ORLANDO, FLA. (April 17, 11 a.m. ET) — "Connectivity" was the theme for Wittmann Battenfeld Inc. at NPE2012, where officials said you now can be on the golf course and check your molding machines — if you want to.
“He could be in his production shop. He could be looking at his plant in Puerto Rico or if he’s in China,” said President David Preusse at the company’s news conference on April 4.
At NPE2012, all six injection molding presses were connected with the company’s auxiliary equipment.
“This is a real technology. It’s not just a trade show gimmick,” Preusse said. “We’re using it today, with our customers.”
Wittmann Battenfeld, the North American unit of Austria-based Wittmann Battenfeld GmbH, generates about $90 million in sales and is forecasting a 15 percent increase in North American sales this year.
“The U.S. is still quite strong,” he said. So far this year, the U.S. injection press market is tracking at about 3,000 units per year, he said.
Preusse said Wittmann robot sales also quite strong.
Georg Tinschert, president and CEO of Wittmann Battenfeld GmbH, said the company enjoyed good growth in 2011, as sales increased by 25 percent over 2010. He credited the new Power Series.
This year, he predicts sales will increase by 5 percent. “We had five or six months of backlog when we started 2012,” Tinschert said.
This year, he said, the company will expand the Power Series, adding a multi-component molding to the EcoPower press, and adding foaming capability to its larger-tonnage presses.
This year, the machinery maker is building a 17,220-square-foot addition at its headquarters in Kottingbrunn, Austria, to expand the press assembly area.
Wittmann Battenfeld is showing a number of technologies this week in Florida, including a wide-platen, 850-ton MacroPower press molding then fully assembling a five-part folding box.
