Italian industrial holding company Pegaso Industries SpA has opened a North American headquarters in the Atlanta area for its Plastic Systems auxiliary equipment business, and hired industry veteran Michael Smith to run it.
Smith said the 8,000-square-foot facility in East Point, Ga., is 10 minutes from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The operation has warehousing, machinery demonstrations, spare parts and service, training, subassembly and sales.
Smith joined Plastic Systems US to help grow its U.S. and Canadian business in the auxiliaries for extrusion, injection molding and blow molding, plus PET Solutions, which specializes in beverage packaging systems.
The Plastic Systems line includes gravimetric and volumetric feeders, chillers, temperature controllers, granulators, heat pumps and dryers and mixing equipment for compounding plastics, rubber, chemicals and food.
Plastic Systems US will inventory that equipment. Smith said the company will also provide engineering for centralized heating systems but will not inventory those parts in the United States.
Smith's plastics background includes work in injection molding and in machinery as a manufacturers' representative for Engel injection presses in California. From 1990-2008, still in southern California, he worked for Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. Smith was general manager for Husky's western U.S. region and then general manager for Husky's national sales force development and best practices.
Smith said the creation of Plastic Systems US "allows us to provide industry-leading customer support and product innovation in one of the fastest-growing market in the world." A grand opening is slated for February.
Smith is recruiting people for sales and engineering positions and service technicians. He is looking for sales representatives.
Pegaso Industries, based in Borgoricco, Italy, near Venice, has sales of 80 million euros ($88 million) and employs more than 450 worldwide. The company's plastics-related holdings include Plastic Systems, PET Solutions, Blauwer cooling systems and Ergomec equipment for storage, pneumatic transport and dosage of granules and powders for plastics, chemicals and food.
Pegaso also owns Steel Systems, which makes equipment to produce steel components.
Pegaso Industries President Rinaldo Piva said the company's decision reflects a commitment to a growing market. "Acceptance of our process equipment platform and increasing demand from our customers has led us to seek an expansion of our products, support and services to the North American market," Piva said.
Smith attended K 2019 in Düsseldorf, Germany, working at the Plastic Systems booth.
