Battenfeld to re-enter large tonnage market

Injection molding machine supplier Battenfeld GmbH, recently purchased by the Wittmann Group, has announced plans to re-enter the large tonnage market.

According to general manager Georg Tinschert, the re-named Wittmann Battenfeld is also designing a new, modular all-electric series of machine it plans to present at the 2009 Fakuma show, to be held in Germany in October.

Speaking at Wittmann Battenfeld’s Competence Days event at the company’s headquarters in Kottingbrunn, Austria, Tinschert also said the move back into large-tonnage presses had been decided on before the sale, but has been embraced by Wittmann. The company’s new, two-platen range, available from 500 to 1,600 tons, will be on the market in late 2010, he added.

Wittmann emerged as a surprise buyer of Battenfeld after the company was put into receivership near the end of 2007. Prior to that, Germany’s SMS Group had run Battenfeld before being sold to Adcuram, also based in Germany.

Tinschert is confident of being able to gain market share with the company’s large-tonnage machines, and confident also in the partnership with Wittmann. “I don’t see a problem in developing better machines because the mentality of innovation is still here,” he said. “With the Wittmann Group as its new, long-term owners, Battenfeld will be successful in continuing and further strengthening its customer relations.”

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