Alongside technical innovations and news relating to its corporate strategy, Austrian plastics-machinery manufacturer Engel (A-4311 Schwertberg; www.engel.at) had one key topic to report on at this year´s “Fakuma” in Friedrichshafen. In an amazing feat of strength, Engel employees, together with the company management and outside helpers, had managed to master the enormous damage caused to the Schwertberg headquarters by the two flood waves in August (PIE 17, 2002) to such an extent that the company was able to deliver 35 injection moulding machines by the start of October.

The central warehouse, painting shop, and the preliminary and final assembly shops were operational again by mid-September, and the delivery of parts from sister facilities in St. Valentin and Dietach and supply partners re-commenced. The standard production capacity of 40 machines per week will be reached again in December. The damage to the former sheet metal and frame construction shops is so extensive that “repairs virtually amount to complete rebuilding,” says Engel. In a project known as “Engel Phönix”, the company is thus taking the opportunity to start from scratch again and ensure that all its production stages at Schwertberg are state-of-the-art.

Capacity expansion at the other locations is progressing according to plan. An additional 6,600 m² production surface is coming into operation at the plant for large-scale machines in St. Valentin in July 2003, while the production area at the competence centre for materials technology and plasticising units in Steyr is being increased by 2,500 m² next year.

Engel also stressed that its customers have been particularly faithful. As Reinhard Bauer, head of communication at Engel, told PIE, order cancellations were running no higher than for the same period last year, despite delays in delivery. In value terms, like-for-like incoming orders are already up 15%, even though extended delivery times may have meant a number of lost orders. Clear impetus is coming from the countries awaiting membership of the EU, while none of the other markets is showing signs of economic recovery. The US market is in a particularly poor state.

Under the motto “quality from a single source”, Engel has extended its manufacturing range to machine peripherals, adopting precisely the opposite approach to almost all its competitors. Engel Automatisierungstechnik now supplies own-make box servers, tray servers, conveyor-belt systems and individual finishing devices too. Apart from having just a single contractual partner, customers can then also be sure that all the components are optimally aligned to each other. An additional benefit is that guarantees and servicing now cover the entire system.