Sales, orders climbing for Wittmann Battenfeld

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, GERMANY — Equipment maker Wittmann Battenfeld GmbH expects sales this year to increase 7 percent, to 295 million euros, as it said some key markets, including in Europe, were performing better than general economic news might suggest.

At an Oct. 15 news conference at Fakuma in Friedrichshafen, company executives said orders this year are up 15 percent, and it projected 2015 sales would reach 320 million euros.

As well, Wittmann Battenfeld unveiled a new line of servo-hydraulic machines, dubbed Smartpower, which it says save energy by completely recapturing the energy released in the machine's deceleration back into its operations, along with a series of new auxiliary equipment and robots.

On the financial figures, General Manager Michael Wittmann said many European markets, where Wittmann gets 57 percent of sales, are doing reasonably well, making up for a slowdown in China and tougher business in Southeast Asia. In particular he mentioned stronger competition from Japanese machinery makers there.

“Markets that have been weak in the past, like the U.K., like France, like Spain, have been very healthy this year,” Wittmann said. “We are still operating in a healthy market … If you ask us why, we don't know.”

He acknowledged “conflicting information” about larger end markets influencing its business, like the automotive industry.

In materials given to journalists, the company said it was seeing “especially strong” interest in its Ecopower all-electric molding machines and Macropower larger tonnage machines, along with its vertical machines, automation systems and temperature controllers.

On the technology side, the company unveiled a series of new products, with a particular focus on an updated, more energy saving hydraulic machine dubbed the “Smartpower.”

The Smartpower uses the company's kinetic energy recovery system, or KERS, to change the energy released by the machine's deceleration into electrical energy for the drive system, heating the barrel or powering the control system.

“This means that the entire deceleration energy is used within the machine,” according to the company.

At its booth, it's running two Smartpower machines: a 60-ton press making polyamide connecting rod for a compressor and a 120-ton press manufacturing penholders from liquid silicone rubber.

The new line will start delivery in January, in models from 25 to 120 tons.

As well, the firm expanded its “sandwich” manufacturing concept, using two injection units in one machine, to its large-sized Macropower line.

It has one injection unit centered in the standard position, and a second injection unit placed at a “Y” angle to the main unit, allowing for better molding of applications where thick-walled parts are needed and where a less expensive or lighter, often foamed or recycled material, can be used as filler. 

On the show floor, the firm is molding “Lechuza” brand flower pots with a PP shell and a foamed PP core, on a 450-ton Macropower machine, using a single-cavity mold.

As well, he said, the company was doing trials on a single control system that links the molding machine, robots and all auxiliary equipment, which it can do because it manufactures many of those units itself.

“It is just a concept at his point — it is not yet in the market,” he said. “Everything is concentrated in one piece of control.”