GUANGZHOU, CHINA — Haitian International Holdings Ltd. announced at ChinaPlas that it will roll out a two-platen Jupiter II Plus in the second half of 2015.
The upgraded machine, with enhanced speed and injection pressure, is targeted at customers in the United States, Europe and Japan.
At the show, Haitian's high-end subsidiary, Zhafir Plastics Machinery Co. Ltd., showed off its biggest all-electric Venus machine, the 650-ton VE6500II.
Last year, Haitian sold 211 Jupiter machines, up from 150 in the previous year, and 1,062 Venus machines, up from 994.
Haitian's leading mainland China customers include Shenzhen-based mobile and communications manufacturer maker Control Electromechanical, which ordered 20 Venus machines last year, and Guowei Plastics Mold, which has purchased 108 Haitian and Zhafir machines.
Zhafir machines are assembled and customized in Ebermannsdorf, Germany. Ningbo, China-based Haitian plans to triple its Germany production capacity in the next two years, said Helmar Franz, Haitian's executive director and chief strategy officer.
In a brief presentation, Franz outlined his view of the future for injection molding machines, which includes slashing the weight of moving parts, making more energy-efficient drives, and developing applications that blend injection molding with other techniques, such as thermoforming.
Sounding like a TED conference visionary, Franz speculated that hardware manufacturers might move to a different business model, in which customers pay not to own a plastics manufacturing machine but to use it. Franz compared this approach to mobile phone carriers that give away phones to people willing to sign a long-term contract.
Franz noted that the China Brand Promotion Council pegged the Haitian brand as worth 5.83 billion RMB (about $940 million) — good for fourth among Chinese machinery makers.