Wittmann Battenfeld betting on big for future sales

Wittmann said injection molding presses account for about 44 percent of the total business, and the company sold about 800 presses in 2014. Wittmann Battenfeld also manufacturers auxiliary equipment and robots.

Demand for automation systems has been robust for several years. Michael Wittmann said officials have to plan carefully so they don't book more orders for robots than the company can produce.

Looking to European markets, Wittmann said machinery business is growing in Italy after several years of stagnation. “2014 was the turning point,” he said.

Also, Spain and France are recovering, he said.

In other news from the MacroPower news conference, Wittmann Battenfeld is adding an assembly line-style “flow- assembly” operation at Kottingbrunn. Mounted on carts, the smaller-tonnage presses will be assembled in five staged areas, assembly-line fashion.

“That will lead us to quicker throughput of our EcoPower and SmartPower machines. And also it's a more systematic production flow,” Tinschert said. A more standardized flow of production will improve consistent assembly and help reduce the backlog of machines, he said. Strong orders have stretched out lead times, according to company officials.

In another move to boost production, Wittmann Battenfeld in May will begin series assembly of EcoPower injection presses at its factory in Hungary, run by Thomas Wittmann, Michael Wittmann's brother. That factory already makes robots and temperature controllers, and fabricates machine bases and control cabinets.

During a tour of the Hungary factory at MacroPower Days, employees worked on the first EcoPower machines in a new assembly hall that sports a 10-ton crane. Unfinished presses housings go into a large machining center for finishing. Castings of platens were lined up to be machined.

 The company also broke ground in February on a 73,600-square foot factory in Wolkersdorf, Austria, north of Vienna, for a dedicated production site of its material handling equipment. Michael Wittmann said the operation had outgrown its space at the company's factory complex in Vienna.

And in Kottingbunn, Wittmann Battenfeld is planning an expanded technical center for application engineering, including extra space for its larger-sized injection presses. That should open the spring of 2016.

In Connecticut, last year the company opened a 20,200-square foot expansion to stock larger presses, up to 850 tonnes, and to accommodate turnkey systems.

The flurry of construction continues for Wittmann Battenfeld: Michael Wittmann said the company will add a total of about 130,000 square feet at its facilities this year.