Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2023 winners
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Bioplastics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
August 17, 2006 02:00 AM

Milacron beefs up extrusion for international market

Bill Bregar
Senior Staff Reporter
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    CHICAGO (Aug. 17, 6 p.m. EDT) — Milacron Inc. is back in the global game for extruders, with a beefed-up staff.

    “We are pushing very hard into the international side,” said Dave Bertke, vice president and general manager of Milacron Extrusion Systems, at NPE 2006 in Chicago.

    The plastics machinery maker has promoted from within, hired a European sales head from another extruder maker, opened a regional headquarters in China and hired veterans of major extrusion companies Crane Plastics Manufacturing Ltd. and Deceuninck North America LLC.

    Milacron had been hamstrung from selling outside its home base of North America since late 1999, when the company sold its Vienna, Austria-based extruder business to SMS AG, the German conglomerate that makes extruders under the Battenfeld and American Maplan brand names, as well as injection molding machines and blown film lines.

    Under terms of the sale, Milacron and SMS signed a five-year noncompete agreement that kept each company out of the other's way. The noncompete expired at the end of 2004, and now both are openly clashing for the same customers, worldwide.

    An odd twist adds a bit of market confusion. The SMS extruder business bears the brand name from its days under Milacron ownership — Cincinnati Extrusion GmbH — even though it's headquartered in Vienna. And Milacron is based in … Cincinnati.

    The extruder company in the real Cincinnati claims to be doing well as a new global player. Bertke said that, in the first quarter of this year, 25 percent of all its extruder sales came from outside the United States. Milacron has sold extrusion equipment in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East.

    In May, Milacron Extrusion opened an office in Shanghai, headed by general sales manager Werner Liu, who was a regional sales manager for Asia for a Canadian electronics firm.

    Milacron also plans to resume extruder production in Europe at the plant of sister company Uniloy Milacron, based in Magenta, Italy, with some assembly to begin this fall.

    Herb Hutchison, the director of international business development, said the sales have been broad-based. “We've sold everything from single-screw systems for medical tubing to twin-screw systems for rigid PVC pipe, window profiles and wood-natural- fiber composite products,” he said. “The sales include multiple machine lines and systems.”

    Milacron officials claim the firm makes the industry's broadest range of large, high-output twin-screw extruders, widely used for pipe and other construction products, including parallel twins and conical twins. Milacron makes what it claims are the world's largest conical twin-screw extruders, which are well-suited for extruding wood-plastic composite products like decking.

    Milacron recently sold its 275th machine for running plastic decking and profiles from wood flour and other natural fibers, to an unidentified French customer. Wood flour remains the dominant material, but the global growth won't all come from wood additives, Bertke said at NPE 2006 in June. Processors in countries like China, where wood is scarce, are turning to natural fibers such as rice hulls, corn stalks and the husks of coffee beans, he said.

    Milacron also makes single-screw extruders and sheet lines.

    But as important as gearboxes, steel and screw technology, Milacron has strengthened its human capital:

    * Bertke, a 33-year Milacron veteran, was promoted to the top spot in extrusion. He worked for about 20 years in Milacron's former machine tool business, then moved to the plastics equipment side in 1994.

    * Milacron hired Hutchison late last year from Crane Plastics, where he had worked for 32 years. He was responsible for Crane's first TimberTech wood composite plant to make decking and railing. His last position at the Columbus, Ohio-based company was president of CPC Tooling Technologies.

    * Another new hire with a strong processing background is Don Schmidt, who is sales project engineer supporting Milacron Extrusion's international business. Schmidt came from Deceuninck North America LLC, where he led a team that designed and started up that firm's wood composites plant in Monroe, Ohio, to extrude decking and railing.

    * Milacron Extrusion named Steve Jones its European technical sales and marketing manager, just before NPE 2006. He works out of Uttoxeter, England. Jones has more than 20 years of compounding experience, most recently at Entek Extruders, where he was European sales manager. His extrusion career started at Rapra Technology Ltd., a polymer research and technology company in Shawbury, England. He later owned Vega Scientific Compounding Ltd. in Stoke-on- Trent, England, and worked at Wolverhampton-based masterbatch maker Douglas Baker Ltd., before going to Entek.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Treaty talks end with plans for a draft agreement, but hurdles remain
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Treaty talks end with plans for a draft agreement, but hurdles remain
    2
    Polymer Resources expands New York compounding plant
    3
    PP recycler PureCycle sees Ohio plant as springboard for growth
    4
    Smith & Wesson confirms closure of molding site by end of 2024
    5
    Sigma Plastics Group expands stretch film capabilities
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2023 winners
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • Bioplastics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified