30 years of expertise in polymer processing

Ettlinger Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH of K?nigsbrunn, not far from the southern German city of Augsburg, can look back on a 30-year success story which began in December 1983. The company was established just over three decades ago by Roderich Ettlinger, a trained mechanical engineer. Working as a one-man firm Ettlinger’s first project was to design two custom injection moulding machines for a Swedish plastics converter. In doing so he laid the foundation for the present "srm" series with clamping forces ranging from 2000 to 30,000 kN.

These injection moulding machines are ideal for the manufacture of large-part mouldings such as pallets, over-size fittings and manhole systems weighing up to 100 kg. Since the first machines were designed, Ettlinger was able to provide high performance with extremely low energy consumption.

In 2004 the portfolio was extended to include the ERF? series of high performance melt filters, which are specially tailored for reliable processing of heavily contaminated recycled plastics.

In 2010, after 27 years as a successful entrepreneur, the company founder transferred his shares to Volker Neuber and his son Thorsten Ettlinger, who have been responsible for all of Ettlinger's commercial and technical activities ever since. Throughout its history Ettlinger has built up a strong international presence and this will continue in the future.

The Managing Directors are taking advantage of the anniversary year to invest again in the K?nigsbrunn site. "We're spending an estimated EU 1.5 million on extending our production capacity here.

The new building is scheduled to open in the fall, and we're planning an official customer event to celebrate our thirty years in existence," Neuber reports.

Ettlinger's srm injection moulding machines are based on a seamless modular system. "That way, we can offer affordable solutions and flexible machine concepts for a wide range of applications, usually as complete turnkey solutions from the material feed to the fully automated removal of the molded parts. And with our continuous, patented ERF high speed filters for recycling plastic waste we eliminate even the most problematic types of contamination from the melt, such as a high content of paper, aluminium, wood or silicones," explains Thorsten Ettlinger when asked to sum up the company's product lines.

The latest Ettlinger innovation is the new "ECO" melt filter unveiled at the K 2013 trade fair. Based on the proven ERF technology, this filter is particularly suitable for film and sheet production lines as well as for PET recycling.

Today, 30 years after it first came into being, the one-man firm has been transformed into a global enterprise with local partners in America, Asia, Russia, and Turkey. In 2013, Ettlinger also opened a separate North American subsidiary in Wheaton, IL near Chicago. "Our customers in the US and Canada profit tremendously from Ettlinger North America LP. We've experienced a further increase in demand as a result, which is why we're already making plans to move into bigger premises there too." Volker Neuber then outlines what's next in the pipeline in Ettlinger's systematic pursuit of expansion: "In the Asian economic area, where our main focus has traditionally been on Japan, we're now explicitly targeting other markets, notably China."

Today, Ettlinger Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH has become a global player in every sense. The German company sums up its core competency is the development and manufacture of injection moulding machines and high performance melt filters. Ettlinger injection moulding machines are optimised for the production of polymer mouldings up to 100 kilograms in weight such as plastic pallets, fittings, or manholes. An ingenious modular system allows affordable solutions and machine concepts to be offered for a wide range of applications. On the melt filtration side Ettlinger makes high performance melt filters for continuous filtration of heavily contaminated feedstock. Contaminants like paper, aluminium, wood, silicones, or high-melting polymer composites can be removed from all standard polymer materials.

The injection moulding machines of the “srm” line are designed for the processing of virgin material, agglomerate and regrind and thanks to special nozzle locks also allow the processing of plastic that is heavily contaminated or contains expanding agent.

The range of materials spans from soft PVC and polyolefins, PS, ABS, PA up to heavily contaminated mixed plastic and compounds with a high content of minerals or wood flour.

The srm injection moulding machines work according to the low pressure process – the interior pressures in the tool therefore only reach approx. 50 - 100 bar – and are fitted with two-stage injection units, which are comprised of an extruder, which is made up of a heating and cooling zone and a cylinder with pistons as the injection unit.

This machine concept allows a highly clean and even plasticating with simultaneously high shot volumes of up to 120 litres and on request this volume can even be increased. Due to the low pressure process, the required closure forces are comparatively low.

The lower interior pressures in the tool during this process allow the usage of considerably less expensive tools made of Al and Al/St-combinations, which among others characterise themselves with low weight and optimal cooling properties.