BMB weathers downturn, debuts high-performance packaging series

While many of the larger machinery makers at K 2019 are feeling the effects of uncertainty in the global economy — primarily driven by trade conflicts and a global slowdown in automotive — Italian machinery maker BMB SpA is experiencing the opposite.

"It's a strange anomaly because I know that some of the other larger machinery manufacturers are articulating that their sales are moving downwards. We're actually moving upwards, and we're expanding at the moment," said David Brown, area sales manager for BMB North America, which serves the United States and Canada.

At its headquarters in Brescia, Italy, BMB is adding 70,000 square feet of assembly space. The project is expected to be completed later this year.

"We'll now have four separate facilities in our complex, totaling about 400,000 square feet," Brown said during an interview at the company's booth.

BMB focuses on more high-end applications in the packaging, medical and electronics markets, which aren't suffering the same slowdown as the automotive market, he said. For this year, the company is ahead of its target to build 450 machines.

"And next year, we're targeting even greater growth," Brown said.

In machinery news, BMB has launched a new series of high-performance injection molding machines designed for the packaging sector that is making its official trade show debut at K.

The new range of HP series machines tout improved precision and faster injection speeds, the company said. The hybrid presses also have a new control panel and are designed with a sharper focus on integration and connection via the internet of things.

At K, BMB is showing an eKW45HP/2200 from the new series. The 450-metric-ton hybrid press is customized to produce rectangular thin-walled containers with in-mold labeling and MuCell technology.

The machine's special screw is designed to support the MuCell technology and can reduce the amount of raw material used and the overall cycle time without hindering part quality, the company said.

"We're filling this entire mold — all four cavities — in 0.08 seconds, and that normally would have taken about 0.20 seconds, so it's almost three times faster on the fill," Brown said.

The series is characterized by movements with direct torque motors on the clamping and plasticization units that are directly coupled to the toggle and screw rotation movements without the use of belts or gear reducers. The new injection unit also features a double servo Moog valve and electric plasticizing.

The tonnage range for the HP series is 250-850 tonnes.

"It's been driven by the demand in the marketplace," Brown said of the high-performance series. "Particularly in the U.S., they want to make more parts faster … and lighter, so the limitation became how fast can we fill these molds, so that's what drove the engineering."

In other sustainability news, BMB is showing an application for the production of coffee pods that it says are completely biodegradable and compostable. On display is an eKW70Pi/2200 all-electric press with a 32-cavity mold. The 700-tonne machine can produce 21,000 pieces per hour, the company said. The cycle time is just under 6 seconds.

The company said the full-electric machine can measure and dose every hundredth of a gram of material, enabling it to obtain a constant surface thickness. BMB in-house designed the screw specifically for compostable material.

Also on display at the booth is a large-tonnage press that is producing 1-gallon containers made of 100 percent post-consumer polypropylene with handles assembled by a robot.

The 1,000-tonne press is a hybrid eKW1000/18500 with a four-cavity mold. The cycle time is 7.5 seconds. BMB said the application highlights the potential for identifying applications where a product or material can be recycled and potentially reused.

"Plastics is under a lot of pressure," Brown said. "And yes, we're part of the problem, but we're a big part of the solution as well."