduced at Technology Days.

The Exjection process, a patented process developed by Austria’s IB Steiner and Hybrid Composite Products GmbH, features a formative cavity moving along the longitudinal axis, allowing for the production of long, thin-walled ad structured components from viscous thermoplastics. Arburg noted that the Exjection process is particularly suited to its vertical Allrounder V models because the mold is installed horizontally, and the transfer movement is also horizontal.