Smart Molding International 4-2021

9 newsfeed www.smart-molding.com Fakuma 2021 was a great success for ENGEL. "The pos - itive trade fair experience underlines the economic upward trend and is driving investment in new technolo - gies," as Dr. Christoph Steger, CSO of the ENGEL Group, emphasises at the conclu - sion of the industry event in Friedrichshafen. "Our cus - tomers grasped the opportu - nity to finally exchange ideas in person again and experi - ence innovations in real and live terms." The industry's first major live event after the auto - motive crisis and Corona pandemic took place at ex - actly the right time. "The automotive industry has come back with a bang, and the investment backlog has cleared," says Steger. "Even if the Corona pandemic is still preventing some travel, ENGEL's stand was well at - tended. We had some ex - cellent talks, concluded numerous projects and got new ones underway." Visi - tors came from all indus - tries. Besides the automo - tive industry, the medical technologies, packaging and technical moulding sectors were strongly represented. Leveraging the full potential of the machines In particular, innovative so - lutions for more sustainability in injectionmoulding and fur - ther digitalisation of produc - tion processes met with great interest. The two topics are closely linked. "Digitalisation is an important precursor to the circular economy", said Steger. "Smart assistance systems and interconnected systems help us to leverage the full potential of injection mouldingmachines, for more efficient production while reducing the CO2 footprint." ENGEL's trade fair standmade this vividly clear. Compared to the last Fakuma, ENGEL's stand has become larger. The additional space was used to present digital products and solutions. The machine exhibits also demonstrated the new op - portunities for the circular economy. ENGEL presented a closed process chain for polypropylene involving the production of mono-materi - al food packaging using IML thin-wall technology and the production of protective covers from label offcuts. At the same time, the ENGEL e- speed 420 injection mould - ing machine celebrated its world premiere. "Hybrid and all-electric injection mould - ing machines are seeing de - ployment in an increasing number of applications," says Steger, emphasising another trend that was re - flected at ENGEL's stand. Demanding precision ap - plications gave insights into the performance of the vari - ous hybrid and all-electric machine series by ENGEL during the five days of the trade fair. ENGEL www.engelglobal.com ENGEL: Fakuma 2021 inspires injection moulding industry The stand attracted a constant stream of visitors throughout. In particular, innovative solutions for more sustainability and further digitalisation of production processes met with great interest (all photos: ENGEL)