Pandemic puts machine builders in mode of ‘full speed ahead'

To keep up with demand for blow molding machines, employees at W. Amsler Equipment Inc. in Bolton, Ontario, changed from two 10-hour shifts to two 12-hour shifts.

They took on some extra duties, too, when sales of household cleaners and some pharmaceuticals skyrocketed after the pandemic was declared.

If a customer has a machine in the build schedule but needed more capacity immediately, W. Amsler Equipment produces containers for them. In one case, a big customer sent an operator to help run the machine.

"It was the first time that happened," CEO Bruce Coxhead told Plastics News. "Doing a production run goes against my grain because then I compete with my customers. But we have been doing it. We've been running 24/7 the last couple weeks."

Machine builders around the world have found new ways to help their customers manufacture the containers and packaging needed for hand sanitizer, cleaners, food and medical devices as well as the nonwoven materials for face masks.

Injection molding machine builder Absolute Haitian was in the spotlight recently for delivering seven presses from its operations center in Moncks Corner, S.C., to Reed Tool Group in Reed City, Mich., in less than two weeks and then an eighth press soon after.

Reed Tool Group, a 61-year-old injection molder that also offers tooling and custom machine building, had just been awarded a contract to produce the majority of the plastic pieces for an OEM involved with one of the national projects spearheaded by Ford Motor Co. and General Motors. The goal was to quickly replenish the national stockpile by manufacturing ventilators to help patients breathe and powered air purifying respirators, or PAPRs, to keep front-line health care workers safe from the virus.

GM and partner Ventec Life Systems delivered 30,000 ventilators under a $489 million federal contract while Ford and partner 3M topped 50,000 PAPRs under a $336 million contract.

"This initiative took an entire supply chain to react," John Barnett, Reed Tool Group president and CEO, said, giving a nod to the machine builders who made it possible to produce more personal protective equipment.

Barnett said when he contacted Absolute Haitian, "The company responded with the right equipment, including helpful financing options."

Reed City Group now has a 27-machine fleet, including six ZE electric machines ranging from 44-214 U.S. tons and two MA II S servo-hydraulic machines at 225 U.S. tons from Absolute Haitian.

Barnett said, "Our director of process engineering has found these new machines to be much more precise and efficient than what we have been accustomed to, which is exactly what we needed for this special project."

Glenn Frohring, one of the owners of Absolute Haitian, said the company ascribes to the philosophy: "No offense. Makes sense."

"As we returned to the workplace, we did it safely. Masks required, separation as much as possible, Plexiglas dividers where necessary," Frohring said. "We followed the state guidelines in our three locations: Massachusetts, Ohio and South Carolina. We saw a two-week drop-off in sales. Then, it picked right back up."

Coxhead said machine builders go to great lengths to keep the supply chain humming at W. Amsler Equipment and elsewhere.

While there's an adequate stock of industrial-size containers for hand sanitizer, that's not the case for personal use or household cleaners, Coxhead said. To help meet demand, W. Amsler's machines for bottle development and bottle trials have been pulling double duty.

"In some cases, we do production runs," Coxhead said. "The lab machine doesn't stop. It's running bottles day in and day out for different people."

Founded in 1994, W. Amsler Equipment is the only North American manufacturer of all-electric linear PET stretch blow molding equipment. The company's machines range from one to four cavities with outputs of 1,500-6,000 bottles per hour.

Blow molding machinery repairs and refurbishments have picked up in addition to sales.

R&B Plastics Machinery LLC in Saline, Mich., hired six employees to help handle the extra work at the essential manufacturer of blow molding and extrusion equipment.

Most of the new and updated machines are going to produce containers for home and personal care products, such as hand sanitizers and household cleaners, said Fred Piercy, president and general manager.

He said the company even sold its sample machines for trial runs, which were primarily rebuilt, to those end markets.

"Anything anyone could find they were trying to revamp or refurbish and get running," Piercy said. "This pandemic drove up a lot of utilization of idle assets across the converters as well as small assets that weren't as cost effective. They wanted them up and running because they needed containers."

Demand also is up for machines that produce larger containers for laundry detergent, Piercy said.

"People are aren't going to the office and dry cleaners. They're doing laundry at home," he explained.

Although lead times have crept a little, they are still 32-36 weeks for a brand-new blow molder, which Piercy said isn't bad when some competitors are at 50 weeks.

The R&B team hasn't missed a beat, Piercy said.

"Everything has a purpose in the supply chain, and we're proud to be part of that," he said. "Our employees bellied up. We didn't lose anyone except for one guy who decided to retire. Other than that, it has been full speed ahead."

Injection molder Trademark Plastics Inc. in Riverside, Calif., has retained its workforce, too, with essential employees manufacturing pump systems for hand sanitizers and syringes for an eventual drug or vaccine to combat COVID-19.

The company is working on a $6 million project to produce syringes that is increasing its annual sales by 10-15 percent, Chief Operating Officer David Carty said. Trademark could use another 15-20 employees in addition to the 148 now employed.

However, Carty said, Trademark has had problems filling open positions because of the worker shortage and the difficulty finding skilled machine operators. The company brought on eight new hires and is moving toward further automation with an investment in two more robots from Wittmann Battenfeld GmbH for a total of 13.

The Paycheck Protection Program helped, Carty said.

"I used it for payroll, and I infused the cash it freed up into the company, capitalwise," Carty said.

Trademark had been investing in its manpower, too. Carty said the company has spent about $750,000 on education and training in the last couple years, including certifying four employees as project management professionals.

Trademark began changing its business model to become "an engineering-based company offering custom injection molding services" in 2017.

"We're proud of the opportunity to help the end user, but it is bittersweet to say we're doing good because we're essential," Carty said. "We've also been involved with some donations and events to give back to the community in other ways. We're in this together, and we're at the crossroad."

A key supplier to the medical and packaging industries, Wittmann Battenfeld is seeing "a huge spike in demand," Sales Vice President Sonny Morneault said.

"A majority of that demand came from our robot division. As we know, robots don't take sick days or shelter in place, so when our industry got past the initial shock of what was happening and developed safety protocols for production, the orders started coming in and they haven't slowed down. We just had a record month in September," he said.

Wittmann Battenfeld has added staff and overtime work hours, including weekends, to keep up with demand.

Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. KG Maschinenfabrik converted a pilot extrusion line at its technology center for research and development to make material for medical coveralls. And Swiss process technology systems supplier Maag Group saw orders surge for its Extrex6-brand pressure booster melt pump, which helped customers like Chinese manufacturer Nanhai Nanxin Wufangbu produce nonwoven fabrics for face masks to protect against COVID-19.

Troisdorf, Germany-based Reifenhäuser ran a blown film line, which is usually used for machine demos and customer trials, 24/7 to supply a European manufacturer of personal protective equipment. The machine maker produced 110 metric tons of material — enough for 1.2 million coveralls — to help its customer until his line was installed and running.

A mix of polypropylene and polyethylene, the material is used by the customer to produce a variety of medical coveralls, including some with hoods and cuffs, said Steve Despain, vice president of sales and marketing at Reifenhäuser Inc.

Reifenhäuser says the coveralls material protects against infections but allows for air exchange, which is important for hospital workers who must wear PPE for long periods of time.

Reifenhäuser also added personnel to keep up with a large increase in demand for machines built by both its nonwoven Reicofil brand and blown film groups.

Meanwhile, the Zurich-based Maag Group says its Extrex6-brand pressure booster melt pump is helping Chinese manufacturers like Nanhai Nanxin Wufangbu produce nonwoven fabrics for face masks to protect against COVID-19.

Maag says it sold more extrusion pumps in China in the first quarter of 2020 than all of 2019.

The low compression gearing of the Extrex6 pump is unique to the market, Maag says, and it enhances the stability of the line, which makes the processing of thermoplastic polymers more efficient and economical.

For the production of nonwovens, Maag says the upgrade means a 10 percent higher flow volume compared with other pumps, a 40 percent reduction in temperature rise through the pump and energy savings of 12 percent.

The company also says it is on track for a record year in the extrusion pump sector despite difficult pandemic and economic conditions.

Chester, Nova Scotia-based GN Thermoforming Equipment found another way to install machines at the beginning of the pandemic when the largest Russian producer of rigid meat trays needed to run its new GN760 machine to meet burgeoning demand for food in Eastern Europe.

Around the world, people were eating at home more because of lockdowns or to limit their exposure to the coronavirus.

GN technicians used the messaging service WhatsApp to guide one of its big customers, Georg Polymer JSC, through the April installation of the in-mold cut thermoforming machine, which can produce 240,000 meat trays a day.

The installation took a week, compared with three to four days on-site, but it worked, thanks to the customer's mechanical experience and a high-speed internet connection. The machine was up and running without much delay and without any travel, according to Paul Phillips, GN sales and marketing manager.

"We can ship machines and do the installation remotely to minimize the amount we move," Phillips said. "A lot of our customers don't want to see us. They don't want to introduce a new person into their factory or building. That's why we've been staying remote with communication."

Two more machine installations were successfully conducted using the WhatsApp platform in the central U.S. and another for Pro-Form kft in Hungary.

At its facility in Nova Scotia, GN Thermoforming has maintained production with staggered shifts working longer hours on machines that have leads time of two to seven months for its machines, used for packaging food, medical products and consumer goods.

At first, when the pandemic was declared, Phillips said, the thermoformer manufacturer experienced a lull in orders for the rest of March into April.

"People were just uncertain about how the virus would impact their business. But coming out of that, everyone especially on the food and medical side of packaging have seen an uptick in their business," Phillips said. "They're seeing demand at the same level, if not higher. Things are back to where they were expected to be even though there was a period where we were unsure about what would happen."

The pandemic has highlighted plastic's important role in the supply chain for safety and food quality, according to Phillips.

"Packaging took a lead role to make sure when people went to the grocery stores and restaurants that it would be packaged safely without any chance for anything to get on it or touch it," he said.