At Plastics USA this fall, processors will be able to order a new Reed injection press for the first time since 1990.
That year, the Reed Division of Package Machinery Co. stopped making machines, ending a brand name that began in 1936.
At the Chicago show, the Reed Division of Package Machinery Co. plans to show a prototype of its new Duplimatic vertical insert molding machine, according to Package Machinery President Katherine E. Putnam.
Putnam said Reed will take orders for Duplimatics at Plastics USA. The machines probably will be ready for delivery in the first quarter of 1999, she said. Reed will offer Duplimatics with clamping forces of 75 and 100 tons.
``Whether we assemble in-house or whether we subcontract is still up in the air. But all of the engineering is being done in-house,'' Putnam said
Once Reed gets the vertical business started, the company will consider re-entering the much bigger market for new horizontal presses.
Years ago, Reed was a major force in injection presses. Package Machinery, based in West Springfield, Mass., manufactured some 11,000 Reed horizontal and vertical machines from 1951-90. Package Machinery stopped making new Reed presses in 1990, but continued to support Reeds in the field. Putnam and other investors bought Reed and Package Machinery in 1996, and the new management has started to rebuild old Reeds.
Reed also will show a new retrofit controller at Plastics USA called Cyclemaster 500.
Plastics USA runs Oct. 6-8 at Chicago's McCormick Place.