Wintec Industries: Chinaplas: Injection machine builder Wintec doubling capacity at Changzhou, China factory

Changzhou, China-based injection molding machine OEM Wintec is doubling production capacity in response respond to anticipated demand growth for its machines in China as well as to support its global rollout in the Americas. From May this year, Wintec will start marketing its machines in the US, Canada, Mexico and BrazilWintec's e-win all-electric machine on show at Chinaplas was taking on a particularly challenging application in the form of a 65% glass fiber-reinforced automotive pump head.Wintec is investing EUR10 million in the first major expansion of the site which started operations four years ago. The new capacity will be on line in the fourth quarter of 2019 and double the size of the site from its current 18,500-m2 area upon completion at the end of 2019. The number of employees in production alone will increase by 60%. "We plan a further expansion within the next three to four years, with the exact timing subject to demand," says Michael Feltes, President - Sales and Service, at Wintec.The company expects to manufacture 300 machines this current fiscal year at Changzhou ending in March 2019. Currently, 72% of Wintec's sales are into the auto sector, with 23% for white goods applications and 5% for "technical molding" and others. At Chinaplas, Wintec will be demonstrating a particularly challenging application on one of its e-win 1000-170 two-platen, all-electric machines. An automotive pump head component will be molded from a 65% glass fiber-reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (PPS). The 39-gram part will be molded in a two-cavity mold with a cycle time of 18 seconds.Wintec is also supporting parent firm Engel's Shanghai manufacturing operations via the machining of platens and machine frames. The Shanghai Engel plant was expanded in 2017 with land area now fully occupied. Phase 4 of expansion there added 1.500 m2 of space and saw installation of a 10-axis machining center capable of working on workpieces weighing up to 160 tonnes. This giant machine is being supported by two machining centers at Wintec in Changzhou that can machine workpieces up to 60 tonnes in weight.For its part, Engel is investing EUR375 million globally through to 2020 in new production capacity and other facilities. The company has just expanded its northern production hall in St. Valentin by 11,500 m2.Asia accounts for 20% of overall Engel sales, with 90% of machines sold in Asia also made in the company's Asian plants in Shanghai, China, and Pyongtaek, South Korea.