Milacron Holdings Corp. and Sepro Group have announced a deal in which Sepro will manufacture 3 and 5-axis robots to be sold with Milacron injection molding machines throughout Europe.
The agreement is similar to one signed in 2010 that has seen Sepro robots sold under the Milacron brand in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The partnership has already started in Europe and more than 15 linear robots have been sold under the agreement to customers in Germany, Portugal and elsewhere.
All linear robots are marketed under the Milacron brand name to equip its full range of injection molding machines. Milacron is handling aftermarket service with support from Sepro, particularly during the early stages of the relationship.
Denis Poelman, managing director of Milacron's injection molding machinery business in Europe said: “The Sepro robotic systems are ideally suited for all of Milacron's machine series and perfectly adapt to our customer's needs. All platforms are offered under the name of Milacron Standard Linear Robot for Pick and Place Applications and Milacron Performance Linear Robot for High End Applications. The new robot portfolio can handle weights from 3 to 60 kilograms.”
Jean-Michel Renaudeau, CEO of Sepro Group, said: “Of course, several molding machine manufacturers have sold injection molding machine/robot packages for years and they are quite popular, especially in countries like Germany and for global companies buying equipment for plants in other parts of the world. Others prefer to buy their injection molding machine from one company and their robot from another and we offer them our support too. So, today, we offer molders new choices.”
Milacron said that, as part of its strategy for offering integrated automation with its machines, it is planning further industrial robot technology platforms from Kuka, ABB, Fanuc, Yaskawa and Stäubli to be available from Milacron in the near future.
Milacron is based in Blue Ash, Ohio. Sepro is based in La Roche sur Yon, France.