Turin, Italy — Bausano & Figli SpA has a new lease option for plastics processors evaluating which investments can be postponed and which need to be made to stay competitive and preserve positive cash flow.
The company is leasing extrusion lines for producing granules for subsequent molding, extrusion or calendering.
The offer currently is extended to companies in Europe while Bausano officials evaluate feedback.
"No other extrusion line manufacturer has ever proposed this operating lease solution. Therefore, it was important for us to understand what customers thought about it," Bausano Vice President Clemente Bausano said in an email.
The response has been positive by new and first-time customers and the program may be rolled out in the U.S., Bausano said.
"We have found great success both among those who already owned a Bausano extruder and those who still did not know our technology," Bausano said. "All our USA and Canada customers were directly informed of this new service for the granulation lines of the MD Plus and MD Nextmover ranges, confirming what happened in Europe and the strong interest for the initiative. Therefore, we have not ruled out extending the service overseas."
The goal is to support customers dealing with peaks in workload or wanting to diversify their business with limited investment.
Bausano officials say these considerations are particularly relevant in the medical sector, where operators are called upon to upgrade production facilities with extrusion lines for specific processing to handle a diverse range of orders.
In addition to having the latest generation technology for Industry 4.0, leased extrusion lines aren't recorded in the assets of financial statements and can be fully deducted at tax time.
Also, the disposal costs of capital goods can be reduced.
Overall, the company is giving customers alternatives to weighing down their lines of credit during unprecedented times, Bausano said.
"We consider an operating lease to be a valuable means of encouraging companies which, for various reasons, have had to postpone investments for purchasing an entire extrusion line, thereby offering them benefits in terms of sustainability and financial stability," Bausano said.
"Being able to rely on a certain degree of flexibility in the machine fleet will make it possible to expand the range of products derived from the extrusion of granules starting from virgin or recycled plastics," he added.
The company's offer involves paying a fixed periodic fee for renting the entire extrusion line — except for the cylinder and screws, which are custom-designed and will remain the property of the customer, even if the machine is returned.
The offer also includes a visit by a Bausano technician to assist the customer in starting up the plant.