Engel delivers its largest-ever molding machines to North American customer
Canadian Plastics
Plastics ProcessesTwo machines with clamping forces of 8,000 tons have been delivered to Infiltrator Water Technologies in Winchester, Kentucky.
A 150-ton overhead crane was installed to move injection molds. Photo Credit: Engel
Austrian injection molding machine maker Engel says it has set a company record by delivering two injection molding machines with a clamping force of 8,000 tons each to customer Infiltrator Water Technologies (IWT), a subsidiary of Advanced Drainage Systems, in Winchester, Kentucky.
In a news release, Engel officials said the two machines are the largest ever built at Engel’s St. Valentin facility in Austria.
The first Engel duo 130000/130000H/8200 combi US machine arrived at the IWT plant last February and the second machine, a replica of the first, arrived at the facility this month. The purchase order was received in November 2020.
IWT manufactures water management products.
Special shipping and ground transportation arrangements were needed to move the machines from Austria to the U.S., and even to transport them within Austria. The platens were transported to and from the St. Valentin manufacturing facility along the Danube River on barges. “Each machine was fully assembled and tested prior to shipping and then disassembled to be shipped to the United States,” said Jim Moran, business development manager at Engel North America.
Injection molding machine parts were trucked to the Winchester, Kentucky plant for assembly. Photo Credit: Engel
At the IWT site in Winchester, a 59,000-square-foot building expansion was underway at the same time as 29 truckloads of machine parts were arriving from Austria. A 150-ton overhead crane was installed to move molds in and out of the machine and was also used to help assemble the new presses.
In its news release, Engel said it is increasingly receiving requests for custom solutions in the extremely high clamping force range. “Clamping forces of 10,000 tons and more are possible,” Engel said. “Machines of this size can process individual shot weights of several hundred kilograms or pounds and achieve two-ton-per-hour material throughput.”
