Smart Molding International 1-2023

27 www.smart-molding.com machinery The largest machines ever built by ENGEL Even though the St. Valentin plant is accustomed to building large equipment, working on these two huge machines was special to all team members involved. "I am proud to have been a part of this," says JimMoran, Business Development Manager at ENGEL North America. "You can imagine the special shipping and ground transportation arrangements needed to move the machine from Austria to the U.S. The platens were transported to and from the St. Valentin manufacturing facility along the Danube River on barges," Moran explains, just one of many challenges that had to be overcome. He continues: “Each machine was fully assembled and tested prior to shipping and then disassembled to be shipped to the U.S.” Once at the Infiltrator site, the enormous size and scale of these machines, required new manufacturing facilities to house them. David Gedritis, Director of Manufacturing Capital Implementation, describes the logistics coordination necessary to complete the new 59,000 square-foot building expansion at the same time 29 truckloads of machine parts were arriving from Austria. Over the next 2 months the machine was assembled while the building and all the The entire ENGEL team from conception, design, assembly, testing and transport with representatives from Infiltrator at the Factory Acceptance Test for machine number one in St. Valentin, Austria (picture: ENGEL) Special transportation was required for many parts of this huge machine. Pictured is the arrival of the 257,941 pound stationary platen at the Infiltrator facility in Winchester, KY (picture: ENGEL)