HEBRON, KY. — Mauer USA has purchased two KraussMaffei injection molding presses this year, as the caps and closure plant continues to grow six years after its German parent built the factory in Hebron, in northern Kentucky near Cincinnati.
The two new KM CX presses — one with 200 metric tons of clamping force that started this spring and a 350-tonne CX that should begin molding parts by late June — bring Mauer USA up to 25 injection molding machines. When Klaus Mauer started the U.S. factory in 2007, it had seven presses.
All 25 are KraussMaffei machines. Nearly all of them have KM beam robots, although there are a few Star robots there. The presses have clamping forces ranging from 50-350 tonnes.
The highly automated Hebron plant employs 27 people. It molds closures for consumer products like shampoo and toothpaste tubes. Many of them are flip-top and snap-on closures.
Attendees to the open house of KraussMaffei Corp., held in Florence, Ky., on June 13, toured Mauer USA. Klaus Mauer, president of Kutterer Mauer AG, was at the closure factory.
During an interview, he said that Mauer USA enjoys a good relationship with KraussMaffei. Florence is only about 10 miles from Hebron. And the German executive said KraussMaffei has worked with Mauer to develop some special technology for cap and closure molding.
Mauer AG built a 40,000-square-foot greenfield factory in Hebron in 2007. Steady expansion followed and the company purchased new injection presses each year. Last year, Mauer USA added a 4,000-square-foot expansion to house mold maintenance. Kutterer Mauer builds its own molds, with up to 180 cavities, at the headquarters in Karlsruhe, Germany. The U.S. plant runs molds as large as 72 cavities.
In 2008, Mauer AG Ubstadt-Weiher, Germany, merged with another German closure molder Kutterer Kunststofftechnik of Karlsruhe to create Kutter Mauer AG.
