Smart Molding International 1-2021

machinery www.smart-molding.com optimised cost reduction across the entire production process, resulting in considerably faster throughput times. As of 2020, the IntElect has also been manufactured in Chiba, Japan. Not only has this improved global availability, it has enabled Sumitomo (SHI) Demag to process large orders faster and more flexibly. To fulfil standard short-term order requirements, the company plans to maintain a level of IntElect machines in stock in the future. Medicine is booming, automotive remains flat Demand for automotive industry solutions fell by almost 70 percent in 2020. In contrast, demand for medical technology solutions rose by almost 50 percent. Here, the focus was on appli - cations for in-vitro diagnostics. Sumitomo (SHI) Demag does not expect a significant correction of the market this year, which has fallen by approximately one third in the past two years. Rising replacement requirements from the automotive industry and the continuing high demand for machines from the packaging and medical tech - nology sectors will slightly improve de - mand for injection moulding machines next year. However, full compensation for the drop in demand is unlikely to be achieved before 2024. Solidarity before dismissals Thanks to a solidarity package agreed between the management and the workers council at the two sites inWie - he and Schwaig, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag has to-date not made any redundancies for operational reasons. "Our aim has been to defy the crisis with this solidar - ity package," says Liebig. At the heart of the agreement was a voluntary waiver of bonuses by the entire management team and all non-pay-scale employees, in addition to the introduction of tem - porary short-time working for all em - ployees. “This enabled us to retain our workforce and adjust overall capacity to the economic crisis, allowing us to in - crease production capacity immediately when demand rises,” adds Liebig. As the evaluation of the Kununu evaluation platform shows, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag has made significant gains in employee satisfaction in recent years. The company now occupies a top ranking position in the European mechanical engineering industry. Lie - big comments: "A kununu score of 3.9 and a recommendation rate of 81 percent demonstrates a high degree of loyalty and integration between em - ployees and the company.” Investments during the crisis Since 2016, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery has in - vested almost 20 million euros in the modernisation of machinery at its two German sites. A new light - weight warehouse with 1,600 m 2 of floor space is currently being built in Schwaig. The new hall location enables a direct material flow from goods receipt and dispatch loading zone to production. Future expansion of the plant has also been considered. Additionally, the expansion and mod - ernisation of the training centre in Schwaig has been completed. With new training rooms directly connected to the application technology, the ca - pacity for customer training has dou - bled. To deliver this advanced devel - opment experience, the training team has increased to eight, with experts sharing their know how on machine technology, application technology and robotics. All of the training rooms are equipped with the latest media technology such as digital boards with touchback function and an online stu - dio. This enables professional training to be delivered to course participants from all over the world. Sumitomo (SHI) Demag www.sumitomo-shi-demag.eu The global development and produc - tion network of Sumitomo Heavy In - dustries and Sumitomo (SHI) Demag consists of four plants in Japan, Ger - many and China with more than 3,000 employees. The product port - folio includes fully electric and hybrid driven injection moulding machines with clamping forces ranging from 180 to 15,000 kN. With more than 145,000 machines installed, Sumito - mo (SHI) Demag is present in all the world's major markets and is one of the largest global manufacturers of injection moulding machines. Gerd Liebig, CEO of Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery since 2017 (All photos: Sumitomo (SHI) Demag) 23 IntElect: Maximum Efficiency – Highest Precision