D-M-E Co. (Booth S1702) has inked an agreement with Brazil's Polimold Industrial SA that will bring Polimold's products to a wider global market.
The agreement, signed June 20, creates an exclusive corporate partnership to unite offerings from both companies. Potentially, that could mean a product like Polimold's Polivalve hot-runner system with sequential valve gating, now used in South America for automotive bumper fascias, could now be available nearly anywhere D-M-E sells products, said D-M-E President David Lawrence in a June 21 interview at NPE 2006 in Chicago.
Future product development could unite D-M-E and Polimold offerings in one complete package, with manufacturing coming from either company, Lawrence said.
``This gives us additional product depth at a very, very competitive price,'' he said.
Polimold, of Sio Bernardo do Campo, makes mold bases as well as hot runners. As a united force, the two companies could offer complete hot halves or specialized components from either company.
And going forward, they will be able to look within each other's catalogs to fill product gaps within their portfolio and coordinate future product development, Lawrence said.
``Through this partnership we'll be able to leverage our joint competencies to provide customers with more sophisticated mold technology solutions,'' said Polimold Managing Director Alexandre Fix.
D-M-E already is planning to bring its expertise into the Polyvalve sequential valve-gating program, Lawrence said.
The system developed by Polimold works solely with commodity resins. Engineers for Madison Heights, Mich.-based D-M-E plan to expand it into engineering resins - opening potential sales to a wider range of customers.
D-M-E personnel will receive training on Polimold products, for both sales and service, Lawrence said. The company also may make some of Polimold's parts to fill out manufacturing needs as sales take off, he said.