Sales increase in challenging market

Global sales increased by 13% to 294.9 million euros with incoming orders rising by 6% to 314.2 million euros. The demand for IntElect all-electric injection moulding machines and El-Exis packaging machines was the main contributor to this major sales increase. These are the results of Sumitomo (SHI) Demag for the fiscal year of 2018.

Thanks to its recently modernised production processes, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery is now in a perfect position to cope with the increase in orders, management confirms. Half of the company’s machining systems were replaced. “Our platen machining capacities were stepped up by almost 50%, and our production processes have become more efficient. In 2019, we are aiming for a 10% increase of our production output”, says Gerd Liebig, CEO of Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery.

“Unexpected additional tariffs, the looming spectre of a no-deal Brexit and the automotive industry’s waning propensity to invest has presented us with some challenges. But we are willing to explore this slack in the market to reduce both our backlog and our delivery times,” Liebig continues.

This year, the Wiehe production site will see further investment. Wiehe is almost exclusively dedicate to the production of the all-electric IntElect series. The objectives are to maximise efficiency of cyclic operation, which translates into significantly lower throughput times.