The International Trade Fair for Plastics and Rubber (hereinafter referred to as K Fair), as the "World's No. 1 Trade Fair for Plastics and Rubber", opened as scheduled on October 16, 2019 in Dusseldorf, Germany. KraussMaffei presented its solutions of three sections: Circular Economy, Digitalization and New Technology on the show floor of more than 1700 square meters with a wholly new brand image, showing its unique motto of "Pioneering Plastics".  

Circular Economy — Not Just Commitments

As a pioneer in the recycling, upcycling and re-compounding of plastics, KraussMaffei has been engaged in research and development of plastics recycling for more than 30 years, aiming to help its customers move towards plastics circular economy. Doctor Frank Stieler, KraussMaffei's CEO, said, "KraussMaffei is strongly committed to building a circular economy for plastic materials. We enable our customers to be a successful part of this economy under the guidance of our idea of "Pioneering Plastics".

Circular economy has always been the concern of KraussMaffei's management. Doctor Michael Ruf, KraussMaffei's Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Board, has made circular economy a topic for the Management Board. Doctor Michael Ruf said, "Circular economy will remain one of the most important topics for our industry in the coming years. We have both ecological obligations and economic opportunities. KraussMaffei's expertise in recycling and upcycling is already enabling our customers to become part of the circular economy. We will further probe into this topic from a technical perspective within our company. We hope that we can cooperate with the government, enterprises and communities to advance the whole industry chain system and promote the recycling and sustainable development of plastics". Before this, KraussMaffei signed a cooperation agreement with the Institute for Plastics Technology and Circular Economy, University of Hanover.  

According to the introduction, KraussMaffei’s innovative machines can be used to produce high-quality end products from alternative plastics, such as recycled materials and biodegradable plastics. At the K Fair 2019, visitors can see live demonstrations of how KraussMaffei machines upcycles a polypropylene bucket into a car's A-pillar. Furthermore, KraussMaffei will present a range of new technologies and product innovations for circular economy, such as the new KraussMaffei GX 1100, predestined for larger packaging and logistics applications, as well as new high-performance ZE BluePower compounding extruders for maximum output rates.  

Digitalization — Not Just Machinery Manufacturing

How can decades-old injection molding machines which can still be produced meet the requirements in the age of Industry 4.0? KraussMaffei offered its digital solution at the K Fair.

The data acquisition system easyTrace newly launched by KraussMaffei can collect all relevant production data during the plastic processing and transfer them to customer-specific systems for evaluation. It is applicable to extruders, injection molding machines, automation and peripheral equipment. It is a good translator for machines of different types and different brands in different ages, promoting all kinds of protocols in the programs to be compatible with each other, and helping customers to ensure their product quality of mechanical equipment, so as to meet requirements in the age of Industry 4.0.

At the K Fair this year, KraussMaffei launched its platform Polymore. Polymore is a wholly new digital B2B marketplace for plastic materials which allows users to buy and sell compounds, master batch, recyclables, and post-industrial recyclables online. Boasting a broad network of partners in Europe, the platform can help its customers seek for better-matched materials, connect composites producers and plastics processors and achieve simple and safe products trade, so as to create value-added services and sustainable development for both parties.

Related responsible personnel said, KraussMaffei has started a wholly new path of digitalization. The Digital Service Solutions (DSS) will work with machine and software engineering experts, data experts and IIoT experts to customize solution package for customers and make production more intelligent.

New Technical Solutions — Not Just Ideas

Leaf spring steel is heavy, aluminum consumes a lot of energy during production, and wood weathers. Is there any cost-efficient replacement for these materials? In this regard, KraussMaffei offered its lightweight technical solution. Manufactured in the HP-RTM process (high pressure resin transfer molding), leaf spring is 60 percent lighter than the previous product made of steel. Its strength can be deliberately increased in sections where it is required and the corrosion resistance offers further added value.

Release agents are used to facilitate demolding in the production of components made of PUR foam. Once the release agents are applied, the vapors must be extracted. KraussMaffei's Automatic Film Insert (AFI) technology now offers an alternative which replaces release agents with plastic films, thus providing a fast, correct and material-saving solution and greatly increasing the production efficiency of polyurethane foam products.

Apart from various lightweight technologies, KraussMaffei also presented its new compact high-performance twin-screw extruder ZE 28 BluePower in a live demonstration at the K Fair. KraussMaffei's high-performance compounding extruder ZE 28 BluePower series started to be launched in 2013. These products have been used in a variety of compounding modification applications. At the K Fair, KraussMaffei launched four new high-performance compounding extruder variants for throughput rates of 2,500 kg/h above, featuring the ideal combination of large free volume and high torque ratio, with flexible configuration for screws and barrels.