A healthy order book at the end of the first half of the 2006-2007 year has brought some optimism to injection moulding machine manufacturer Netstal (Näfels / Switzerland; www.netstal.com). Following a significant decline in sales last year compared with the previous year – see Plasteurope.com of 16.02.2007 – CEO Bernhard Merki now expects the current financial year to bring a modest increase. Order gains are attributed primarily to the PET segment and the "Elion" line of machines. The company also has several projects on hand involving the packaging industry. The "Optical data carriers" segment, on the other hand, remains weak.

Netstal made 52% of its sales of CHF 297m (EUR 179m) in the first half, in its core injection moulding machines business ("SynErgy" and "Elion"). The "PET-Line" machines account for 20% and production machines for optical data carriers ("e-Jet") for a further 12%. Spare parts and service make up the remaining 16%. Since 2003, these percentages have changed quite considerably: The PET segment has grown by 6 percentage points, optical data carriers have dropped from 22 to 12%, and the core business with the all-electric Elion model has risen from 44 to its present 52%.

For K 2007 (24-31 October 2007; www.k-online.de), the company will introduce a hybrid machine under the name "Evos" with four clamping forces from 2,000 to 5,000 kN. Two of them will be on show at the exhibition in Düsseldorf. The Evos machines will replace the ageing SynErgy line. There will also be a third, smaller version of the PET-Line series for 24-48 cavities.