FREIBURG, GERMANY (Oct. 3, 10:50 a.m. EDT) — K 2007 will mark a milestone for Milacron Inc., as the Cincinnati-based company will be able to display extruders in Europe at the world's largest trade show.
Milacron will get its message out at K by introducing a plug-and-play extruder and announcing new efforts around the world.
First, a quick history lesson: In 1999, Milacron sold its Vienna, Austria-based extruder business. Under a five-year noncompete agreement with the buyer, Cincinnati Extrusion GmbH, Milacron was barred from selling outside of its home market of North America. The agreement expired at the end of 2004 — too late for the K show that year.
So now, Milacron is making big plans for this year's show.
“Our re-entry into the global market after a five-year noncompete phase has resulted in strong sales increases, including 31 percent of total machinery sales outside of the United States in 2006,” said David Bertke, vice president and general manager of Cincinnati Milacron Extrusion Systems, during a July pre-K news conference in Freiburg.
Officials expect that ratio of non-U.S. business to increase to more than 40 percent this year.
At the news conference, Milacron announced a new technical partnership with Allianz Extrusion Systems GmbH, a German company that builds tooling for the PVC profile industry, including foam, hollow, solid or fencing product profiles.
AES will install a testing and demonstration line with a Cincinnati Milacron TC93 parallel twin-screw extruder, with full downstream equipment, at its facility in Delesin, Czech Republic. AES also will provide technical support for Cincinnati Milacron extrusion products, including conical and parallel twin-screw extruders, single-screw extruders, co-rotating twin-screw extruders, replacement screws and barrels, dies and downstream equipment.
AES LLC in Lake Geneva, Wis., which handles AES sales in North America, will work with Milacron extrusion experts based at Milacron's U.S. plant in Batavia, Ohio.
In product news, Milacron will introduce a plug-and-play extrusion system designed for companies that want to entering the wood-plastics composites business quickly. The key part of the system is Milacron's TC86, a large, conical twin-screw extruder that brings a combination of compression and low-shear mixing capability.
Milacron claims to have more than 280 extrusion lines, worldwide, running wood-plastic composite products such as decking and railing.
In other news, Milacron:
* Is setting up a production-scale laboratory and demonstration line at the new Milacron facility in Shanghai, which will house a TC86 lab line to run plastics with wood and other natural fibers.
* After the K show, will ship a TC86 line to a new extrusion systems sales and customer service center at the Uniloy Milacron facility in Magenta, Italy.
* Announced it has added representation in Greece, with Frelchem Ltd. of Athens, and in Taiwan, with Taipei-based Injectech Enterprise Co. Ltd.
