The fusion of Hemscheidt Maschinentechnik GmbH and Hemscheidt Service GmbH (both Werkstr. 226, D-19061 Schwerin) into HPM Corporation (Mt. Gilead, Ohio / USA) is taking concrete shape. As HPM owner Neil Kadisha said at the National Plastics Exhibition NPE in Chicago, considerable progress has been made towards the goal of merging and consolidating product lines. Machinery exhibited at NPE already bore strong resemblance to HPM's design. The name Hemscheidt will not be part of the new name of the company, which presently does business in Germany as HPM Hemscheidt GmbH.

HPM, which employs 900, had sales of USD 100m in 1996 with extrusion and injection moulding machinery, as well as diecasting equipment. According to Kadisha, the goal is to treble sales over the next several years, for which a presence in the European market will be essential. The company's two production sites are both US-based, in Ohio and California. Plans for Schwerin include manufacture of extrusion as well as injection moulding machinery. Marketing of pressure diecasting equipment is also on the agenda.

Over the past several months, HPM has managed to lure several experienced managers away from its North American competitors. The Schwerin site will be headed by a German, Dr. Helmut Reichstein, who is well known in the injection moulding sector. Before his brief stint at Dr. Boy GmbH, he was part of the management team at Cincinnati Milacron Spritzgießtechnik.

READER SERVICE: Collection of technical prospectuses on Hemscheidt injection moulding machinery (German): PIE-No. 37492.