Orlando, Fla. — Making its NPE debut under its joint Chinese and U.S. name at NPE2018 in Orlando, May 7-11, Yizumi-HPM Corp. is touting its tech know-how, including foaming technology that slashes energy use and cycle time.
The company also announced at NPE that it plans to expand its North American technical center in Iberia, Ohio.
The company opened the 22,000-square-foot technical center seven months ago and now plans to add additional space.
"The addition of 15,000 square feet of manufacturing space is designed to meet the expanded demands of the company's growing business in large-tonnage injection molding and die casting machines," said John Beary, president of Yizumi-HPM Corp.
The company has started engineering studies and architectural work with a target of beginning construction in early 2019.
The investment also will include a 75-ton crane. The expanded facility will house sales, manufacturing and other administrative services. It will also accommodate more room for machine development and customer trials.
The Ohio company, a unit of China's Guangdong Yizumi Precision Machinery Co. Ltd., is demonstrated its FoamPro technology, developed with Wilmington, Mass.-based MuCell foaming system supplier Trexel Inc.
FoamPro reduces part weight by 20 percent, halves clamping force and cuts cycle times by 30 percent or more, thanks to using an aluminum instead of a steel mold, said Hans Wobbe, chief strategy officer for Guangdong Yizumi.
While such technology is not new to the North American market, Yizumi said it wanted to bring it to NPE2018 to show the company's technical development, particularly to the North American auto and home appliance industries.
Guangdong Yizumi, one of China's biggest manufacturers of injection molding machines, acquired the intellectual property of bankrupt Marion, Ohio-based machine maker HPM in 2011. HPM and Yizumi exhibited at NPE in 2012 and 2015, but only under the HPM name.
Yizumi-HPM's sales leaped 114 percent last year, the company says.
Speaking at a media day last month before the ChinaPlas show in Shanghai, Wobbe underscored the Shunde, Guangdong province-based company's technology development.
"If you produce the machine only, you miss the knowledge of the entire process," Wobbe said. "We will focus on total systems and total machine sales."
At its NPE2018 booth, the company is running FoamPro on a Yizumi-HPM DP-N series two-platen injection molding machine to produce briefcases with gloss, matte, leather, fabric and fiber-particle finish in a 49-second cycle.
Also at the booth, a Yizumi-HPM A5-N servo injection molding machine will feature the Linde Group's gas-assisted injection molding process that controls resin flow, increases precision and cuts materials consumption and cooling time.
The company also announced at NPE that Bill Flickinger will retire on Oct. 30 after a 50-year career in plastics.
Flickinger has worked directly for or had an association with HPM since 1968. He retired as president of Yizumi-HPM in February 2016.
He will continue part time as vice president until October.
"This allows me to attend one more NPE exhibition and NADCA Die Casting Show," he said.