Marking the occasion

To mark its 185th anniversary, KraussMaffei is offering a special edition of its CX series. Dave Gray caught up with Mike Bate, MD, KraussMaffei UK, to find out what’s special about the machine, and what the group has in store for Interplas.

A new version of the CX is just one of many activities the group is undertaking in this milestone year. A live exhibit at Interplas, two new machine ranges and a new HQ are all set to create a buzz for KM customers in the months ahead.

The machine maker’s anniversary edition CX comes with a package of additional features that are normally subject to a charge - but are now integrated at no extra cost. These features allow for a clamping force range from 500 to 4200 kN, while at the same time aiming to reduce operating costs. I asked Bate about his plans for the rest of the year, as well as current business conditions...

DG: Why is this an important milestone – and how is the company celebrating?

MB: KraussMaffei is proud to announce our 185th birthday. We have 185 years of pioneering spirit which we are continuing in our birthday year by making some amazing offers with both new machines purchased between now and November 2023 and our Digital Service Solutions. We have introduced “special” editions of our famous CX- Range (RelaCX) with numerous attractive features for energy saving and part optimisation.

DG: Where is KM’s business coming from in the UK?

MB: UK business is coming from a variety of market sectors. Medical has been very buoyant since the pandemic and the building and trade moulders have stayed loyal but we see the automotive market gearing up again. RecentTata Group’s news about the UK winning the battery plant will be a massive boost to the economy. 

In recent years our Extrusion and Polyurethane businesses have enjoyed great success with outdoor composite decking and other composite products. KMGUK is not all about injection moulding – our successful extrusion business can onlyincrease with the amalgamation with Berstorff. KraussMaffei Extrusion can enhance the portfolio of pipe and profile with rubber, compounding, and recycling. We have moved into a new facility in Laatzen, just outside Hanover. It is a 97,000m2 facility for the manufacture of all our extrusion plant and machinery.

DG: What are the trends you’re seeing in customer requests lately?

MB: For many years major conversations have centred around, lightweight 

composite products. The automotive sector has worked on this for many years. Now we are seeing more interest from other sectors aerospace and medical. The Ukraine crisis has focused everybody on energy consumption. We are constantly striving to make our machines as energy efficient as possible, but there are other ways to help our customers optimise their process. We can already offer APC+ which can optimise the process from shot-to-shot no matter the changingenvironmental or material conditions.

 SmartOperation developed to enable a single button to start the machine inthe same configuration every time will help many customers with machine set-up. We are happy to demonstrate these valuable options on our machines in Warrington. 

Our growing Digital Solution department are working on many more solutions to make the supplier / customer experience more enjoyable.

DG: Can you talk about powerMolding and precisionMolding machines that came to Europe for the first time at K? Where do you see the interest for these in the UK market?

MB: As you say: We first launched the two machine ranges at K 2022. They are high quality manufactured machines manufactured by KraussMaffei. This is an exciting time as it will open doors to new potential markets and new customers that would not normally think to look at a KM due to cost. The machines will not have all the options of our established machine ranges, so we can build them more efficiently and be more cost effective.

We are happy to say we have received our first precisionMolding machine in Warrington which is available forcustomers to visit for demonstrations.

DG: And the company recently moved its Munich HQ – what does this mean for UK customers? Will there be an opportunity to visit?

MB: It was very sad, working for KraussMaffei for 34 years, Allach was like a second home to me, but we haven’t only moved in Munich. At the end of 2022 we moved our Extrusion Division from Hanover to just outside Hanover – Laatzen. This is a unique site for all our Extrusion portfolio. 

The 97,000m2 facility is only surpassed by our Parsdorf facility on the outskirts of Munich, a 125,000m2 state-of-the-art technical centre and production facility toproduce our injection moulding complete ranges and our polyurethane machines and plant. Initially, an Open House was planned for 2023 but this will be postponed to 2024.

DG: Energy efficiency is the top priority for moulders now – what can your team do to help moulders optimise their machines?

MB: This has been a hot topic with many of our customers over the past 12 months and has certainly kept our Sales4Service team very busy. In addition to APC+ and smartOperation previously mentioned, socialProduction is avaluable tool to remotely check on the machine’s performance and with the added option of liveCare. The customer can view wear of machine components, helping to reduce machine downtime. Our UK S4S team will behappy to give more information on these topics.

DG: Finally, you’re returning to Interplas this year – what’s the plan for your exhibit?

MB: It is great to be back and being a part of the Rapid News EAB; it is promising to be a great show for the UK plastics industry from which we can all hope for a successful future. We are looking forward to presenting demonstrations from all our technologies including our Additive Material division. Not wishing to give too much away at this stage, it is fair to assume, there will be a precisionMolding machine producing parts over the three days. Let’s leave it at that and let the plastics industry come to the NEC 26th–28th September to see a great show.Key features of the anniversary edition CX• BluePower servo drive that optimally controls the pumps according to current demand or energyrequirements. This aims to significantly reduces electricity requirements and thus lowers operating costs as well as CO2 emissions from production.

• BluePower insulating sleeves, which are placed around the plasticising cylinder, stabilize the temperatureprofile there and thus improve process stability. They also reduce warm-up time by up to 30 percent, resulting in corresponding energy savings.

• The APCplus (Adaptive Process Control) machine function, which continuously analyses the injection moulding process and quickly and accurately compensates for material- and environment-related fluctuations in melt viscosity. KraussMaffei claims that this enables zero-defect production. APCplus will be integrated into the #185 special edition CX series at no cost when a contract is signed within 185 days of the start of the campaign on May 9, 2023.

• The smartOperation machine function, which enables intuitive control of the entire injection mouldingprocess, even without in-depth application expertise. Companies can thus ensure a standardised anderror-free process as well as high system availability even without a designated operator. Here, too, the offer of free integration applies if the order is placed within 185 days.