Düsseldorf, Germany — Evco Plastics Inc.'s factory in Oshkosh, Wis., will take delivery of two large-tonnage Engel injection molding machines in the fourth quarter of 2019 and first quarter of 2020, and another 10 small-tonnage JSW presses are going to the company's plant in Calhoun, Ga., said Anna Bartz, director of communications at Evco.
The Calhoun operation also will get 18 Sepro robots, Bartz said an interview Oct. 17.
K shows are big events for officials of Evco, a custom injection molder and contract manufacturer based in DeForest, Wis. Bartz was one of 15 Evco employees traveling to Düsseldorf for K 2019.
The company bought its 200th injection molding machine at K, a Milacron press that will go Evco's operation in Mexico.
Bartz said Evco is steadily adding molding machines: "In 2019, we increased capacity by 10 percent. And we'll have another 10 percent increase in 2020."
She said Evco avoids midsize molding press work. "We don't mess around in the middle, in terms of machine size and kind of a shoot-and-ship industry," she said. "We do really well on the very small, very precise parts, like medical. That's a huge market for us and it's growing like crazy. And then we do really well in the large end."
Large-part molding is a differentiator for Evco, Bartz said. Those markets include power sports, agriculture and some automotive.
"Just large, difficult parts. Not everybody has the infrastructure or knows how to handle those giant molds and the big parts that come out of those machines," she said.
The two big Engels, with clamping forces of 2,500 tons and 3,500 tons, are going in a 31,000-square-foot addition to its plant in Oshkosh, boosting large-part molding. Total investment in the addition is about $6 million. Bartz said Evco broke ground in September.
"It'll be operational by Q1 of 2020, she said.
The expansion will have room for four big machines, but for now, the remaining space beyond the two Engels will be used for mold storage, Bartz said.
Calhoun is getting the 10 JSW molding presses, 200- and 250-ton machines, along with the Sepro robots for an automated production cell. "They're going to run unattended from press to package. It's for a consumer packaging application," Bartz said.
Evco ordered those JSW machines the week before K 2019.
Evco also is investing in a UV coating line and collaborative robots.
The company spent $600,000 to install the coating line in the DeForest plant, according to Bartz. She said Evco has not had a paint line or coating line before and had to send parts out to be UV coated. The line will improve the company's status as contract manufacturer, she added.
Bartz said Evco has about eight cobots, from Universal Robots.
"We certainly are finding uses for them, she said. "Once one gets to 60 percent capacity, we submit a [purchase order] for a new one."