Extending the scope of a standard machine

Mr. Martin von Hagen, Chairman and CEO of the company is the fifth-generation representative of the family who heads this enterprise. He related how, in 1885, the locksmith Johann Dietrich von Hagen laid the foundation by establishing a lock and metal goods factory. Until 1957, the company processed exclusively metal into stamped and bent components as well as locks, primarily for the production of bags and suitcases. But then the era of plastics began at von Hagen, with the main focus of its business activities consistently remaining on suitcases and travel bags, whether in the form of components or as finished products. Even though the first plastic parts were not suitcase components, but vacuum-thermoformed parts in the form of cutlery trays for the furniture industry. But the next subcontracts which followed brought the company back to its original line. They were for topcases for a well-known Italian scooter brand. This marked the beginning of a business segment which is the mainstay of the company's business today. But since this company was still a lock manufacturer too, and locks with accessories in adequate quality were needed for motorcycle cases, replacing die cast zinc with plastics became an issue from 1987 onwards. As a logical consequence, the company entered into injection moulding and mould making.

For the family-owned company, it was just as logical to rely on cooperation with a regional partner when entering a new technology. Battenfeld Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH, based in Meinerzhagen at a distance of some 50 km and already one of the leading companies in the industry at that time, was the obvious choice. The beginning was made with a CD 750/315 with 75 tonnes clamping force, supplied by the Austrian facility, followed by a BA-T 1600/1000, a toggle machine with 160 tonnes clamping force from Meinerzhagen. Once the company had familiarised itself with the possibilities of injection moulding, the market potential for top-quality suitcases opened up, but also the entry into the production of other motorcycle and automotive components.

HM series from Battenfeld
Today, J.D. von Hagen is the system partner of all major cycle manufacturers for cases and encasement components, with BMW being the most prominent customer. And at its facility, 13 of the 18 injection moulding machines installed with clamping forces ranging from 60 to 1,600 tonnes have come from Battenfeld or Wittmann Battenfeld. All machines are standard models, i.e. with standard injection and clamping units. The machines from the HM series are the backbone of J.D. von Hagen's production. They are available with a hydraulic 3-platen clamping unit in the 35 to 300 tonnes clamping force range, and from 400 to 650 tonnes clamping force with a 2-platen clamping unit. What both versions have in common is their extremely compact clamping units. This applies in particular to the 2-platen version, which keeps its footprint extremely small thanks to an overlapping configuration of the clamping cylinders and the injection unit. Characteristic features are the generously dimensioned mould space and the platen support with highly accurate linear guides. The tie-bars have no guiding function, they are freely retractable in the fixed platen and merely serve as force transmitters. Thanks to the platen support on the linear guides, the guiding precision is maintained unchanged even with additional loads due to heavy moulds. The linear guides and the retractable tie-bars mounted on the moving platen are also characteristics of the 3-platen HM machine models.

A product range requiring genuine flexibility
As the numbers of units per order in motorcycle components are below those inAir Max 95 20th Anniversary