Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
November 11, 2019 01:18 PM

Bole opens US headquarters in Stow, Ohio

Bill Bregar
Senior Staff Reporter
Plastics News Staff
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    Plastics News photo by Bill Bregar
    Alfred Rak, president and CEO of Bole Machinery, poses with a press at K 2019.

    Düsseldorf, Germany — The Chinese manufacturer of Bole injection molding machinery has opened a U.S. headquarters in Stow, Ohio, near Akron, and hired Alfred Rak as president and CEO.

    Rak said Bole Machinery Inc. began operations about a year ago in a 25,000-square-foot building. The facility has about 30 Bole injection molding presses in stock.

    "The concept is we have enough machines on stock for immediate supply, immediate demands, No. 1. No. 2, we have the availability of parts needed, service and sales," Rak said in an interview at the K show at the booth of Ningbo Shuangma Machinery Industry Co. Ltd., which makes Bole-brand presses.

    The company hired Rak, who has a long machinery work history in Europe and the United States, in June. Rak said a team from China had already located the U.S. headquarters in Stow. It's a good location in Ohio, a center of the plastics industry, and near the important U.S. automotive sector, he said.

    Bole Machinery has five employees, including two salespeople and two service technicians, but the firm is recruiting more people in those positions, Rak said. The operation has eight exclusive sales agents, all of them east of the Mississippi River, and is looking for more to round out coverage of the country, he said.

    Rak, a native of Vienna, has worked at injection press makers Battenfeld, Engel and Arburg. He was president of Kiefel Technologies Inc. in the United States and vice president of American Starlinger-Sahm Inc.

    Rak said Ningo Shuangma Machinery is committed to the United States with its own headquarters facility. Bole machines have made some other attempts to crack the U.S. market that did not work out. Franklin, Ohio-based Tech-Way Industries Inc. started a business called Tech Bole USA to sell the presses in 2014. Then, in 2016, Bole North America was formed to distribute the machines, as a subsidiary of KD Capital Equipment LLC, a supplier of used plastics processing machinery and metalworking equipment in Scottsdale, Ariz.

    One major feature of Bole injection molding machines is a patented central clamping toggle clamp on the EKS hybrid machines and the FE all-electrics. The clamp directs all the clamping force to the center part of the platen, while traditional toggles apply force to the four corners of the platen, which company officials said could can cause deformation of the platens.

    About 80 Bole FE electric presses have been sold since they hit the market about a year and a half ago, Rak said. The U.S. operation has them in stock. Customers also can select a hybrid version that uses a hydraulic unit, enclosed in the machine base for the core pull, ejector and carriage forward.

    "It makes it a unique machine, because pricewise there is no difference, whether you go with the hybrid or the fully-electric — the same price," Rak said.

    The company also offers the Bole DK series of two-platen machines. Rak said the tie-bars are forged, not machined, for higher quality. The locking nuts have variable, progressive spacing of the teeth to distribute stress evenly, giving longer life for that important component, he added.

    At K 2019, all three types of Bole machines were on display: a fully electric with 180 metric tons of clamping force, a 570-tonne two-platen press and a 230-tonne servo-hydraulic toggle machine.

    Rak said Bole Machinery is working with Penn State Erie's plastics engineering program by participating in job fairs and discussing putting a machine plastics processing laboratory at the school in Erie, Pa.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Graham Packaging updates ESG efforts
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Industry sees Biden bioplastics goal as serious signal
    2
    Biden sets US goal to replace 90% of plastics with biomaterials
    3
    Material Insights: Challenges for Biden bioplastics goal
    4
    Official says Norfolk Southern fire likely started in rail car containing resin
    5
    Trinseo: Equipment failure blamed for latex emulsion leak
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified