Milacron expands India operations

Milacron Holdings Corp. has completed the third phase of an expansion project in India.

The company has invested between $18 million and $20 million in the project, which is aimed both at the fast-growing market in India for plastics machinery, and at export markets.

“Our plant is running to full capacity of 1,500 units annually,” and the expansion will take the capacity up to 2,100 machines, said Shirish Divgi, managing director of Ferromatik Milacron India, in a telephone interview from the unit's headquarters in Ahmedabad, India.

The expansion will shorten lead times and add flexibility to manufacture a wider range of machines for domestic and global customers.

“We have received good orders from Latin American markets in Brazil and Mexico … and Germany, Italy and Portugal, besides developing Turkey in the European market,” Divgi said.

The 9,304-square-meter addition in Ahmedabad brings the total footprint there to 65,000 square meters. The additional space will primarily be used for machining and assembly. The ground floor of the facility is air conditioned and features a rainwater harvesting and recharging system.

Milacron CEO Tom Goeke had first announced the expansion project in 2014. Initially the company planned to build a new facility at another location in India, but eventually went ahead with expansion in Ahmedabad.

FMI also shifted spare-parts manufacturing to new premises to support the larger capacity for machine manufacturing.

Ahmedabad makes hydraulic, servo and all-electric injection molding machines; blow molding equipment, and extruders. The plant makes presses ranging from 50 to 3,200 tons of clamping force.

Divgi said FMI has shipped the popular Magna T Servo machines from India to the United States, and is keen on expanding its sales in Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, Blue Ash, Ohio-based Milacron also announced that it has completed installation of a large brazed furnace at its hot runner manufacturing plant in Coimbatore, India.

The new equipment will allow the plant to make iFlow manifolds. Milling the melt-channel paths into individual pieces allows for different melt-channel layout possibilities and eliminates the need for manifold plugs.

“The iFlow technology will be launched in the India market by the third quarter of 2016,” said Kannan Venkatraman, managing director of Mold-Masters India. Milacron invested around $2.5 million in the project.

Meanwhile, there is a plan to bring all the three units together in own premises by 2017-18.