Japanese-German plastics machinery maker Sumitomo Demag Plastics Machinery (Schwaig / Germany; www.sumitomo-shi-demag.eu) has taken another step to expanding its sales and service activities by partnering up with Israel’s Asaf Industries (Holon; www.asaf-m.com). Sumitomo expects the latter’s market acceptance and industry experience – the company was founded in 1986 as a commercial agency – will help open up new opportunities in Israel.

Sumitomo hopes to exploit the country’s growing needs in the fields of medical technology, packaging and toys, pointing out that Israel’s economy has made a marked recovery from the 2009 slump. Nevertheless, Sumitomo says, Israeli industry investments in machinery and equipment dropped by almost 37% in 2009. But the German-Japanese joint venture sees this decline as an opportunity, as Christian Renners, general manager Sales & After Sales at Sumitomo Demag, said, pointing out that “this means that there is a need to catch up which will gradually be satisfied.” And although the numbers show that investment in foreign machinery and equipment slumped from 72.4% in 2009 to 67.8% a year later, Sumitomo does not expect the dominance of foreign machinery to change in the Israeli market in the near future.

Founded in 2008, when the injection moulding machine activities of Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI) were merged with those of the Demag Plastics Group – see also Plasteurope.com of 15.02.2008 – Sumitomo Demag Plastics Machinery employs some 3,000 workers at four production sites in Germany, Japan and China.