As Sumitomo (SHI) Demag celebrates 50 years of market presence in the UK and Ireland, Dave Raine, Nigel Flowers and the team encapsulate their favourite moments into five eras.
Sumitomo (SHI) Demag
- The Heritage Era
Demag Hamilton was founded at the end of September 1974 when Hamilton Machinery joined Demag AG. At that time, the total market of British-built and imported machines was 2,700. There are now over 5,800 companies in the UK plastics industry, operating almost 16,000 machines and contributing £25 billion annually to our economy. However, the company's history started before 1974.
During the 1950s, Demag Plastics Group (Ankerwerk Nürnberg) had already made a name for itself as an innovator on the continent responding to high demand for inexpensive, mass-produced plastic products after the war. In 1956, the company engineered the world’s first single-screw injection moulding machine, providing precise control over the injection speed and enabling materials to be mixed beforehand.
One year before launching Demag Hamilton, the team in Germany debuted the first injection moulding machine employing a digital hydraulic system. It resulted in faster setups and greater consistency and processing precision over time. “This technology was very much the precursor to the drives we see today. The main difference is the relative efficiency – including energy consumption - and the high repeatability of a digital system. From those very early days (and even before as the UK agent), we’ve been at the forefront of addressing production challenges, whether it’s fast cycling, new technologies or energy consumption,” notes Director Nigel Flowers.
In 2012, the company rebranded as Sumitomo (SHI) Demag.
- The Support Era
Nigel’s first job as a service engineer in 1986 involved travelling in the company Ford Sierra 1.6L Estate to IMED in Letterkenny Ireland to fit several machines with robot interfaces. Articles by PRW reveal that Demag Hamilton employed 10 service engineers with a charge-out rate of £3.50 p/h in 1974. A responsive service was as important then as it is now, and the company was managing more than 800 Ankerwerk and Stubbe machines – many of which were built in the company’s factory in Craigavon Northern Ireland.
Service has always been a critical company differentiator. The UK team was the first to introduce annual machine “check-ups” in 1996. The D-Check evolved into the ErgoCheck, which is now accompanied by activeCare. It helped customers ensure their machine was still operating by the original manufacturer’s protocols and design performance. It later developed into activeCare, where we offered enhanced value to customers by not only checking performance but also changing wear components.
Sumitomo (SHI) Demag has been building digital datasets for over 25 years. Service 3000 was introduced in 1996 to investigate service pinch points and generate monthly data reports.
- The Debut Era
Fast cycling became a reality towards the end of the decade with the introduction of modular drive technology on a hybrid El-Exis S high-speed machine. The IntElect with water-cooled direct drives for all movement axes launched in 2003, setting another trend. This was designed to meet specific cleanroom requirements commonplace in the medical sector.
The debut of the DEMAG Ergotech EXTRA machine also played a pivotal role, as Managing Director Dave Raine says: “This was, by far, our fastest selling and most popular German built machine. For £23,500, processors could get all the additional productivity-enhancing and reliability features that would have usually cost them more. It was a step change in the company’s R&D to ensure that productivity features were no longer a nice-to-have.”
The company launched an IntElect equivalent to the EXTRA in the same year, providing customers with a fast-delivery, energy efficient and fast cycling model.
- The Ireland Era
Craigavon can be defined as one of the company’s biggest success stories. In 1974, PRW reported that production space more than doubled since the production of the Stubbe machines started in 1967. In seven years, 800 Stubbe injection moulding machines were delivered to customers in Britain, Eire and further afield. Christoph Fischer, GM at that time, was awarded an MBE for his services to the industry as a result of the success of the Craigavon plant.
"Being so deeply rooted in Ireland’s plastics processing sector is often underplayed", reports Dave. Thanks to over 400+ supported precision machines manufacturing billions of medical, biotech, electronic, automotive, engineering and FMCG packaging components yearly, the company could open a Centre of Excellence in Limerick last year. This now provides customers with direct access to IOM3-accredited training, and a dedicated team of experienced technical, service support and processing professionals.
“Given the maturity of the precision processing market in Ireland, our new Ireland office provides us with the opportunity to serve our customers in the best way possible while building upon our physical footprint in the region,” adds Dave.
- The Productivity Era
Sustainability and energy efficiency characterise the last era. After surpassing 85,000 IntElect global installations in 2022, the Group continues to invest in R&D to unlock efficiency improvements, reduce material waste and address labour shortages.
“It’s widely considered a ‘given’ that energy efficiency and reduced pollution are the benefits of all-electric injection moulding machines. Especially in today’s eco-conscious manufacturing world. However, beneath the hood of our IntElect machines are a number of velocity and injection power features that, when used correctly and repeatably by moulding operatives, result in faster cycle times and more stable start-ups. Even before any process optimisation steps have been introduced and expert setting knowledge has been imparted,” exclaims the newest team member and Area Sales Manager Ashlee Gough.
For the entire team, it’s this attention to detail that ensures customers will continue to remain the strongest advocates of Sumitomo (SHI) Demag machines. As Nigel says: “As we reflect on everything accomplished, I’d like to thank each and every one of our 400 customers spanning the automotive, IT, packaging, electronic, medical and pharmaceutical, building products and leisure industries for sharing this exciting journey with us to greater productivity."