Engel grows globally with local solutions

Back at the first NPE show in six years, Austria-headquartered Engel Group (W3301) is ready to showcase what has changed since then — and what has not.

There is nothing new about the plastics machinery manufacturer's commitment to serving and supporting its customers in every part of the globe. In other areas, much has changed, in terms of portfolio, technology and strategy.

In June 2023, for example, Engel opened a new, expanded automation center in North America. The company also increased its workforce and added an apprenticeship program with, currently, more than 400 apprentices taking part.

Over the years, Engel has increasingly pursued a strategy of providing both local and global solutions and is now establishing a hub structure in each of its major regional markets: the Americas, Europe and Asia. These hubs are largely independent units, each comprising sales, order processing, production and after-sales. Each of the three hubs is in close contact with headquarters with a view to establishing and implementing global standards wherever necessary and appropriate.

"This is our way of ensuring that global players can consistently rely on Engel's uniform standards throughout their injection molding machine's entire life cycle," said Stefan Engleder, CEO of the Engel Group, speaking at the NPE2024 news conference.

By developing and producing "in the region for the region," Engel can adapt to local conditions while maintaining similar levels of service and quality across the globe.

It is a strategy that will also help the company to respond more adequately to the uncertainties in the markets today. War, labor shortages, inflation, high energy costs and legislation are all factors that combined to produce what the company said was "a minor downturn" compared with the previous year.

Engel concluded the fiscal year 2023-24 at the end of March with total sales of around 1.6 billion euros ($1.7 billion), 6 percent lower than 2022-23.

"The volume in the injection molding machine market has fallen by up to 40 percent, according to various association figures. Engel has succeeded in gaining shares in a shrinking market — a trend consistent with observations from previous economic contractions," Engleder said.

This growth was largely attributable to the medical and packaging business units, as demand for the production of diabetes therapy products remains high, especially in the Americas.

In Europe, new regulations are set to be introduced, causing a boom in the packaging industry. The after-sales business showed a plus of almost 15 percent compared with the previous year.

The prospects for the new fiscal year are still somewhat speculative. According to Engleder, the high order backlog has, up until now, cushioned the downturn for the company, although this, too, is starting to clear.

However, a lasting economic recovery has thus far not materialized. "That's something the NPE may help to kick-start, especially having also had Chinaplas just two weeks ago," he said.

In line with its growth strategy, the group has earmarked a double-digit-million figure for the expansion of the global network this fiscal year.

The company recently announced it will be building a new multifaceted facility in Querétaro, Mexico, a place to "find, develop and hold talent," Engleder said.

"The level of engineering skills there is incredible, very creative, really exceptional," he said.

The new facility, which Engel plans to build on a 753,000-square-foot plot it is in the process of buying, will represent an investment of around 30 million euros ($32.2 million). The size of the new tract leaves space for further growth.

"Initially, we'll be manufacturing the T-Win and the e-mac series of machines there," Engleder said. "But it will be a full-fledged production plant, where we'll be building from scratch, not supplying just stock machines. And it's additional capacity, not a transfer of production from Austria. We want to be close to our local markets and to provide the whole value chain. It's what we learned from the pandemic. We're still one organization, with one quality standard — but decentralized."

In Mexico, Engel already operates a service and distribution center in Monterrey and a facility in Querétaro that additionally provides training and technology development. The new facility will further bolster the capacity and expertise available to Engel's customers in the United States, Canada, Mexico and South America.

At NPE2024, sustainability and the circular economy are major topics. Engel has been working for some 15 years on solutions to support its customers with their sustainable ambitions and the transition to a more circular economy. The plastics industry is under increasing pressure to move toward more environmentally friendly solutions that are, at the same time, economically viable.

Energy efficiency is one concern.

"Using our temperature control solutions with our intelligent assistant software, it is possible to save up to 67 percent in energy," Engleder said.

Engel, which holds a platinum Ecovadis ranking, features production cells capable of sustainably processing recycled materials, leading to a reduction in CO2 emissions. The company has also developed a recycling package that allows converters to process recyclates across a wide range of applications.

According to Bianca Gubi, the product manager for the circular economy at Engel, the package can be retrofitted and is compatible with many Engel machine models, including the all-electric e-mac. It features a modified, durably constructed plasticizing unit, enabling poorly flowing materials like regrind to be processed more easily, safely and consistently.

The plasticizing components can withstand temperatures up to 350° C (662° F). At the Engel booth, the package is demonstrated on an e-mac 1565/310 slim edition, producing a bottle tray using regrind instead of repelletized material.

Other plastic recycling processes offered include skinmelt, coinjection and the two-stage process. In the first two processes, the recyclate is coated with virgin material. In the latter, regrind is directly processed, degassed and filtered during injection molding, which allows up to 100 percent recycled material to be used as raw material.

Engel's suite of smart assistance systems contributes by ensuring that the production process remains stable, despite the fluctuations in raw materials typical of recycled plastic waste. iQ weight control automatically identifies fluctuations in the raw material and ambient conditions and dynamically adjusts injection profiles shot by shot to maintain consistent quality and minimize rejects.

At the booth, this software is used with a servo-hydraulic t-win 750/7800 (830 U.S. tons) from Wintec molding premium garage floor tiles from recycled ocean waste — discarded fishnets and cables provided by Atando Cabos in Santiago, Chile — on a two-cavity mold supplied by Georgia-based CH3 Solutions. "They are a prototype example of success in collection and recycling in this area," Gubi said.

One of the biggest problems in North America — and elsewhere — is the shortage of skilled workers, said Vanessa Malena, president of Engel Americas.

Engel is addressing this problem in various ways. The company has developed comprehensive training courses that cover all aspects of equipment operation; training programs; and a one-of-a-kind apprenticeship program in the U.S. that teaches students the ins and outs of injection molding. The company has received more than 6,000 applicants while recruiting.

The fully paid apprentice program is certified and registered within the state of Pennsylvania, recognized federally, and lasts four years with a combination of on-the-job and classroom-based instruction. Graduates are offered a job at Engel, and it has an extremely high retention rate.

To find out why, Malena asked one graduate why he chose to stay. The answer was simple: "Because you invested in me."

"It shows just how important it is to people to feel they are valued and seen," Malena said.

One other direct consequence of the lack of skilled employees is the increased willingness of customers to automate as many process steps as possible directly via the machine — for instance, quality checks or packaging.

"Most of the time we are fortunate to be involved in customer projects from the start," Engleder said. "This enables us to respond very specifically to requirements and tailor the optimal solution for our customer."

While the standard segment remains stagnant, customized automation solutions are seeing a significant upswing.

"In addition, we've found that here in North America, our customers are now asking for our smart assistance systems. It has taken a long time for customers to want these products and to learn how to use them, and we've needed a long breath to get these into the field," Engleder said.

"And what we've found is that they are using them in ways we hadn't envisioned," he added. "Especially our iQ process observer, software which monitors the entire process. It is an AI platform that analyzes hundreds of parameters simultaneously, displaying deviations and corrective measures.

"We thought it would be used by converters to see when a parameter deviated too far from where it should be, allowing adjustments to be made. What we found is that it is being used as a hands-on proactive tool. It uses a simple green-yellow-red light system. It enables people who perhaps don't have the technical skill, are not experts to run the machine optimally. ... It's simple, and it's usable. That's the beauty of it."