Engel Holding Rebounded Nearly Its Pre-Recession Sales Levels

Global injection moulding machine maker Engel Holding has rebounded nearly its pre-recession sales levels, the company reported 19 July, 2011. The company reported sales from shipments during the 2011 fiscal year of $881m (€ 621m), up nearly 72% from 2010, when the company was suffering through the global slump in plastics machinery sales. Sales at the Schwertberg, Austria-based company in 2009, before the recession, were $908m (€ 639.8m). "As far as I'm concerned, we are back to our 2009 level, and more important, we are looking forward confidently, " said Mark Sankovitch, president of Engel Machinery in a news release. "Our global revenue forecast for FY 2012, which ends March 31, 2012, is double-digit growth. That is definitely achievable as long as market conditions remain stable. " Engel credited its 2011 success to good results in all of the company's key markets and global regions, including North America. Sankovitch said the medical and packaging markets saw the strongest growth in North America in 2011. This year, those markets are joined by significant growth in the automotive sector. Engel is seeing some sales in replacing older moulding machines with clamping forces of 1, 000+ tonnes. In the medical sector, the company's all-electric technology is generating interest. "We also design systems that minimize particulate contamination in clean and white rooms, and we create better methods for cleaning the machinery, also to reduce contamination, " Sankovitch said. Source: European Plastics News