TROISDORF, GERMANY - Blow molding machinery supplier Fischer-W. Muller Blasformtechnik GmbH aims to equip all its machines with fully electric drives or hybrid controls by the end of next year.
The Troisdorf-based manufacturer, which has relied heavily on European customers during the past two years, expects to be more active in North and South America next year.
Jurgen Hagedorn, director of sales and marketing, also anticipates more orders within months from the Asian market, which he said is recovering from the recent economic crisis.
FMB introduced its first fully electric blow molding machines, the FMB 1 series, in 1998. Now the company may take production of the machines international.
In the United States, Krupp Plastics & Rubber Machinery (USA) Inc. in North Branch, N.J., has been producing FMB 4 machines since February 1998. The next step, Hagedorn said, is to manufacture the all-electric FMB 1 machines there.
Hagedorn said FMB just began manufacturing its hybrid-control FMB 2 series, FMB 4 long-stroke models and Pugliese blow molding machines at the Krupp Maquinas para Plasticos e Borracha (Brasil) Ltda. plant at Jundiai, Brazil.
FMB is a subsidiary of Krupp Kunststofftechnik GmbH of Essen, Germany.
``Two years after our takeover by Krupp, we are proud to say that FMB is in excellent shape. In Germany, we rank No. 3 among the producers of extrusion blow molders, in Europe we are No. 5 or 6, and we are among the top 10 in the world,'' Hagedorn said.