Machinery News
China bolsters sales for machinery China is still a leading market for made-in-Germany machinery, even with its slower growth. Meanwhile, domestic-based machinery supplier Jinming is expanding its innovation level, to up its ante in the technology sector. VDMA anticipates lower sales in 2014 Germany’s plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers expect sales to increase by 3% in the current year, meaning that output will hit the EUR7 billion mark for the first time. But this is lower than the 6% growth pointed out by Ulrich Reifenhäuser, Chairman of the Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association (VDMA), at the K2013 show last year. In 2013, output growth amounted to 3.9%, while exports were up by 4.3%. Both figures set new records for the industry, while in 2015, sales are set to rise by 4% to just under EUR7.3 billion. Sales to foreign customers are set to record small increases in both 2014 and 2015. “The outlook for the industry’s two most important markets, China and the US, continues to be positive, even though the very high recent growth rates will level off,” confirms Thorsten Kühmann, Managing Director of the Association. “However, the trend in deliveries to Russia, Brazil, Turkey and India is markedly negative. In Russia, the third largest sales market of the past few years, the potential effects of the political crisis surrounding Ukraine are not yet reflected in the figures at all.” Meanwhile, the order intake from Germany has been gaining momentum again for several months now with growth rates well ahead of those recorded for foreign orders. Even with the lower sales growth expected, German foreign deliveries of plastics and rubber machinery have achieved a small increase in their share of global exports. Almost a quarter of all machines exported (24.5%) was
manufactured in Germany; China ranks second, a long way behind, with a share of 12.3%, Japan is third with 9.9% and Italy fourth with a 9.1% share. Large machinery for producing washing machine tubs One company that is adding on to the increase in sales of the German sector is injection moulding machine maker KraussMaffei, which recently inaugurated the second phase of its Chinese plant in Haiyan. The German machine maker is supplying four injection moulding machines, manufactured in China, to BSH Bosch and Siemens Hausgeräte (BSH)’s facility in China. The large MX series machines will be delivered to the BSH facility in Nanjing where they will be used to produce washing-machine tubs. BSH Nanjing has already been using linear robots from KraussMaffei since 2008. BSH manufactures these tubs in three large plants in Russia, Turkey and China. Two of the four new large machines from the MX series were put into operation back in February 2014. The other two MX850-8100 machines will be installed soon. The BSH laundry experts decided to use the fully automated injection moulding solutions with LRX linear robots. Once the metal bushings required for the tub have been checked, the LRX500 is used to place them into the mould and remove the finished parts. Bushings of varying diameters are needed depending on the size of the tub being made, and the robots provide these bushings. Getting this right is especially important because the accuracy of the bushing/bearing unit design is a decisive factor in the longevity of the washing machines. From its production plant in Haiyan, KraussMaffei says it supplies production solutions that are specially tailored to the needs of Asian customers and meet the company's globally applicable quality standards. The MX series of large machines, which are manufactured and assembled locally in China, are designed for use in the automotive, electronics, packaging and transport industries.
KraussMaffei’s MX series, manufactured in China, is supplied for the production of washing tubs
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JUNE / JULY 2014