Milacron

Preform production

Capping

Milacron
Headquarters	Cinncinnati, Ohio, USA
Number of locations	150 worldwide
Number of employees	>5,000
Website	www.milacron.com

Milacron is an American limited liability company that manufactures and distributes plastic processing equipment for fields such as for example injection moulding, extrusion moulding, and metal injection moulding. Milacron previously operated as five distinct businesses in this field: Milacron Plastics Machinery, Mold Masters, DME, Milacron Aftermarket, and Cimcool. However, in 2015 they consolidated all their businesses under the Milacron name, and now operate these businesses as brands of the company.

For the PET packaging sector, Milacron offers PET preform systems and co-injection systems for multilayer preforms, containers and caps/closures.

Brands

Milacron brands:

• Ferromatik
• Uniloy
• Mold-Masters
• DME
• Cimcool
• Tirad
• Canterburry: screws & barrels for extrusion & injection moulded aftermarket products
• Genca

Heritage Brands

• Cincinnati Milacron
• Kortec now: Milacron Co-injection. Supplier of turnkey co-injection systems.
• Servtek now a Milacron aftermarket service (global afermarket replacement parts service)
• Wear Technology now a Milacron aftermarket servie (rebuilder and manufacturer of screws)

Products/Technology

M-PET for preform production

The Milacron PET System marks Milacron’s re-entry to the PET market. The system is based on the fast Ferromatik toggle clamp and newly designed two stage injection units. The machine and post mould cooling is almost entirely driven by servo motors with hydraulics only used for ejection and injection. This means the M-PET system is the lowest user of energy to mold preforms. The system is also designed to accept legacy moulds from other vendors.

Co-injection moulding

Milacron Co-injection multi-layer technology is designed for multi-layer plastic preforms, closures or containers that can be delivered with the same high-volume production efficiency and cycle time as a monolayer plastic preform, closure or container without barriers. Milacron Co-injection molding addresses key concerns in the industry, including economical use of barrier materials (as low as 0.5%), preforms with customizable barrier properties, and uniform distribution (lengthwise and around the leading edge of barrier).

Milacron Co-injection three-layer preform technology combines PET with the latest barrier and oxygen scavenging resins. The finished PET multi-layer container can offer as much as 60 times the oxygen barrier performance of a monolayer PET container, thus providing superior shelf life of the product. Typical applications are:

• beer
• coffee
• tea
• milk
• tomato-based sauces
• small carbonated soft drinks
• natural fruit juices
• alternative malt beverages

Milacron Co-injection uses a proprietary, simultaneous co-injection process with every system. This process allows the cavity to be filled in exactly the same amount of time as a basic monolayer injection molding process. The “heart” of each system is the Milacron Co-injection melt delivery system whose function is to force melted resin into a mold cavity. The melt delivery system has separate streams (flow channels) for skin (the inner and outer layers) and core (the middle barrier layer) materials.

History

Reincorporated in 1970 from the Cincinnati Milling Machine Company, Milacron has grown over the years. With the acquisition of Ferromatik in 1993, DME (Detroit Mold Engineering) in 1996, Uniloy in 1998, and Industrial Machine Sales, Inc. (IMSI) along with its sister company Precise Plastics Machinery (PPM) in 2014. Milacron was formerly traded on the NYSE Arca Component and NASDAQ Component, but trading went over-the-counter in 2008, shortly before bankruptcy was filed in March 2009. This effectively ended Milacron's public trade option. However, due to the company's continued growth and success since filing for Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy, on April 3, 2015 they filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

References

PETplanet Insider Articles

Issue 09 / 2016: System solutions
Issue 04 / 2016: Singing from the same hymn sheet
Issue 04 / 2015: New 300t PET system
Issue 03 / 2015: Increased speed for PET an PP production
Issue 10 / 2014: Milacron to invest USD30 million to expand India production capacity
Issue 03 / 2014: Triple the light fantastic
Issue 03 / 2014: Milacron buys Kortec
Issue 03 / 2014: Milacron buys IMSI and PPM
Issue 10 / 2013: Ferromatik Milacron India´s holds an ‚open house‘
Issue 09 / 2013: Mold-Masters
Issue 05 / 2013: Milacron appoints Chief Operating Officer
Issue 04 / 2013: Performance boost for installed preform systems
Issue 03 / 2013: Mold-Masters merges with Milacron
Issue 09 / 2012: Barriers under control
Issue 05 / 2012: Mold-Masters and Plastec USA sign agent agreement
Issue 05 / 2012: Kortec moves house
Issue 03 / 2012: Management changes at Mold-Masters
Issue 03 / 2012: Co-injection technology
Issue 01 / 2011: New player in the preform tooling firmament
Issue 01 / 2011: New CEO for Mold-Masters
Issue 11 / 2010: Mold-Master acquires Abba Systems, announces MasterPET brand
Issue 09 / 2010: Mold-Masters opens new office in Mexico
Issue 04 / 2010: New hotrunner factory in India

External links

Milacron Website
Milacron M-PET system Youtube