IPSWICH, MASS. — Reifenhauser Inc. has pulled the plug on its NPE exhibit. The company will be at the show, as usual. But this year it will not have a complete extrusion line in production.
"We're going cold and not running machinery," said Chris Nicholls, managing director of Reinfenhauser Inc., the regional headquarters for North and South America.
Nicholls and Ulrich Reinfenhauser, president of Reifenhauser Inc. and managing director of the parent company, Reifenhauser GmbH & Co. Machinenfabrik of Troisdorf, Germany, made the announcement during an interview May 16 at the grand opening of the Ipswich facility.
Originally, the company set up its BF 3000 blown film extrusion line in Ipswich to tune it up for NPE, but found that customers wanted to come in and test their own products on the line.
As a result, the firm decided not to break down the line for NPE, but rather invite customers to Ipswich. Nicholls said that would save the company downtime and keep the Ipswich lab running.
However, he stressed that Reifenhauser will have extruders, die setups and winders, and other components on display. The company also will show a video presentation of its machinery running.
"It was a hard decision," Nicholls said, "but I believe the market will be better served."
