Machine builders hope for sales lift after flat-to-slow year

The year started slow and remained flat for at least six months, but injection molding machine builders noticed a bounce they hope lands them even more business in 2025 in North America.

Sales improved significantly toward the end of the third quarter for press distributor Absolute Haitian in Worcester, Mass., and press producer LS Mtron IMM USA in Duluth, Ga., the latter of which will end 2024 up double digits compared with 2023.
"We understand the market is a bit flat, but our compelling story, and the good team we have assembled, is allowing us to continue to grow, even while facing the headwinds of the market," LS Mtron President of Sales Paul Caprio said. "We have grown about 20 percent in 2024."
LS Mtron has set an aggressive target to achieve 20 percent market share, perhaps as soon as 2027.

In Rocky Hill, Conn., Arburg Inc. sales increased, too, but CEO Martin Baumann, described it as just slightly.

"With the [interest] rate cuts and the election being over … we anticipate that the market for capital equipment will return to some modest growth. A key indicator will be the automotive sales; they have to pick up," Baumann said.

For the Molding Technology Solutions (MTS) segment of Batesville, Ind.-based Hillenbrand Inc., sales of $247 million were essentially flat year over year. The segment includes Milacron injection molding equipment, which started the year with a lower backlog, and Mold-Masters hot runners, which is experiencing ongoing soft demand globally, particularly within North America, President and CEO Kimberly Ryan said in a Nov. 14 fourth-quarter conference call.

The MTS segment underwent a restructuring earlier this year that led to two DME mold base manufacturing plants closing. The company shuttered the facility in Windsor, Ontario, in April followed by Greenville, Mich., in May, and it will realize a $12 million savings in 2025, Ryan said. Former DME officials later bought the assets of the Windsor plant.

For now, MTS product orders have improved compared with the last quarter and the same period year ago, primarily driven by injection molding equipment demand. Orders are at their highest level since the third quarter of the 2022 fiscal year.

"Although this quarter's orders slightly exceeded our expectations, external market indicators, such as machine utilization and mold making activity, remained relatively soft, and we've yet to see signs of a sustained recovery in demand," Ryan said.

At Plustech Inc., the North American base of Sodick Co. Ltd.'s injection molding machinery division, Senior Vice President Kohei Shinohara said: "After three record machinery sales years due to COVID diagnostics and test kits, 2024 slowed a bit, although the medical device and connector markets remain very strong."

2024 was flat for Nissei America Inc. in San Antonio, Texas, and down for Boy Machines Inc. in Exton, Pa., by about 10 percent.

Still, the medical market was a bright spot for Boy as it was for other press producers. Other strong markets are electronics, logistics packaging, automotive, consumer goods and industrial markets, Boy President Marko Koorneef said.

"Of course, medical device and electronics are always stable and growing to some extent. Our efforts continue to focus on tight-tolerance, high-temperature materials and applications," Plustech's Shinohara said.

New data centers and chips manufacturers have driven sales for Arburg machines among processors of electronics components.

LS Mtron is building a lot of presses for storage tote molders.

"Our success with one of our largest customers in the U.S. has been leveraged to expand into several other large customers playing in that field," LS Mtron President Peter Gardner said.

Automotive processors also have been investing in LS Mtron presses beyond the southeastern U.S., where South Korea-related molders are producing parts primarily for the Hyundai and Kia operations in that area.

"While automotive molding has been flat or down, we have made gains based on relationships of our sales team and the high interest of automotive molders to have an alternative supplier that can handle their needs," Gardner said.

At Absolute Haitian, which sells machines built in China and Mexico by Ningbo, China-based Haitian Machinery Ltd., custom and contract molders have been a strong base in North America.

"The end market where we have made headway in 2024 unit sales is consumer and cosmetic packaging as well as medical especially through the sale of our precision Zeres electric machines. Automotive also picked up in 2024," said Glenn Frohring, president of Absolute Haitian.

At Stork IMM USA LLC in Swedesboro, N.J., a subsidiary of Hengelo, Netherlands-based Stork Plastics Machinery BV, CEO Gert Boers said sales in the U.S. market have been flat or declining in 2024, but service revenue increased.

"Our strongest end markets in 2024 are thin-wall packaging applications in food, pail, pot, and the caps and closures markets," Boers added. "This growth is driven by increased demand for sustainable solutions, high-quality output of products and focus on ROI by our customers."

The year has brought a mixed bag of sales results — from down 10 percent to up 20 percent — for injection molding machine builders, making it hard to come up with an estimate of presses shipped to North American processors in 2024.

The word "flat" also was used a lot to describe the year, so much so, Plastics News is basing its estimate of 3,000 injection molding machines shipped this year on that feedback along with executive interviews and story archives.

In the past, the estimate of 5,000 presses shipped has been associated with a strong year, but 2024 has not been strong in either North America or Europe, where many machine builders' parent companies are based.

In Europe, VDMA, a mechanical engineering industry association, announced Oct. 7 that all existing orders have been processed and the plastics and rubber trade group predicts a 10-15 percent drop in sales in 2024 in comparison with the previous year.

Between January and August, sales were down 7 percent in Europe, VDMA said, adding that conditions could worsen.

In North America, some press producers experienced more of a slow-to-flat first half of the year. Then, some found a lift while others didn't.

Three years ago, when processors were making machinery investments to meet demand for pandemic-related needs and wants, PN estimated that press producers shipped an estimated 5,000 units, which was an increase of 25 percent from the 4,000 presses in 2020. Sales slumped in 2022 to about 4,250 units for the year.

In 2023, when press sales were cut in half for some machine builders, PN estimated press shipments at 2,975 to 3,000.

With 2024 essentially being flat except for some machine builders seeing an uptick in the second half, the estimate is again 3,000 shipments.

The Plastics Industry Association trade group tracks shipments and other data, but the information is only shared with members. The Washington-based trade group, however, does release North American plastics machinery shipment values from its reporting members.

In the third quarter, the value of tracked shipments of extruders and injection molding machines was down 8.8 percent to $319 million compared with the same period in 2023.

Overall, in 2023, the shipment values declined significantly compared with 2022 for injection molding and extrusion equipment. Values dropped in 2023's first quarter, as is typical for first quarters, but then barely budged the rest of the year, forgoing the bump usually seen in the fourth quarter.

The fourth-quarter 2023 shipment value figure of $348.1 million reflected a 19.5 percent decline compared with the same period in 2022, according to the Plastics Industry Association's Committee on Equipment Statistics (CES).

The 2024 shipment value figures won't likely be released until February 2025.

A lot of the machine builders whose sales increased in the second half of 2024 credit NPE. The triennial trade show hadn't been held since 2018 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

LS Mtron made a substantial investment in its NPE presence with the largest space dedicated to injection molding machines at 13,500 square feet. Gardner said it paid off in new opportunities, customers, employees and sales representatives.

"At NPE, the CEO of LS Mtron Korea announced that we had achieved 7.5 percent market share in the U.S., and he set an aggressive target to achieve 20 percent market share, perhaps by the next NPE show," Gardner said.

The machine builder had more than 3,000 people visit its exhibit. A post-NPE survey of the visitors indicated that only about a third were well aware of the LS Mtron brand prior to the show.

"Post-show, 55 percent of respondents said that LS Mtron was definitely a brand they should consider, and another 38 percent said LS Mtron was a brand they would be open to consider," Gardner said. "I think mission accomplished with the NPE show."

Haitian rolled out its Generation 5 injection molding machines at NPE2024. Frohring attributes the jump in third-quarter sales to the conclusion of the trade show.

"Some molders hold back their machine purchase plans to see if their decisions are impacted by what they find at NPE," Frohring said. "We met with a lot of customers and that in-person handshake also seems to translate into a machine order. It is always a pleasure to sit down with a group of folks at NPE and then see a purchase order come over four months later."

The trade show uncovered leads for new business, and in some cases processors from South America signed orders right at the show.

"The big surprise to us was uncovering leads on new business with molders we haven't done business with before," Frohring said. "Also, our colleagues from South America working in our booth were very busy. In the U.S., the orders seem to come after the show has concluded, but for the South American customers and reps, they were signing orders right at the show. Our market share is at its highest levels in the U.S. by unit sales in our history."

At the Boy booth, the spotlight was on new all-electric 35-, 50- and 80-ton machines. The staff got the most leads it ever had at an NPE and closed some sales, Koorneef said.

"We sold seven machines at the show, and it gave us a boost for that month," he added.

This was one of the best NPE shows for Plustech, National Sales Manager Len Hampton said. The company introduced the VR-G Vertical, which has a larger table for bigger molds and fast table speeds, to its lineup.

"In addition to partnering with many other industry leaders in our booth, we also generated at least a dozen mold trials since the show, with many resulting machine sales," Hampton said. "Customers had a lot of challenging projects that require tight tolerance stable molding, and a mold trial really lets them see the excellent capabilities of our machines with their molds. Seeing really is believing, and a mold trial does that like nothing else."

KraussMaffei's participation at NPE2024 was a show of strength for all four of its divisions: injection molding, extrusion, reaction process machinery and additive manufacturing, said Sven Skowronek, vice president of IMM sales and project management, at the Florence, Ky.-based company.

"Like the regional shows we currently attend, lead generation was a clear expectation, along with order tracking and ROI generation. NPE did not disappoint. NPE2024 was considered a huge success globally for KraussMaffei," Skowronek said.

At Wittmann USA Inc., in Torrington, Conn., company officials were very happy with NPE2024, and Nissei America officials said it contributed to increased sales.

For Engel North America in York, Pa., NPE2024 was a tremendous success, President Vanessa Malena said, with both existing and potential customers showing "overwhelming" interest in products and technologies.

"The diversity of applications and technologies demonstrated strong interest across all areas of production," Malena said. "We were pleasantly surprised by the number of concrete projects we discussed, reflecting the relevance of our solutions despite market challenges."

Batavia, Ohio-based Milacron, part of Hillenbrand's MTS business unit, had a solid year after a successful showing of its new technology at NPE2024, according to Brian Bishop, vice president of IMM sales.

Bishop said the machine builder generated buzz and sales leads from its product displays and product introductions, including four all-electric Roboshots and the North American debut of the M-Series, which featured a dual-cavity coinjection pail machine.

The M-Series press on display at NPE2024 was sold to American Plastics LLC, a Simpsonville, S.C.-based injection molder with 14 plants manufacturing storage and organizational products like shelves and totes with snap lids or latches.

NPE was promising for Arburg but, like other trade shows, it didn't result quickly into sales, in part due to high interest rates, Baumann said.

"We don't believe a show, even a big one like NPE, can turn the fundamentals of the economy around," he said. "But it is still hugely important to demonstrate to customers what's possible and what technologies are new and available so that when they consider new investments, they call Arburg first. On that measure, our booth and what we showed, we consider a huge success based on customer feedback and leads."

A highlight was the world premiere of the slimline Allrounder 720 E Golden Electric, which Baumann said "offers all clients a space-saving solution and significantly reduces the required installation area."

Stork officials walked the NPE2024 trade show halls with its U.S. team. "We strengthened our existing relationships and identified leads that we anticipate will a positive impact in 2025 as these opportunities materialize," Boers said.

The heated campaign for the U.S. presidency hung over the world as Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris was opposed by Republican Donald Trump seeking a return to the White House.

The two candidates stumped on very different agendas regarding the economy, immigration, health care, crime and foreign policy. Still, most machine builders weren't too worried about the vote, which Trump won with 50.2 percent of ballots cast and 312 electoral votes compared with 48.2 percent of ballots cast for Harris and 226 electoral votes.

"We encounter this every four years, and it states it will have an effect, and then after the election everything is back to normal," said Koorneef at Boy.

Jason Long, vice president sales at Wittmann USA, said: "With our industry, the outcome of elections has shown no major changes regardless of who wins."

Trump campaigned on adding tariffs of up to 60 percent on Chinese goods and 20 percent on imports from other countries. If anything, the possibility of more tariffs is giving machine builders some heartburn.

"Companies make investment decisions based on customer demand," Baumann said. "We don't believe politicians have as much influence as they claim or would like to have. However, for our industry, tariffs on injection molding equipment of 10 or 20 percent would not be good. The technologies that the majority of molders in the USA use come from outside the USA and, unlike consumer goods, can't easily be replaced with domestic production."

Absolute Haitian's Frohring agrees.

"We take what comes to us. We can survive any administration," Frohring said. "To the market's advantage is that the exchange rate is stable. We are keeping our eye on the possibility of tariffs, but we hope those are limited to the industries that make sense to protect, such as automotive and pharmaceutical. We have contingency plans in place to help us navigate through the situation."

Arburg took an initial step toward a local-to-local approach several years ago with its Arburg Technology Factories (ATFs), which include the U.S. headquarters in Rocky Hill, Conn., to tailor Allrounders to customer-specific requirements and to implement turnkey systems in cooperation with local mold and peripheral equipment suppliers.

"The next step is assembly of complete machines, in the future also in North America," Baumann said. "At the moment, we haven't yet finalized our plans with regard to the exact location. In addition, we are planning to keep investing in our service team and have open positions currently and planned for 2025."

Wittmann USA builds robots at a full manufacturing facility that it expects to expand in 2025.

"We're working on a small expansion to our robot production line to allow more efficient workflow and capacity," Long said.

Nissei America Inc. President Masahiko Miyajima is watching for "any restrictions against overseas corporations." The company opened its first U.S. manufacturing plant in San Antonio in 2018.

Nissei has been focused on incorporating recycled content into products.

"Although this technology was originally developed over 30 years ago, we introduced a sandwich molding technology that uses a general-purpose mold for the first time in the U.S. as an example for utilizing recycled plastics," Miyajima said.

Boy plans to expand its independent representative base.

Sodick-Plustech is now stocking 50-60 machines at its North American HQ in Illinois, including, Hampton said, "additional stock injection units to react quickly to market demands."

Haitian's regional strategy includes the opening of a $50 million manufacturing facility in Guadalajara, Mexico. The factory opened its doors in the second half of 2023.

"The new 990,000-square-foot manufacturing site was fully operational by 2024 with 290,000 square feet dedicated to production space, including metalworking, assembly and customer service," Frohring said.

Haitian also launched a new industrial machine tool company, AHP CNC Solutions, and established new CNC showrooms in Worcester and its applications center in Moncks Corner, S.C.

Engel realigned operations and named Malena president of the Americas.

"This shift ensures that our market focus aligns with the specific needs of our customers across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and South America," Malena said.

To that end, Engel invested in a new training center in York, Pa.; saw its first apprenticeship group graduate from a four-year program; and is building up production in Querétaro, Mexico.

"This investment is ramping up in phases and includes expanding capacity in several areas, such as injection molding, automation and engineering," Malena said. "The expansion also increases the availability of spare parts and service capabilities, ensuring customers in the Americas receive robust support. Our after-sales service team in the U.S. has also grown significantly, enhancing our ability to assist customers with their operational needs."

At NPE, LS Mtron announced plans to build a new Texas tech center within its newly opened 230,000-square-foot LS Tractor manufacturing facility in Palestine, Texas. The center will initially occupy 10,000 square feet and serve as a demonstration and training hub for the regional market.

The parent company strategically purchased parcels adjacent to the facility with an eye on U.S. assembly of injection molding machines in the future, Gardner said.

"LS group understands how to grow markets in various sectors and is not afraid to make bold investments," he added. "In the past five years, the LS Group has invested over $700 million in the U.S., including injection molding, LS Cable, LS Tractor and LS Electric. This shows LS' commitment to expanding all of their business units in the U.S. and North America."

In Mexico, LS is opening new tech centers in Monterrey and Querétaro and has hired industry veteran Fulvio Menconi as president of sales.

"Together with newly hired Kevin Kim as CEO, the company is rapidly developing the local market for three types of customers: Mexican-based local customers, U.S.- and Canadian-based transplants, and Korean transplants," Gardner said.

LS Mtron also has hired senior-level salespeople to fill regional manager positions across the U.S., including the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, central Midwest and Southwest.

"Hiring senior talent with the experience working for other major OEMs takes a considerable investment," Gardner said. "We believe the investment is paying off in the relationships these people bring to the table."

Next year, LS Mtron will take over a 23,000-square-foot facility in Wood Dale, Ill., that it had been sharing to facilitate growth, store machinery and parts, and offer training and demonstrations.

KraussMaffei continues to develop facilities in Florence, Ky., and Brighton, Mich., to demonstrate new technology for injection molding, extrusion, reaction processing equipment and additive manufacturing.

The large-scale additive manufacturing machine it unveiled at Germany's K 2022, the powerPrint, now is on display in the U.S. at the company's facility in Michigan. The machine adjusts wall thicknesses via a variety of nozzles with a range of 4-20 millimeters for materials like recycled glycol-modified PET with 30 percent glass fiber.

"In addition, we are investing in our localized automation growth strategy, which supports our capability in the U.S. to provide complete process solutions to our customers," Skowronek said.

Milacron has assembled machines in Ohio for more than 56 years while supporting customers across the U.S., President Mac Jones said. The company also has an aftermarket and sales center in Mexico.

"We are deeply committed to delivering a local customer and field service experience for our North American customers," Jones said. "Machine uptime is crucial to any manufacturing process. Local field service support ensures our customers in this region are serviced efficiently and effectively."

Earlier this year, Milacron released two new machine platforms (A- and K-Series) in Latin America to meet the rising demand of mass-production processors on the hunt for quality, value and quick commissioning, said Fadi Abdal, Milacron's director of global business development.

"The company's new A- and K-Series platforms check many processors' boxes in a region of the world that is currently experiencing a surge in large-part plastics, like automotive and industrial, while also juggling the need to offer valuable performance options that are more energy-efficient, as compared to previous models," Abdal said.

In 2024, Stork launched a range of new full-electric machines tailored for sustainable production processes. "Additionally, we're expanding our U.S.-based customer support team and our service spare parts footprint to ensure even faster response times and technical assistance for our clients," Boers said.

Stork's plans for 2025 are focused on bolstering its technical support and sales staff as well as product development for U.S. market needs and Industry 4.0.

"This investment underscores our commitment to leading the market and supporting our customers with high-performance machines with low total cost of ownership," Boers said.

In Wilmington, N.C., Wilmington Machinery is streamlining delivery times for its low-pressure structural foam machines, which typically have lead times ranging from nine to 15 months.

Wilmington has in-stock and nearly completed machines available for quick delivery, including a 500-ton unit featuring a 50-pound shot and a 70-by-80-inch platen.

The machine builder is working on another 500-ton machine -- this one with a 100-pound shot capacity — and an even bigger platen that will be available for delivery by May 2025.

"By having machines in stock and under construction, we can offer manufacturers a faster path to upgrading their production capabilities," said Jim Boos, vice president of sales and marketing. "These machines deliver superior structural foam molding capabilities, and with quick delivery options, we're supporting customers in reducing lead times and getting to market faster."

Machine builders continue to see evidence of reshoring — a trend that has been tracked since 2010 — although it tapered recently.

This lines up with Sarasota, Fla.-based Reshoring Initiative data that shows the number of U.S. jobs created from reshoring and foreign direct investment peaked at 343,300 jobs in 2022 and then fell off to 287,300 in 2023, which is still the second-highest year on record.

"Reshoring is taking place and will continue to do so across all markets, especially with electronic parts, microchips and battery manufacturing," said KraussMaffei's Skowronek.

Absolute Haitian's Frohring noticed a dip from what the company had seen in 2020 and 2021.

"What often drives reshoring is delay in logistics," he said. "The long delays and high cost of shipping during and immediately after COVID meant that customers in the U.S. had to establish contingencies. That meant that customers wanted to replicate the mold and process for their plastic parts in the U.S. and Mexico that they were making overseas."

Haitian sells presses under both scenarios, Frohring said.

"The products being made in China were most often being made on Haitian molding machines," he said. "We gained new business from the reshoring of those projects as they purchased the same machine here to duplicate the part."

Reshoring regularly drives sales at Arburg.

"Every one of our customers over a wide variety of markets has one or two projects. It isn't a tsunami, but a steady increase," Baumann said. "This development is based on logistics issues and political instability, but also on U.S. manufacturing getting more competitive via automation."

Nissei America's Miyajima said: "Sometimes we hear from our customers that they are bringing manufacturing back from China to the U.S. "

At Engel, Malena said the company sees reshoring to the U.S. and near-shoring to Mexico.

"Higher tariffs, rising shipping costs, supply chain concerns and political unknowns abroad make reshoring a good choice for many companies," she said.

Wittmann's Long said the company has seen some reshoring to the U.S. but a lot more near-shoring to Mexico.

"Some of this is driven by Chinese companies focusing more on manufacturing in Mexico to make it easier to import to the [United] States," Long said.

At Stork, Boers said reshoring to the U.S. and near-shoring to Mexico appears to be gaining momentum, especially in the automotive and medical sectors.

"However, this is less prevalent in the thin-wall packaging market, which remains close to downstream supply chains," Boers said.

Reshoring was a topic of a recent webinar featuring Harry Moser, founder and president of the Reshoring Initiative. He also is the former president of machine tool maker GF AgieCharmilles and the 1996 SPE Mold Designer of the Year.

Moser said the price difference in manufacturing costs prompted companies to offshore in the first place to China, where production is 30 percent cheaper than in the U.S., but now geopolitical risks are driving their return.

"Back in 2000, it was all about accessing lower labor costs, and now companies tell me that there's a cost to lower labor costs," Moser said. "There's also the cost of safeguarding your IP. There's a cost for customer service being 7,000 miles away, and if you get a product color wrong, you can change it faster if you're producing closer to your customers."

The "fear of something happening" in China, Taiwan or Russia also is raising geopolitical concerns.

Moser has a big concern, however, about the reshoring of microchip capacity, which other countries also have undertaken.

"My fear is that we're going to develop so much chip capacity, as will everybody else, that when all that capacity comes on stream, the chip prices are going to collapse because of supply-demand imbalance," Moser said.

The U.S. could be at a disadvantage with microchips costing 10-20 percent higher than other places, he added, and no outlet because there's not a big domestic assembly industry.

"We don't assemble enough electronic devices, infotainment systems, servers or electronic medical devices," Moser said. "We're going to be dependent on our adversary China to buy our chips to make those things then ship it back to us and they want to use their chips. If you're going to spend all that money on the chips, then you have to level the playing field and bring back the electronic product assembly to absorb those chips."

Light-duty U.S. vehicle sales are expected to total 15.7 million in 2024, up from 15.5 million in 2023, according to projections from Cox Automotive, Edmunds.com and Wards Intelligence.

Fully electric models reached 9 percent of U.S. car sales in September, which was a new high, according to Cox Automotive.

The automotive market is a large portion of KraussMaffei's business.

"The shift to electric vehicles continues even though we've seen a pullback this year, and we've seen customers looking more closely at our advanced solutions that integrate our injection molding, extrusion and reaction processing technology for lighter-weight, higher-performing and/or lower-cost solutions," Skowronek said. "One of the unique strengths of KraussMaffei is our product portfolio and our ability to integrate multiple technologies into one solution, so the shift to electric vehicles in the U.S. is one we are more than ready to support."

The same goes for Engel, where the automotive market remains a crucial sector. Despite hesitancy regarding investments, Malena remains optimistic about a bigger recovery and the machine builder's role in it.

Engel is seeing more activity in the automotive sector, she added.

"Currently the EV market is the most volatile. It will be interesting to see how the election results will affect the growth of the EV market and/or the ICE market," Malena said.

Either way, Engel has a broad range of products and technologies ready to support the evolving production needs of the automotive industry, including electric vehicles and new mobility solutions, Malena said.

"Our extensive experience in automation and plastics processing positions us well to assist automotive manufacturers as they look to increase capacity and improve efficiency," she added.

At Nissei America, Miyajima said: "The automotive industry is one of the key markets for us; however, there is uncertainty in the EV shift, making our customers hesitant to invest in equipment."

Arburg's Baumann agrees.

"The slowdown in conversion to electric vehicles is currently hurting plastics processors," he said. "Many invested in increased capacity to mold parts and components for EV vehicles, and those orders have not fully materialized. EVs are here to stay, and rightfully so, but conversion appears to be slower than predicted."

Wittmann's Long is bracing for the market to slow down more.

"We see the automotive market staying stagnant in the coming year in terms of capital investments," he said.

At Milacron, which has served the automotive industry since its introduction into the plastics industry 56 years ago, Jones said the market is continuing to evolve, and opportunities can be found with innovations related to material types and surface finishes.

"An example of our response to this demand was our demonstration at NPE2024 with in-mold decoration (IMD) for interior automotive parts," Jones said. "We debuted our M-500 machine at NPE with a fully integrated IMD work cell featuring a Mold-Masters hot runner and Kurz in-mold decoration technology that produced a custom-textured, decorative backlit part for the automotive industry."

Processors are investing in new presses to replace old machines and add capacity and capabilities.

At KraussMaffei, Skowronek said new machinery is meeting needs for "significant increases in utilization."

Meanwhile, Wittmann's Long said a lot of other processors are currently well below their capacity when it comes to machine time.

"This is driving the slower market for new machine sales," he said.

At Boy, Koorneef said: "New presses for new programs has been 50 percent of our business, and replacement is 50 percent of our business."

Arburg is still reviewing data.

"It looks as if new projects, where an existing machine does not fit, are probably the majority," Baumann said.

At Absolute Haitian, Frohring said: "Molders justify replacement of older machines because of the technology that differentiates the capabilities of newer IMMs with AI and flexible integration. We have seen our sales go to about 50-50 electric vs. servo-hydraulic in 2024."

"We have been seeing our customers replacing their existing machines. These used machines are sold to the used machine market," Nissei America's Miyajima said,.

This is especially true in the medical market, he added.

"We have been seeing medical molders that made large capital investments during the pandemic releasing their equipment to the used equipment market, which have been affecting our sales," Miyajima said.

Absolute Haitian's Frohring has been seeing that, too, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which put unprecedented pressures on plastics processors and machine builders starting in March 2020.

For the most part, Frohring said, business is back to normal.

"The used machine market has been impacted as a lot of machines that were purchased for fast ramp-up of medical molding for ventilators [and] disposables have been taken out of commission," he said. "We saw the impact on the 2023-2024 machine market, but that inventory backup has cleared."

At Boy, Koorneef said business is down compared "way back" to 2019 and has been "slowly coming back."

Arburg's Baumann put it this way: "We are not yet back to normal in the sense that too many machines were bought during COVID and now there is an overcapacity of machines at a good number of customers."

At Wittmann, Long said the supply chain is back to normal — or very close to it — after the upheaval from the COVID surge.

"We don't have any known challenges today," he said.

Frohring said Haitian is the No. 1 customer for component suppliers, so it has the advantage of volume.

"In addition, Haitian makes many of the machine components itself. We vertically integrated the Hilectro servo drive, inverter and motor, replacing the traditional hydraulic motor with a more energy-saving electric motor of our own design at lower cost," Frohring said. "At NPE, our competitors must be frustrated seeing what Haitian is doing as they continue to rely on outside vendors."

LS maintains it has a healthy supply chain due to strong vendor relations, Gardner said.

"Many parts for our machines actually come from LS-related companies: servo motors from an LG-founded company; castings from LS Mtron's company-owned foundry in South Korea; electronic parts from LS Electric. Even much of our shipping is done by LX Pantos, an LG spin-off company," Gardner said.

At KraussMaffei, Skowronek said: "Supply chain issues continue to hinder some of our machine components, but we've put several plans in place to mitigate the impacts to customer commitments and machine deliveries."

Engel established production structures for the three major regions of Europe, Asia and the Americas, Malena said.

"It's Engel's philosophy to have our production plants close to our customers. This concept of decentralization has been a critical factor in our success as a global industry leader, and now it is more applicable than ever," Malena said.

"Maritime freight costs are unstable, and it sometimes affects profits at Nissei America," Miyajima added.

At Stork, Boers said, supply chain stability has improved since the peak of the pandemic, but challenges persist in sourcing specialized materials.

"Lead times have certainly shortened; however, predictability and reliability remain challenging," Boers said.

The plastics processing industry, among many others, continues to be affected by growing macroeconomic concerns and geopolitical challenges, Milacron's Jones said. "Interest rate hikes, credit tightening, global economic uncertainty and a presidential election year are all contributing factors that influence decision-making and investment," he added. "However, our balanced product portfolio and breadth of knowledge and experience across technologies can meet the needs of customers across the industry."

Engel's Malena agreed: "We have been dealing with these types of impacts already. We are financially and independently strong. We can weather these types of fluctuations."

At Absolute Haitian, weather gets its own contingency plan, Frohring added.

"We also keep our eyes on the increase in weather events that affect the deep-water port of Charleston, S.C.," he explained. "We balance our stock machine warehouse locations with large inventory in Worcester, Mass.; Cleveland, Ohio; and Moncks Corner, S.C., to support the quick delivery that enables our customers to be nimble."

Gardner said LS Mtron officials keep a close eye on shipping and logistics challenges like potential disruptions and large increases in costs.

"Strategic stocking in the U.S. and Mexico is part of our plan to reduce the risks," Gardner said.

At Nissei America, Miyajima pointed to high interest rates, continuing inflation, labor costs and a labor shortage.

Wittmann's Long also said wage increases and hiring issues continue to be major factors.

Engel has been preparing for labor challenges by investing in training programs and upskilling initiatives, Malena said.

"Our apprenticeship program continues to be a critical element of our workforce development, ensuring a steady pipeline of skilled technicians," she said. "Additionally, we recently opened a training center in York, Penn., dedicated to equipping our service technicians with the skills needed to support our customers. These initiatives ensure we are well prepared to meet the growing demand for skilled labor in the plastics industry."

At Stork, Boers' main concerns are rising wages, exchange rate fluctuations and interest rate volatility, which affect capital investments in new equipment.

"Supply chain reliability, especially in critical components for our machines, remains a top priority," Boers said. "Additionally, resin price fluctuations, energy prices and new sustainability regulations are areas we closely track, as they directly impact our customers."

Baumann said Arburg is a family-run, long-term-thinking company that doesn't react by what happens in a quarter.

"We know the U.S. market well because we are working here with our own subsidiary since 1990. Therefore, we know that you have to constantly adapt to the circumstances of the market and react flexibly to current challenges," Baumann said.

For 2025, Haitian has big plans to expand its reach to more processors after establishing a position in the medical market.

"We have been laying the groundwork to take advantage of more medical end market opportunities," Frohring said. "There is a long gestation period to penetrate this sector. We believe 2025 will be the year we gain market share in the medical device and disposals end markets."

Frohring also expects Haitian's share in the custom molding sector to remain strong and for it to keep a good position with cosmetic and general-purpose packaging.

"The global cosmetics marketplace has a projected compound annual growth rate of 9.8 percent, so this should continue to be a successful niche for us," Frohring said. "We have several multinational customers in this sector."

The medical market is still making a comeback, said Arburg's Baumann. "This industry sector took a break after overinvesting in capacities during COVID," he said. "With our machines and systems optimized for medical technology, we are ideally positioned to meet all of our customers' individual requirements."

Next year, KraussMaffei's Skowronek expects the medical market to remain stable and other emerging markets like EV components and AI electronics will continue to grow, perhaps substantially. "Although we have experienced a pullback with electric vehicles, we continue to see automotive trending upward, in large part to increased demands for new technology and lightweighting," Skowronek said. "Medical and packaging also looks like it will remain strong."

LS Mtron's Gardner said markets look similar for 2025, as did Wittmann's Long, who added "some slight improvements" are expected.

At Nissei America, Miyajima hopes that the automotive, medical and construction industries will do well in 2025.

"We have been seeing medical molders that made large capital investments during the pandemic releasing their equipment to the used equipment market, which have been affecting our sales," Miyajima said.

At Stork, Boers forecasts an uptick in the packaging markets as sustainability goals become more stringent.

Plustech's Shinohara said even though Sodick machines are known for micromolding capabilities, there has been an increase in orders from customers requiring multicavity hot runner tools for applications, such as packaging.

"There is a growing trend for molds that combine large mold sizes with small shot sizes," he said. "Sodick's midsize machines are particularly well suited for these demands, offering a large tie-bar spacing and substantial daylight, coupled with a small injection unit capable of processing less than 5 grams. This combination enhances the machines' versatility, enabling the use of a broader range of mold options on Sodick equipment."

Consistent with economic forecasts, Absolute Haitian's Frohring said he believes 2025 will be flat.

"Inventory of second-hand machines is high, but parts inventories have been reduced, so there will need to be machine purchases made at a conservative level," Frohring said. "We tend to be less impacted by market ups and downs because our price point is favorable. We also benefit from Haitian's large global footprint and volumes."

Wittmann's Long also forecasts a flat 2025, and Engel's Malena expects sales to remain flat or slightly grow.

"Because our customer base is so diverse, when one market struggles, another one may grow. … While some companies are investing in capacity, others remain cautious. Engel anticipated the potential challenges and has been actively taking steps to stay ahead of them," Malena said.

"Looking ahead to 2024 and into 2025, we are optimistic about the business climate for machine builders in the plastics industry," she added.

Arburg's Baumann is looking for modest growth, while Nissei America's Miyajima simply said, "We are hoping it will be better than 2024."

At Stork, Boers said the plastics industry is navigating a transformative period with a focus on sustainability, digitalization and workforce challenges, but he is cautiously optimistic about 2025.

"We foresee growth in North America driven by reshoring initiatives and globally in sync with the push for sustainability. By continuing to invest in innovation and regional support, we are well positioned to meet customer needs," Boers said.

At Boy, Koorneef said: "We have been quoting many projects and have had many get delayed for the future. We are hoping for a stronger sales in 2025."

LS Mtron's Gardner is counting on it.

"With recent regional sales hires and adding sales rep groups in the third and fourth quarters of 2024, we are targeting an increase of over 50 percent in orders for 2025," he said. "This is based on new customer acquisitions and expected repeat orders from customers we acquired in 2023 and 2024."

At Sodick Plustech, Shinohara said: "Medical and medical device market demand should remain stable. Other emerging markets like EV components and AI electronics will continue to grow and can be substantial."

For MTS, which includes Milacron, Ryan said Hillenbrand officials expect demand to "remain relatively consistent with 2024."

"We expect relatively stronger injection molding performance, which comes at a lower relative margin, and continued price cost pressure is expected to partially offset productivity and the incremental $12 million of benefits in the previously announced restructuring program," Ryan said.

Hillenbrand's outlook for 2025 calls for total company sales of about $2.93 billion to $3.09 billion, which is down 3-8 percent, primarily driven by the Advanced Process Solutions segment but also reflecting the potential for ongoing uncertainty.

The injection molding product line could see slight growth, but the hot runner line will likely be relatively flat.

"We expect our MTS segment to be relatively steady with revenues expected to be down 2 percent to up 2 percent," Ryan said, adding that range calls for sales of $875 million to $915 million.

"We're not expecting a steep recovery here in Q1," Ryan added. "But as capital budgets unlock here starting in our fiscal second quarter, I think we'll start seeing orders trickle in that second quarter and continue to accelerate through the second half of the year."

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