2014-2015 Exhibitions
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With 30% of its business accounted for by Asia, particularly in China, US-headquartered extrusion machinery supplier Davis-Standard is “very successful” in the region, said company executives speaking at a media briefing during Chinaplas.
In fact, the company says that China is already its “home”, a strategy of its Global Advantage initiative path, which includes the addition of assets in Asia/China.
In 2012, the firm set up a 4,300 sq m facility in Suzhou, making control panels and other components. It has now expanded to the manufacture of extruders and gear boxes, said Sekaran Murugaiah, Vice-President, Business Development for Asia Pacific. He also said the facility presently employs 150 people, complemented by a sales/ support team of 15 people in Shanghai.
Early this year, Davis-Standard also opened a spare parts/service centre in Suzhou. “We now have the capability to allow customers to upgrade their lines and equipment, since some machines in China are old,” said Sekaran.
Besides allowing for retrofitting of gears and feed screws, the Suzhou facility also has an extensive inventory of high usage parts, explained Sekaran, adding that in the past customers had to place orders in US/Europe. “We are able to supply parts within 24 hours of ordering from Suzhou,” he added, explaining that local language support and acceptance of payment in RMB are other benefits offered.
Furthermore, to help raise customer productivity, Davis-Standard also launched a new website to serve a broad range of essential information on its 12 business platforms, according to Jim Murphy, President, Extrusion Systems. The online portal contains product videos and photos, innovation updates, for example on the dsX product lines; information on service capabilities and global contact information.
Catering to market needs with new lines
Meanwhile, under the umbrella of the dsX range of equipment products Davis-Standard’s aim is to provide highly engineered and predefined solutions that serve specific end markets.
At last year’s Chinaplas and K2013 shows, Davis-Standard introduced the dsX flex pack for flexible packaging, running a line at its facility in Dusseldorf. Said Murphy, “Flexible packaging is a fast growing category that works around weight reduction and extra protection for packaging.” As an end-use product-configurable solution, the line is engineered to fit the flexible packaging needs of customers.
It also introduced the dsX med-tech for medical tubing/catheters, which has been installed for trial runs at the Suzhou facility. “Medical tubing is fast growing in Asia, China in particular. We are able to demonstrate the line to customers in China, in terms of specific requirements for materials,” explained Murphy. The sector continues to be an area where Davis-Standard has seen strong growth over last five years and expects strong future growth driven by market demand, added Murphy.
At Chinaplas this year, the firm was promoting the dsX stretch line for the stretch film market. It is a high speed line capable of 750 m/minute for 8 micron-films. It also has what is said to be a unique coreless winder, with the capability of restretching to make film even thinner.
The stretch line is targeted at film producers serving the stretch film market, especially those that are looking at replacing older lines to allow for more efficiency and for manufacturers who are eyeing an optimised stretch film technology to minimise losses from damaged goods through the supply chain, added Murphy.
“The stretch film market continues to grow faster than any other markets as customers realise palletising is important during shipment to protect products. It serves distributors and vertical integrated manufacturing,” explained Murphy.
Explaining the new dsX product range, he added, “It brings to light lots of core competencies such as screw design, web handling and winding as well as control systems capabilities of the company.” In the dsX, the X stands for value and Davis-Standard’s ability to deliver value to customers, he further explained.
Enhancing the product range for customer benefits
In line with its global strategy, the firm says it will continue to introduce new products for the wire/ cable, sheet and medical markets in China/Asia.
When asked why a processor would select Davis-Standard equipment, Carlos Flores, Davis- Standard’s Global Vice-President of Marketing, said the company brings experience in engineering solutions from its installed base in Asia, plus it is also building and investing in a global footprint and in technology centres.
The company’s focus is also on catering to the needs of small to medium sized processors that are sprouting up in Asia. “We are committed to finding unique solutions for customers to help them grow their businesses,” said Flores.
“Davis-Standard has a global advantage in bringing pre-engineered solutions and the right sized equipment to players in Asia,” he added.
Currently, Davis-Standard has six manufacturing facilities: three are located in the US, and the other three are in China, Germany and the UK, respectively. The firm also has two R&D centres in the US and one in China. In line with its innovation-driven framework, it enables pilot facilities for testing new processes and applications with customers. It also conducts internal trials to support the development of screw designs and innovative extrusion solutions; as well as provide process expertise throughout product lines.
(PRA)
