KraussMaffei launches new MES system and machine leasing programme
KraussMaffei Group has launched new products and systems in the areas of digitalisation, advanced technologies and machine leasing as it continues to expand its offering to the market.
Speaking at the Fakuma trade show in Germany, Group CEO, Dr. Frank Stieler, said that the latest offerings are key to paving the way to a successful future.
“We are known as a group for the quality of our machinery offering but it does not stop there. We must continue to reinvent ourselves over and over again,” he said.
The company is unveiling MaXecution, a manufacturing execution system (MES) specially tailored to the needs of smaller injection moulding companies. The system has been designed with MPDV Mikrolab as a partner and offers plug and play usability.
“MaXecution comes following a huge demand for MES from smaller customers who can’t build their own systems, but want to be able to control their own machine parks,” Stieler added.
When combined with KraussMaffei’s other production control and monitoring systems and technology, including the new ‘AnalytiX’ machine monitoring App due to launch in spring 2018 and e-learning through virtual reality, Stieler says the Group has a “powerful offering”.
New leasing model piloted
The Group also introduced a new leasing model for injection moulding machines. Being premiered in Germany, the leasing system is designed to address the desire for more flexibility within the machinery pool.
The model is offered for standard machines up to 3,000 kN. Therefore, customers will be able to rent production capacities for a defined period of time. At the end of the term the customer can either give back the machine or buy it.
“We want to offer our customers more flexibility,” explained Stieler. ““You can choose to buy or lease a car, but in machinery we did not have this flexibility until now. I have very high expectations for this programme and believe our customers will find it very worthwhile.”
Success for the PX and momentum in China
Since it was launched to the market at K2016, KraussMaffei said that it had experienced “significantly high interest” in its ‘PX’ all electric injection moulding machine, particularly in Germany, the U.S. and China. “We cannot produce enough machines to meet the demand,” Stieler continued, saying that production capacity for 2018, therefore, “needs to be doubled”.
The success of the PX has contributed to an overall successful year, with orders and sales for 2017 (YTD, as of the end of August) exceeding the record set in 2016 by up to 10 percent. “We have been able to accelerate the growth we saw last year and we do not intend to stop, we want to grow even faster,” he added.
The Chinese market is increasingly becoming the driver of growth for the KraussMaffei Group. “China and other Asian markets will increasingly become more important for us in the future. Through our new owner ChemChina, we now have even better access to the market than ever before. That’s something we intend to build on.” On account of high demand, the plant in Haiyan has already doubled its production volume and expects to see an additional increase in 2018,” Stieler concluded.