The trend in UK injection moulding capital equipment sales remained very strong in 2015, according to a recent survey by the UK’s Polymer Machinery Manufacturers & Distributors Association (PMMDA, Rugby; www.pmmda.org.uk). The results of the 2015 market survey indicated that the 643 machines imported represent the strongest market since 2004. Nigel Flowers, PMMDA chairman, said: “If we ignore the large machine imports which distort the data, the average machine value in 2015 is lower than in 2005 when adjusted for inflation. In fact, since 2010 the UK market has grown in unit numbers by a staggering 36%. To a large degree you could argue that this has been driven by the continued investment in automotive but this is only really reflected in the large machine imports. The truth is that there has been significant investment across all sectors including traditional trade moulding which has taken a hit over the last few years.”

There has been a similar trend in automation, with 41% of machines supplied with automation in 2015, compared with only 32% in 2005. Flowers added: “Again there is an argument that automotive has driven this increase but I think that we are seeing investment across the board to leverage the cost reductions and increase in productivity that automation brings.”

UK sales figures for ancillary equipment and robots were also included in the survey, and showed a significant rise in trade during 2015.

PMMDA has carried out an annual exercise over the past 13 years to gauge trends in polymer machinery sales in the UK. Member companies are invited to share their annual sales figures confidentially and the data is then collated to demonstrate UK and Ireland totals. Participating member companies receive an analysis of the figures together with a year-on-year comparison.