Shanghai — Foshan, China-based Yizumi Holdings Co. Ltd. is growing to meet demand for specialized injection molding machines in China and North and South America.
The company is increasing its research and development budget "every year" to optimize its machines, Karen Yu, deputy general manager of the injection molding machine division at Yizumi, told Plastics News at ChinaPlas 2024 in Shanghai.
It's investing about $2 million to build a new research laboratory at Yizumi's Global Innovation Center in Shunde, China, which began operations about three years ago, to research "new technology and new process development," Yu said.
The new lab is expected to be complete later this year, she said, and will need more research and development employees from China to meet demand for specialized machines.
Yizumi is also looking to hire application engineers and sales people in the regions across the globe where it hopes to grow, Yu said. "Yizumi is working to be a globalized company to [operate] inside and out of China."
It will also hire integrated supply chain experts to help it "build a better process flow … to optimize the organization," she added. "We're trying to be close to customers."
Currently, the company is exporting about 30 percent of its total sales, Yu said. It hopes to increase exports to 50 percent over the next five years.
Yizumi is building what she called blueprints for regional centers on each continent as it sees demand increase in Asia, North America and the Middle East.
It purchased about 538,000 square feet of land for a new service center in Mexico and also plans to expand its Brazil facility, Yu said.
Its U.S. subsidiary, Yizumi HPM, is expanding with a new 43,000-square-foot building in Ohio, near its existing facility of the same size, doubling its capacity with more warehouse space for machines and trial and development space. The building, which is under construction, is expected to be finished by the end of this year.
Yizumi HPM will also open a new office in South Carolina within the next two months, Yu said.
At NPE2024 in Orlando, Fla., Yizumi demonstrated its new in-mold circuit concept, Yu said, which uses pre-imprinted circuit sheets placed inside the cavity, which is then back-injected to create a touchable, interior automotive part.
Yizumi also showed machine applications with polyurethane for a variety of surface effects it calls in-mold coatings. The polyurethane, made from a reaction between two materials, can create self-healing, colored and clear surfaces. The technology is "important for the automotive market," she said. "Inside the electric car, there are a lot of circuits. Embedded polyurethane is the best material to protect the circuits."
While the materials can be more expensive, Yu said, customers will save money during the process by eliminating the need for extra coatings on parts.
It also recently designed a machine, new to the China market, for thick, transparent acrylic parts, she added, for lighting and optical applications. The acrylic can also be coated with polyurethane for anti-scratch and anti-yellow protection.
"We inject the part with different layers," she said. "You control this injection unit to do sequential injections in the same cavity, [giving you] much better cooling time. The cycle time is decreased from 300 to 90 seconds."
Demand from Yizumi's customers is "quite complex and diversified," Yu said, adding that they're "asking for more than just the machine."
"Normally they ask us to provide the whole solution: machines, mold, accessories and production software to control the process … [plus] automation," she said.
"We are developing an intelligent manufacturing software," she said, used to monitor the machine's meta data and partner with the customers' SAP system.
It's also developing smart controls, including injection, temperature control and other controls, she added.
Yizumi expects to see its machines meet demand for energy savings, reliability, precision and wear resistance. It offers multipart machines in a range from 30 to 5,000 tons, with hydraulic, hybrid and fully electric options.
"When we develop a machine, we always keep in mind we need a modern machine design that can be used on different platforms," Yu said. "It's quite flexible. … It's important for us to go deeper in industries. We need to spend more to add customer value."
Automotive, which is about 40 percent of Yizumi's sales, is a growing market for the company. It plans to expand in the medical market as it continues to develop "well-designed precision" in its machines.