In 2017 rise in incoming orders and market shares for Sumitomo (SHI) Demag

For the fiscal year of 2017, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag with headquarters in Schwaig and production sites in Schwaig, Wiehe (Germany) and Ningbo (China) again reports a significant increase of sales and incoming orders. The successful launch of the specialist’s new generation of IntElect all-electric injection moulding machines and the positive business development in the packaging and medical segments contributed substantially to the boost in incoming orders, which rose from 245.9 million euros in 2016 to 297 million euros in 2017, and consolidated the strong upward trend. The company’s cumulated incoming machine orders for the past three years totalled about 40%.

Alongside this development, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag has finally climbed the summit and is now one of the market leader in the packaging segment, mostly due to thin-wall applications. “This healthy growth inspires our customers’ confidence that we will remain a reliable partner with a clear investment strategy. In practice, this means that our strategic focus will hone in on the key segments of packaging, medical and automotive as well as the on technical advancement of all-electric machines. Hence, we will enhance this product series by introducing machines with mid-range clamping forces at the beginning of 2019. Despite the general market growth in 2017, we increased our market shares in the automotive and medical engineering segments by 10%, and even by 20% for our core segments of packaging and all-electric machines”, stated Gerd Liebig, CEO Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Group.

As the supplier industry has been struggling with dramatic material shortages since October 2017 however, company’s process runtimes are far from satisfactory. “Our part delivery hang-ups are not helpful, but unfortunately not uncommon in this market”, Liebig explained. “Every day, we give our best in the daily struggle to deliver our machines on time“. Over the coming months, a substantial modernisation programme will be implemented to help with the strained delivery situation. During 2018, one in two injection moulding machines at Schwaig production site will be modernised or replaced. At the Wiehe site, the company is busy preparing for a new pull production with an annual capacity of 1,000 all-electric machines to come on-stream at the end of this year. Sumitomo (SHI) Demag expects both measures to increase production efficiency by 30 %.

The new alignment of after-sales service unit has also been completed. At present, all international service technicians are being integrated into a web-based e-solution, which will speed up troubleshooting on-site. The internet-based software solution myConnect provides customers with central access to the injection moulding machine manufacturer’s digital services such as online support, machine documentation, online order of spare parts and the management of service and maintenance activities.