Engel Holding GmbH has formed a new subsidiary in China that will sell injection molding machinery in Asia under a new brand name: Wintec.
The Schwertberg, Austria-based machinery company announced the news April 10, confirming — and expanding upon — a March 27 Plastics News report on the company's plans to expand in China.
The new information: Wintec is a wholly owned subsidiary of Engel that will begin producing injection molding machines this summer. Wintec's core target market is China, but also includes molders in Southeast Asia, South Korea, Taiwan and India.
“Our goal for Wintec is to appeal to processors looking for relatively standardized machines with a limited range of options,” said Engel CEO Peter Neumann, in a news release. “This strategic decision allows us to open up a new target group for Engel and strengthen our foothold in Asia at the same time.”
The announcement also confirmed some details in the earlier Plastics News report: that Engel is opening a plant in Changzhou, and the operation is headed by Peter Auinger, who moved to China from his previous post as managing director of Engel de Mexico SA de CV.
The company said Wintec presses will be different from Engel-brand machines. Engel equipment can handle sophisticated tasks with integrated and automated systems. Wintec, on the other hand, will be aimed at large commodity applications.
“The requirements of Asian commodity manufacturers for energy efficiency, precision as well as supplier services have increased sharply over the past years,” Auinger said in the release. “Local suppliers, however, do not sufficiently meet these requirements.”
Engel says Wintec presses will compete with machines made in Taiwan, South Korea and China.
Wintec presses will have reduced modularity and a smaller range of options than Engel presses. As a result, they will be available “at a competitive price” and with short delivery times, the company said.
“There is hardly any overlap with the series of Engel,” Auinger said.
Wintec will have a “completely independent sales and service structure in China,” the company said.
The release did not provide information about the size of the Wintec operation. Plastics News previously reported that the Changzhou plant will be able to make 300 presses a year and generate sales of more than 500 million yuan ($80 million).
Engel plans to announce news about Wintec at Chinaplas, scheduled for April 23-26 in Shanghai.
Engel has been manufacturing injection molding presses in Asia for 13 years. Engel began assembling small- and medium-tonnage presses in Pyungtaek, South Korea, in 2001. That factory turns out presses with clamping forces under 400 metric tons.
In 2007 Engel opened its plant in Shanghai, to build larger-tonnage machines of 400-4,000 metric tons.
Engel has expanded both Asian factories to meet growing demand, investing 20 million euros ($27.5 million) in sizable expansions of its two factories in the Shanghai and South Korea, in the last few years.
Last year, Engel reported that for the first time ever, sales in Asia topped sales in the Americas, for the 2012-13 fiscal year. Engel financial reporting defines Asia as including China, Southeast Asia, South Korea, India and Australia.
