...says Jitendra Devlia, Managing Director of ENGEL Machinery India, who believes that sustainable mobility would not be possible without plastics and injection moulding. In this interview, he focuses on global trends in plastic processing and demand for technologies in India. 

 

How do you cater to the plastics industry? 

 

From individual injection moulding machines to the highly integrated and automated production cells, ENGEL delivers tailored solutions for the injection moulding industry. This means injection moulding technology from a single source - for thermoplastics, thermosets and elastomer processing in automotive, technical moulding, teletronics, medical and packaging. Apart from injection moulding machines and robots, the system solutions tailor-made to meet the requirements of the respective applications include process technologies, peripheral systems, moulds as well as software solutions for digitalisation and networking.

 

What is driving the demand for ENGEL products in India? 

 

Across all industries, growth is mainly being driven by rising quality expectations. As a consequence of which the demand for reliable performance, higher efficiencies and innovative technologies is increasing. With its expertise in system solutions, automation and technology, ENGEL is a preferred partner for demanding injection moulding applications in India. 

 

What is the present status of plastics processing industry in India?

 

In many areas, industrial production is still dominated by standard, small tonnage machines. However, Made in India initiative is changing the situation. In the plastics processing field, in particular, innovative technologies, large tonnage machines and higher performance machines are on the rise.

 

What are the emerging trends in injection moulding machinery sector? 

 

Process integration and automation are important drivers of innovation and growth, as both make a major contribution to more efficient, safer and more reliable production processes and a higher product quality. In this context, we see an increasing demand in machines for multi-component processes. On the other hand quantities are rising. To produce higher quantities efficiently more and more multi-cavitiy moulds are in use requiring larger injection moulding machines. 

 

How do you perceive the future of plastics machinery industry in India?

 

We see great potential for plastics production. Consumption per capita is still very low, anyhow the demand is rising fast. Having the big global trends in mind, we see that plastic materials are making a huge contribution to solve some of the major challenges of our time. Sustainable mobility, for example, won’t be possible without plastics and injection moulding. 

 

What are your growth plans for your company in India? Are you planning to launch some new products in India in near future?  

 

We will further strengthen our local sales and service team in order to even better support our customers to successfully face the challenges of the rapidly changing production world. More and more, we are accompanying our customers throughout the entire life cycle of injection moulding machines and production cells. Among other things, this involves even more intense consulting in planning production solutions, new possibilities in after-sales service and the flexible adaptation of production solutions to changing tasks. 

 

In the wake of automation and process integration, Industry 4.0 is a new trend arriving India. Industry 4.0 is helping us to reduce the complexity of integrated processes and to further increase efficiency and quality. Inject 4.0 – this is ENGEL's answer to the challenges of Industry 4.0. The goal is a smart factory in which production processes continuously self-optimise through the networking of production systems, the systematic use of machine, process and production data, and the deployment of intelligent assistance systems. ENGEL today already offers mature products, solutions and services for the smart factory is now bringing them to India.