Sales of the Engel Group (Schwertberg / Austria; www.engelglobal.com) increased by around 10% to EUR 601m in fiscal 2007 (31 March). The Austrian manufacturer was boosted by the stagnation of the European injection moulding machinery market and increased its share from just under 20% to 23%, management spokesman Peter Neumann said at the company's pre-K 2007 press conference. In eastern Europe, Engel succeeded in expanding its market position very significantly, said Neumann. One in every three machines now sold there was made by Engel. In China, too, growth has been "very significant."

Developments in eastern European and Asia led the family-owned group to make a number of investments in these regions. The first machine was supplied from Engel's new plant for large machinery at Shanghai / China in December 2006 – see Plasteurope.com Web of 22.01.2007. By the end of the current financial year, nearly 50 machines will have been built there, and the local workforce is to be raised to 90. In the long term, the plant's capacity is likely to be around 130 large-scale machines a year, whereby none will be sold in Europe.

The new eastern European subsidiary Engel Injectie (Bucharest / Romania) is set to begin operation in September 2007. The Austrian parent expects considerable potential here, particularly in technical moulding. Prospects for the Russian market are also positive. Engel established a subsidiary in Moscow in October 2006 – see Plasteurope.com Web of 18.10.2006. In 2006, it doubled its market share there to 5%, and is predicting a rise to 10% in 2007. This, says Engel, would make it the largest machinery manufacturer in the Confederation of Independent States (CIS). At the Czech plant, the focus is presently on increasing manufacturing depth. In particular, sheet metal and welding work that had been outsourced is to be brought back in-house.

Considerable capital expenditures are also planned for the current financial year. In late February, Engel broke ground on a new central technology centre at its Schwertberg headquarters. The building will have total floor space of around 12,000 m². The first phase of the project should be completed in May 2008 and the rest by summer 2009. This, said Neumann, is a clear declaration of faith in its Schwertberg site. The projected cost – for construction work only – is around EUR 25m.

The focus of Engel's portfolio in future will be on packaging machinery and electrical machines. The group claimed to have a 14.5% share of the electrical machinery market in 2006, up from 8% in 2005. "Here, too, we also must exceed 20%," Neumann said in talking about plans for this division. Engel has built up an industry-specific organisation to bring it closer to its customers. The organisation is oriented towards its five most important customer industries: automotive, packaging, medical, teletronics (telecommunication & electronics) and technical moulding.