SHANGHAI — Demag Plastics Machinery (Ningbo) Co. Ltd. broke ground on its 7 million euro ($9.7 million) factory in Ningbo on April 18.
Construction on the new facility, 6 miles from Demag's existing plant, will be finished by the end of this year, said Stephan Greif, CEO of Demag Ningbo and vice president Demag China.
“We'll move in no later than May or June 2015,” he told Plastics News at Chinaplas in Shanghai.
The 215,000-square-foot facility will boost Demag China's annual capacity from 650 machines to more than 1,000 machines, depending on the size.
The new plant will make the Systec C line in the 50 -1,000 ton range that's already being made in Ningbo, but Greif said it will focus on bigger machines, as the new facility offers that space for larger cranes and stable foundation.
The building will have the option of adding another 215,000 square feet.
Automotive remains the most important end market for Demag, both in China and in Germany, while the packaging sector is showing strong growth.
An El-Exis SP 420-3000 press was churning out high density polyethylene caps at a cycle time of 2.3 seconds at Demag's Chinaplas booth. The live demonstration attracted crowds of show visitors. The machine was equipped with a 96-cavity mold from Plastisud, auxiliary machine from Koch, and automation from IMD Vista.
Demag also displayed a Systec 120-200 C machine for making medical part threaded rods. Greif noted the rising demand from China's medical market, but he thinks it will take two to three years to really take off.
