Richard Perry, Managing Director, STV Machinery, looks at the considerations for capital investment, ahead of the group’s appearance at Interplas this year. Do you remember the days when buying a moulding machine was a straight choice between German or Italian machines? These days, the choice is different. The Italian manufacturers have either been acquired by Japanese businesses or ceased trading altogether.
Yizumi
The Germans are still offering excellent machines to UK buyers and for many, they remain the preferred choice. However, over the last decade, they’ve been joined by an increasing number of Asian-manufactured machines, vying for position in the UK marketplace, many of which are offered at a price point which looks very appealing.
Choose your supplier carefully
As exclusive UK distributor for the Yizumi range of Asian-made machines and with a long history of refurbishing and selling a wide range of European machines, I believe that we at STV Machinery are able to offer an informed opinion.
If you’re looking to make a comparison between new machines, I’d make the point that the first item for your consideration should actually be the supplier, not the machine itself – particularly If you are considering a brand that’s new to you. Does the machine supplier have a trained and factory-backed engineering support team and workshop facilities in the UK? Do they hold stocks of the most commonly required spare parts? Do they have a working UK showroom where you can ‘try before you buy’? Whilst it’s always tempting to go for the lowest purchase price, if the answer to any of the above questions is ‘no’, it makes sense to consider the risks, before you part with any hard-earned cash.
A breakdown or technical fault could result in a very long period of costly downtime, which couldalso damage your reputation and your livelihood.
Put simply, the best machine in the world is useless without support, and the cheapest possible machine is actually the most expensive if there's nobody available to get it working. At STV Machinery, we have service and support facilities for Yizumi machines that you’d expectfrom a top European manufacturer, plus a working showroom in Northamptonshire.
What about the machines?
The Yizumi machine range is huge – from 30t to 9,900t. They’re one of the world’s largest machine manufacturers.
I’ve visited their plant on a number of occasions. It’s extremely impressive. Yizumi machines are characterised by class leading tie bar space – a feature that most of our customers appreciate.Typical Yizumi machine specification includes: super low energy servo hydraulic system, test certified at 0.29kw/kg; four 3 phase sockets; double UK socket; dosing socket; double core pull ;double air blast; robot interface; caterpillar water supply to moving platen; bypass oil filtration; centralised lubrication; European components; tool kit, mould clamps; mounting feet and first emergency spares.We look forward to seeing you at Interplas again this year - on Hall 3A, Stand GG10.
Well be showing three machines, plus our full range of ancillary/automation equipment. It’s going to be a busy, working display with lots to see and discover – as well as some nice freebies for visitors.We really enjoy working on specialist projects and helping customers that are new to our industry. The more complex the better. We also hope to meet people who may have pre-conceptions about Asian-manufactured machines, so that we’ll have the opportunity to discuss our unique specification developed for the UK market. Interplas is a great opportunity to meet up with existing customers, as well as those we haven’t met yet.
We’re able to showcase what we’ve been working on with our suppliers and some of the latest innovations that can help increase efficiencies for all our customers. I expect the top of points of discussion this year, will be energy efficiency and ongoing costs. Visitors will be able to see just how efficient our machines are, as well as various options forimproving overall production efficiency.
We can also look at example consumable prices with ourcustomers to show how value goes beyond the initial machine purchase.Most importantly, visitors will be able to meet various members of the STV team.
I’ll be there along with our sales and engineering teams: the full cross-section of what makes us unique. STV Machinery is all about delivering the highest possible returns on customers’ investments. It would be great to meet people that would like to trust us with theirs.