Italian injection press maker Plastic Metal SpA, known as NPM, is playing a key role in the high-profile Myto cantilever plastic chair.
Italian molder Vivi srl of Arzignano, is molding the Myto chairs on NPM's 900-ton Unyka toggle machine, according to Plastic Metal, based in Gambellara, Italy.
At last year's K show in Dusseldorf, BASF AG molded scale models of the groundbreaking Myto cantilever plastic chair on NPM's all-electric Elettryka press with 85 tons of clamping force. BASF handed out the small chairs to introduce a high-speed version of its Ultradur polybutylene terephthalate resin.
Myto is the first cantilever chair to rely solely on the plastic — past cantilever chairs relied on a tubular steel structure. The company that designed the cantilever chair is also Italian, Plank Collezioni srl. The Myto chair is displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Plastic Metal fabricates all mechanical components in Gambellara, then assembles the NPM presses. The family-owned firm also runs a separate business, Fratelli Virginio srl, that makes conveyors, hopper loaders, dryers, mixers and granulators.
NPM makes about 250 injection presses a year, in clamping forces from 35-3,850 tons, said Robert Knaster, vice president of Plastic Metal USA in Oyster Bay, N.Y.
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