Special shipping and ground transportation arrangements were needed to move the machine from Austria to the United States and even within Austria. The platens were transported to and from the St. Valentin manufacturing facility along the Danube River on barges. “Each machine was fully assembled and tested prior to shipping and then disassembled to be shipped to the United States,” said Jim Moran, business development manager at Engel North America.

Engel said it is increasingly receiving requests for custom solutions in the extremely high clamping force range. Clamping forces of 10,000 tons and more are possible. Machines of this size can process individual shot weights of several hundred kilograms or pounds and achieve two-ton-per-hour material throughput.

“We’re committed to expanding our footprint, scale, and capabilities to support our customers’ growth and are enthused that capacity upgrades, leasehold improvements, and new equipment installations are scheduled to be completed during the first half of 2022,” said Bob May, CEO of Beacon Manufacturing Group. “At the same time, we are pleased to offer Acromatic’s customers greater access to expanded capabilities, engineering resources, and services.”

Now known as Beacon Engineered Solutions, Acromatic Plastics will continue to provide its customers with the high-quality products, components, services, and support that they have come to expect from this mixed-use facility. Customers will benefit from expanded molding capabilities and engineering services, as well as Beacon Engineered Solutions’ track record of success in launching custom, complex, precision-molded products and component assemblies for use across a broad range of industries and end-use applications, said Beacon in its press release.

Getting the 8,000-ton machines from Austria to the Infiltrator Water Technologies plant in Kentucky was a logistical challenge.

At the IWT site in Winchester, new manufacturing facilities had to be built to house the large machines. As 29 truckloads of machine parts were arriving from Austria, the 59,000-square-foot building expansion went forward. A 150-ton overhead crane was installed to move molds in and out of the machine and was also used to help assemble the new press.

The duo injection molding machines each have two 85,000 cm³ injection units, which allow for injecting a total shot weight of 270 lb (122 kg). Despite the clamping force and shot size, the machines have a relatively small footprint — 96 ft. (29.3 meters) long and 37 ft. (6.4 meters) wide — enabled by Engel’s two-platen design.

Beacon Manufacturing Group has acquired precision molder Acromatic Plastics and will make the 110,000-square-foot facility available to its Beacon MedTech Solutions business to support future growth plans. The company has also entered into a partnership agreement with Sumitomo Demag to purchase several injection molding machines, with the first two expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2021.

“We have made significant investments in new equipment, and this will allow us to produce our products more effectively and efficiently,” said Bryan Coppes, vice president of engineering and R&D at Infiltrator. “It is the new capabilities and opportunities for continued product development that are truly exciting. This new equipment will allow us to continue to bring new and innovative products to market and meet and exceed our customers' needs.”

Two injection molding machines with a clamping force of 8,000 tons each have now been delivered by Austrian injection molding machine maker Engel to the Infiltrator Water Technologies (IWT) plant in Winchester, KY. IWT took delivery of the first Engel duo 130000/130000H/8200 combi US machine, the largest machine ever built at Engel’s St. Valentin facility in Austria, in February of last year. A second machine, a replica of the first, arrived at the facility this month. IWT, a subsidiary of Advanced Drainage Systems (ADS), produces water management products.

Plans are underway to add cleanroom capacity and build out Beacon’s tooling and liquid silicone rubber (LSR) molding capabilities at the facility in Leominster, MA. This will enable Beacon MedTech to meet demand for its contract manufacturing services and precision molded products, components, and sub-assemblies for single-use and Class II medical devices and other life science applications.

Engel said it received the purchase order in November 2020 and completed handover of the first machine in February 2022. The second machine, a replica of the first, was delivered this month.

Engel added in the news release that it shares a commitment to sustainability with ADS, which claims to recycle more plastic than any other company in North America.

Engel was recently awarded a gold sustainability rating by EcoVadis, which relies on data from more than 90,000 evaluated companies and global supply chains to rank companies.