Arburg launches Freeformer in its “largest and most important market”

At NPE 2015, Arburg stressed that the USA is its “largest and most important market” and one in which it is pursuing a strategic approach.

The company chose NPE to mark the sales launch of its freeformer additive manufacturing technology, something it says has “great potential” in the country.

I am very pleased to be able to introduce the freeformer and our patented ‘ARBURG Plastic Freeforming’ process to you today, on the occasion of the US debut and the American sales launch of the freeformer,” said Heinz Gaub, Arburg’s Managing Director of Technology and Engineering.

The Freeformer running on the company’s stand is producing a part with an articulated joint and elastic bellows made from TPU, which Gaub describes as "a first in additive manufacturing.”

The company was, however, quick to state that the introduction of the Freeformer to the market did not mean it was “neglecting” its proficiencies in injection moulding.

Testament to this, the company is showing five Allrounder injection-moulding machines demonstrating applications and processes covering topics such as lightweight construction, multi-component injection moulding, automation and LSR processing.

“Our comprehensive production range caters to every requirement for the efficient manufacture of high-quality plastic parts: from the additive manufacturing of fully functional one-off parts and multi-variant small-volume batches through to the injection molding of high grade mass-produced items,” said Helmut Heinson, Managing Director of Sales for Arburg. “Furthermore, we provide IT solutions such as the ARBURG host computer system, enabling us to implement the requirements of “Industry 4.0”.

Industry 4.0, he said, is the story behind the company’s future development, as ARBURG becomes a “system supplier for networked production in the digital factory of tomorrow.”