Arburg highlights UK market as positive example of growth

At Fakuma 2014 Arburg said that it was enjoying “particularly positive” results from its UK subsidiary thanks to the continued re-shoring of production to the country.

Speaking at the trade show in Friedrichshafen, Managing Partner, Michael Hehl, said that the UK contributed to what was shaping up to be a extremely positive year that has seen continued expansion of production sites and sales figures expected to top €500 million.

“We do not like to speculate on figures,” said Hehl. “However, what I will say is that it is likely to be a bit above €500 million; it will be a figure worth mentioning.”

In terms of projections for an equally successful year in 2015, Head of Sales, Helmut Heinson, said he expected to see positive developments in China and the USA, with a slightly slower development in Europe than in the current year.

Although he was cautious to speculate on forecasts, said he imagined sales would stay fairly level, with “no serious deterioration.”

Arburg spoke at length about its development of the Freeformer, which as of Fakuma is on general sale to customers in Germany, with delivery of the machines due in March next year.

“We have to finish the pilot projects that we have running with the Freeformers first, which will be March 2015. The Freeformers purchased here at Fakuma will be deleivered once those projects have concluded,’ added Heiz Gaub, part of the board of Directors at Arburg.

The company revealed that the Freeformer will be available to purchase in the rest of Europe from 1 April 2015, on sale in the USA from NPE in March 2015 and finally in Asia at Chinaplas from May 2015 onwards.

“There is no doubt that our freeformer will influence our future business development as additive manufacturing is gaining increasing importance in the industrial sector,” explained Hehl.

“Rapid technical developments, short product life cycles, increasing variant diversity and the demand for customised products mean that the market for plastics processing and the associated requirements are changing.

“We recognised this trend some years ago, leading us to develop our freeformer and ARBURG Plastic Freeforming (AKF).”

The company has a Freeformer on its stand at Fakuma, as well as a number of machines demonstrating its latest innovations in packaging, automotive and technical moulding.