Cincinnati Extrusion GmbH has agreed to a global marketing alliance with Gruber & Co. Group GmbH to supply turnkey systems for making window profiles.
Vienna, Austria-based extruder maker Cincinnati Extrusion will work with extrusion tooling and downstream systems supplier Gruber of Pettenbach, Austria, to target the markets of Eastern Europe, former Communist bloc countries, India, the Middle East and Latin America.
Across these countries, the window market is growing strongly and there are a number of local players looking for assistance in setting up their own manufacturing operations, the companies said.
``Our cooperation is focused on project markets - customers who may now be fabricating but want to go into profile production,'' said Hans Berlisg, Cincinnati Extrusion director of marketing and production management. To make the turnkey window production lines, Cincinnati Extrusion supplies extruders and Gruber supplies tooling and downstream equipment.
Berlisg estimated this market accounts for sales of around 30-40 extrusion lines a year. Such customers are typically looking for assistance in selecting profile systems, formulations and stabilizer systems.
The two companies have already worked together on a number of projects. Gruber integrates Cincinnati Extrusion's Konos 72 twin- screw extruder into its off-the-shelf Combi-Line production system.
Cincinnati Extrusion also supplied the extruders for a profile production system delivered by Gruber last year to U.S.-based window and door maker Jeld-Wen Inc.
Both companies remain free to work with alternative supplier partners where the final customer has a particular preference.
Over the past few years, Cincinnati Extrusion has supplied extruders for most of the turnkey lines supplied into Eastern Europe by another Austrian tooling and downstream company, Technoplast Kunststofftechnik GmbH.
Berlisg said Cincinnati Extrusion will continue to offer extruders to Technoplast. However, the April acquisition of Technoplast by the Austrian industrial group, HTI High Tech Industries AG - which now puts it under the same ownership as extruder maker Theysohn Extrusionstechnik GmbH - was a factor in Cincinnati Extrusion's decision to develop a stronger relationship with Gruber, he said.