Throughout 2025, various companies, focusing on designing and manufacturing of machines, molds and special tooling were tirelessly launching their new developments for benefit of the injection molding sector. Many of these state-of-the-art novelties were demonstrated at K 2025 ‒ the world's leading plastics and rubber trade fair, that was held in Düsseldorf, Germany, October 8-15 2025.
Among the most highlighted exhibits at K 2025 were new injection molding machines demonstrated by prominent machine builders.
More space, more efficiency, more precision: World premiere of the tie-bar-less ENGEL victory electric
With the new victory electric, ENGEL launched a world-first at K 2025: a tie-bar-less electric injection moulding machine that sets new standards in precision, energy efficiency and flexibility. The completely redesigned clamping unit combines the proven advantages of tie-bar-less technology with the dynamics of electric drive systems – enabling higher productivity within the same footprint.
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High energy efficiency, uniform force distribution and maximum repeatability: The new clamping system with pressure pad and ball screw ensures precise mould centring and shorter cycle times |
Tie-bar-less means: more space in the mould area, faster mould changes and easier automation. ENGEL has already installed more than 85,000 machines of this design worldwide – a clear proof of the concept’s success. The victory electric now combines these well-established benefits with those of an electric machine design in the clamping force range above 1,300 kN. This closes a gap in the market where many processors are actively seeking such solutions.
The new ENGEL victory electric impresses not only with technical precision but also with clear economic advantages. Its compact design reduces the overall machine length by around 200 mm, allowing for optimised production layouts. At the same time, the tie-bar-less design enables the use of significantly larger moulds compared to conventional machines of the same clamping force class – without additional investment. For example, a mould that would typically require around 3200 kN can be operated on a victory electric 220 with just 2200 kN clamping force.
At the heart of the machine is a newly developed clamping unit with two vertically arranged pressure bars. These replace the traditional toggle mechanism for building up clamping force and ensure exceptionally uniform force distribution across the entire mould mounting platen. An integrated deformation compensation system keeps the platen parallelism stable and precise – even with complex or large-area mould geometries. The newly designed moving platen performs key functions such as centring and force transmission, contributing significantly to the machine’s compact design.
All main movements are powered electrically via a servo motor with ball screw – a drive system that has proven its reliability in ENGEL machines for many years. A particularly efficient feature is the integrated recovery of braking energy, which not only reduces overall energy consumption but also improves the carbon footprint of the production process.
The standard integration of a hydraulic unit adds extra flexibility by enabling the use of hydraulic core pulls. Components such as the ejector and position transducers are taken from the proven ENGEL duo series, ensuring maximum stability and process reliability.
The victory electric expands ENGEL’s tie-bar-less machine portfolio with a powerful electric variant. In addition to the servo-hydraulic victory and the hybrid e-victory, an electric solution is now also available in the medium clamping force range – ideal for processors looking to combine energy efficiency, precision and maximum mould space. This makes the machine perfectly suited not only for standard injection moulding applications, but also for high-performance requirements.
With the new victory electric, ENGEL provides a consistent answer to the growing demands for space efficiency, energy savings and process stability – compact, electric and tie-bar-less.
Netstal presented the latest generation of the successful Elion series for medical technology applications
The new generation of the successful Elion series for medical technology applications celebrated its world premiere at K 2025. Thanks to numerous optimizations, users can produce even more efficiently than before on a smaller footprint.
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World premiere at K 2025: The new Elion MED from Netstal in the 1200 kN clamping force version |
With the new Elion MED, Netstal has brought a highlight in the field of injection molding machines to Düsseldorf. The newly developed generation builds on proven technology and supplements it with significant optimizations to further increase production efficiency. The significantly shortened and compact design of the new machine is particularly striking. Thanks to an optimized geometry of the toggle lever for the fastest drying cycles, a new injection gearbox with a compact metering drive, a two-part control cabinet and a modified protective cover, Netstal has been able to significantly reduce the length of the machine compared to its predecessor models with identical clamping force. The clamping unit area also offers better accessibility for maintenance work. The conversion of the entire Elion portfolio is taking place in stages. To start with, four variants with 1200 and 1750 kN clamping force are available. The target portfolio consists of further variants and will cover the clamping force range from 800 to 4200 kN.
Genuine Netstal: Fast, precise, reliable
With the new Elion MED, customers receive the leading injection precision and shot-to-shot consistency that Netstal has stood for for decades. This is achieved by high-precision sensors and the extremely high sampling rate of 2 kHz. Injection control is based on the principle of direct injection force measurement RFC (Responsive Filling Control), which is used exclusively at Netstal. The newly revised quality monitoring system also ensures seamless monitoring and assurance of production quality.
The stable mold plates and the generously dimensioned guides ensure maximum precision with minimal deformation in the clamping unit. The newly designed toggle lever with a so-called double connecting rod distributes the closing force over two bearing points and has also been separated from the axis for the electric ejector. With these improvements, the new Elion MED offers users even greater reliability and availability. At the same time, it is particularly powerful compared to the competition and enables outstanding efficiency in day-to-day production. Netstal has trimmed all drive components such as motors and gearboxes for maximum performance and a broad performance profile. This means that the new Elion MED can maintain consistently high speeds at high pressure in 24-hour continuous operation for many years. To significantly increase energy efficiency compared to the predecessor model, Netstal has designed a new type of direct drive for the unit movement and the application of the nozzle contact pressure.
Maximized efficiency in the clean room
Thanks to fully encapsulated and water-cooled drive motors and the hermetically sealed control cabinet, the new Elion MED is virtually emission-free. In addition, the protective cladding has been redesigned for optimum cleanability with smooth surfaces and screws that are not visible from the outside. Despite the very compact design, the new protective housing offers full flexibility for the integration of system and peripheral components. The new Elion MED can be used in clean rooms up to class ISO 7 without any additional precautions. With additional equipment options, higher requirements can be achieved individually according to customer requirements.
Clean toggle PAC-E powers medical excellence
Redefining clean, energy-efficient injection moulding for the medical industry, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag presented its latest 420t PAC-E machine at K 2025. Able to manufacture and stack 30 ml medication dispensing cups at a rate of 57,600 cups per hour, PAC-E was engineered specifically to deliver peak sustained performance in fast cycling applications. With its high injection speeds and exceptional precision, the PAC-E enables flawless multi-cavity production, even for extremely thin-walled products.
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| Sumitomo (SHI) Demag presents its latest 420t PAC-E machine at K 2025 Picture: Sumitomo (SHI) Demag |
Setting a new three-second milestone for mass manufacturing healthcare applications ranging from medical cups to centrifuge blood collection tubes, the clean-toggle technology also meets the strict hygiene demands stipulated in medical manufacturing. Combined with the intelligent stacking system from Zubler Handling as well as the pick-and-place robot and the 48-cavity mould tool from Otto-Hofstetter, production rates on the 420t PAC-E can reliably reach around 432 million components per year. The entire production cell, including all periphery equipment, is relatively compact in comparison to all-electric machines generating similar volumes, adds the sector specialist.
The cavity tool from Otto-Hofstetter enables the injection of the cup, with a shot weight of around 70 grams, to occur centrally via the point gate. Additionally, the highly efficient, thermally balanced cooling system comprises 29 water cooling circuits. This guarantees thermal stability in the mould, supporting safe and continuous production. Furthermore, the tool is designed to remove moulded parts from the front, making it more straightforward to access and service.
Giving medical processors total control
Product quality is maintained using intelligent high-definition vision cameras placed along the high-speed extraction axis. Installed by Zubler Handling, a 100 % inline control system with cameras processes 96 images for every extraction. Anomaly detection and dimension measurements are performed on each image with an accuracy of 0.05 millimetres.
After removal from the tool, the cups are stacked on a round table equipped with two sections. Each section has 48 compartments for each corresponding cavity. Once the rotary table is fully stacked, it moves to its next position where the cavity stacks are sorted by the pick & place robot. The robot can handle eight stacks simultaneously, separating them individually into good or bad cases.
The new MacroPower with a one-piece machine body
The highlight of WITTMANN presentation at K 2025 was the new MacroPower 500/3400. Although the machines of the MacroPower series from WITTMANN BATTENFELD have always scored by their small footprint and consequently modest space requirements on customers’ production floors, the new MacroPower stands out by even greater compactness. This has been achieved by a completely new design with a spacesaving, one-piece machine body.
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New MacroPower 500/3400 with one-piece machine body |
The machine’s injection unit also comes with a new design and is now pivotable. These features help users primarily to save the valuable resource of time. Firstly, the one-piece machine body facilitates installation and setup of the machine on the customer’s site, and secondly, the pivotable injection aggregate, accessible from both the machine’s front and rear sides, makes screw changes much easier. The new MacroPower is fitted with the Unilog B8X control system, which includes several control system components developed inhouse.
These make it possible to reach a higher internal clock frequency and consequently shorter response times to sensor signals, resulting in a higher reproducibility of parts with the familiar ease of use and visualization.
On the new MacroPower 500/3400, a box known as “HAIBOX” was produced from a type of PP delivered by Borealis, using a single-cavity mold supplied by Haidlmair, Austria. The machine was equipped with a WITTMANN IML unit. The labels coming from Viappiani, Italy, were inserted on both long sides of the box. Following parts removal, a thermal photo of every shot was taken by a thermal imaging camera and then compared with the reference picture from the approval process. The pictures were checked by the TD14.0 software from SKZ, Germany, evaluating any deviations from normal temperature differences. If the temperature is outside the tolerance margin, a signal is sent to the robot to have the respective part sorted out. Next, the good parts are placed on a conveyor belt.
A new benchmark in high-performance injection moulding
At K-Fair 2025, Stork IMM introduced the next generation All-Electric 6600-3550 with 2K, a true innovation in injection moulding. Unlike anything currently available on the market, this machine combines 2K heavy-duty performance with all-electric precision, offering manufacturers a sustainable and future-proof alternative for high-output packaging production.
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At K-Fair 2025, Stork IMM introduced the next generation All-Electric 6600-3550 with 2K, a true innovation in the segment |
The Stork IMM all-electric range represents a completely new development — delivering performance levels that no other injection moulding machine builder has yet achieved. Designed for thin-walled packaging applications, the Stork IMM all-electric excels where competitors cannot reach the same mould filling performance.
With its optimized design, the 6600-3550 2K can accelerate extremely fast, making it possible to achieve exceptional flow-length-over-wall-thickness ratios. This means higher part quality and productivity in even the most demanding applications.
Application Highlight: 2-Cavity 5L Pail with Handle and IML
The all-electric Stork IMM 6600-3550 was demonstrating the production of a 2-cavity 5L pail with handle and in-mould labeling (IML) in just 5.9 s. This live showcase underlined the machine’s unique ability to combine speed, precision, and energy efficiency in heavy-duty packaging applications.
For the production of pails with handles it has been proven that the ultrafast acceleration capabilities of Stork all electric system has major benefits for both, product quality and output. Dynamics, inertia and clamp position repeatability are major factors to repeatably produce high quality products with best quality. Obviously this behaviour results in higher productivity with lower material consumption.
Built for High-Performance Packaging
The Stork IMM all-electric range is designed for flowerpots, pails, food packaging, and other thin-walled products. With clamping forces ranging from 2500 kN to 9000 kN, these machines provide:
• Ultra-fast injection speeds up to 450 mm/s with improved accelartion, enabled by twin low-inertia electrical motors
• Improved platen stiffness and stability for perfect product quality and longer mould lifetime in packaging moulds.
• Rack-and-pinion design for greater energy efficiency and long-term durability.
• Heavy-duty reliability to run 24/7 at short cycle times, with low energy consumption.
• Sustainable by design; long life time of mould and machine.
New standard in precision micro injection molding at K 2025
At K 2025 in Düsseldorf, MHS (Mold Hotrunner Solutions Inc.), a Westfall Technik company, premiered – with live demonstrations – its revolutionary M3 micro injection molding machine, equipped with patented ISOKOR® Technology.
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Inside the next-generation M3 micro injection molding machine with patented ISOKOR technology |
The M3 represents a breakthrough in high-volume production of direct-gated, precision micro parts, all with zero waste and unmatched consistency. Engineered for complex components under 200 milligrams – and as small as 10 milligrams or less – the M3 eliminates cold runners to reduce cycle time and conserve material.
Despite its compact, standardized design, the M3 offers flexible manufacturing options. A modular base tooling system supports interchangeable inserts, core pulls, side actions, and ejectors to accommodate sophisticated part geometries. The integrated 8-drop valve gate hot runner remains fixed during mold changes, simplifying operation and maximizing uptime.
Supporting a wide range of engineering thermoplastics, including PEEK, LCP, and PEI, the M3 is built for performance, reliability, and versatility. At the heart of its performance is the ISOKOR® three-stage molding process, which revolutionizes micro part production:
1. Melt Compression – Pre-compression occurs in the screw.
2. Hot Runner Storage – Further compression and energy storage in the hot runner.
3. High-Velocity Injection – Rapid viscoelastic expansion fills the mold cavity in milliseconds.
This process produces denser, more isotropic parts with minimal shrinkage and internal stress. The entire system is equipped with high-resolution sensors monitoring temperature, pressure, position, and time, ensuring full traceability and repeatability.
The M3’s controlled melt path starts with granule conditioning in an integrated dryer, followed by gentle screw melting, and final heating in the hot runner – protecting sensitive materials from degradation. A cascade pressure profile and stable melt delivery ensure consistent part morphology.
• Key performance highlights:
• <3-second dry cycle time
• Electromagnetic force-based, clamp-free mold interface
• Electric linear motor with sensor-driven mold movement
• Supports up to 32 cavities, including two-component and dual-part molding
• Inline quality inspection, part separation, and robotic handling integrated within the cell
• Cleanroom-ready design, with optional HEPA filtration and optical inspection
