Friedrichshafen, Germany — Osaka, Japan-based Matsui Mfg. Co. Ltd., an auxiliary equipment maker, is eager to expand its business in Europe and has set up an office in Frankfurt, Germany, and an exhibit at Fakuma 2021 for the first time.
Founded in 1912, Matsui manufactures plastics processing equipment and systems for molding-process temperature controllers, conveyors, mixers, crushers, dryers and recycling devices.
Matsui may have had products at Fakuma before but never was part of an exhibit, staff said. The company is sharing a booth with injection molding machine builder JSW The Japan Steel Works, Ltd., which is based in the Shinagawa ward of Tokyo.
The companies are demonstrating a system to produce a part for an interior automotive application from recycled polycarbonate with a couple other European equipment suppliers.
At the booth, Kazuki Sasahara, general manager of the Frankfurt office, said he was "on a mission" from the headquarters to expand business in Europe.
"Our name isn't known here but our aim is to be the No. 1 reliable company in the plastic industry in the world," Sasahara said. "We have a long history going back over 100 years. We have a big market share in Japan of approximately 45-50 percent, in Southeast Asia more than 50 percent, China 20-25 percent, and in North America less than 20 percent, which isn't bad."
The company's annual sales are about 200 million euros ($231.6 million) in Asia only, Sasahara said, but it is pursuing a bigger share of the global market.
"In order to be the No. 1 reliable company in the world, we can't ignore the European market, which is huge, as well as Africa, the Middle East and South America," Sasahara said.
Matsui has more than 40,000 customers in Japan and Asia compared to hundreds in Europe, he added.
"We need to be known among the European players," Sasahara said.
At Fakuma, the co-exhibitors produced the automotive component on a J100 ADS press with a mold temperature controller supplied by Menden, Germany-based Contura MTC GmbH and a robot from Italy-based Campetella Robotic Center srl.
Matsui products in the demonstration include the dryer, granulator and blender.
"It's sometimes hard to use recycled material because of the powder. The granulator removes the powder in the process," Sasahara said. "The blender then blends the virgin material and recycled material perfectly.
"It's literally combined technology," he added. "This is what we want to show. Matsui wants to be the bridge from east to west and the west to east to accelerate this kind of cross border collaboration, especially between Germany and Japan."