Dr. Tetsuya Okamura appointed Head of Sumitomo Heavy Industries’ (SHI) Global Plastics Machinery Business

Dr. Tetsuya Okamura has been appointed Senior Vice President of Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI) Ltd. Japan, effective 1 April, 2012. In addition to his existing position as CEO of injection moulding machinery manufacturer Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery GmbH with headquarters in Schwaig/Germany, Dr. Okamura will now become Senior Vice President of Sumitomo Heavy Industries with full responsibility for the Plastics Machinery Business of Japanese parent company Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI).


At the end of 2011, SHI unified its injection moulding machine brands “Sumitomo (SHI) Demag” and “Sumitomo” under the common name of “Sumitomo (SHI) Demag”. Production sites in Germany, Japan and China as well as a global sales and service network form the basis for the common activities. The common brand is to combine the strong points of Japanese and German engineering so as to meet customer requirements with a new portfolio of all-electric, hybrid and hydraulic injection moulding machines from a decentralized pool of production sites.

In the wake of Dr. Okamura’s new appointment, Mr. Kazuo Hiraoka will take over as Head of Plastics Machinery Division, responsible for the production of SHI plastics machinery in Japan, also effective 1 April, 2012. Mr. Hiraoka, has more than twenty years experience in the Sumitomo Heavy Industries Plastics Machinery Division,

The current Head of Plastics Machinery Division, Mr. Yuji Takaishi, will become new Head of Corporate Planning and Development Group for the parent company Sumitomo Heavy Industries, effective 1 April, 2012.

Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery GmbH, Schwaig/Germany, is one of the world's largest manufacturers of injection moulding machines for the processing of plastics. The Japanese-German company was formed in the spring of 2008 by merging the injection moulding activities of Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI) and those of Demag Plastics Group.

The global development and production network of Sumitomo Heavy Industries and Sumitomo (SHI) Demag consists of four plants in Japan, Germany and China with more than 3,000 employees. The product portfolio encompasses all-electric, hydraulic and hybrid injection moulding machines with clamping forces of between 180 and 20,000 kN. With over 100,000 machines installed, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag is present in all important markets throughout the world.

With more than 5,000 machines sold each year, the Plastics Machinery Business of Sumitomo Heavy Industries counts as one of the largest Global manufacturer of injection moulding machines.
The main Sumitomo plant in Chiba produces machines with low and medium clamping forces. Around 95 % of all machines supplied by Japan have an all-electric drive.

The main Demag facility in Schwaig/Germany focuses on the hydraulic Systec and the hybrid high performance, high-speed El-Exis machines. Recognising the increasing importance of electric drive technology for injection moulding machines, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag has expanded the former Demag factory in Wiehe/Germany into an international centre of competence for electric machines. Thanks to the new production capacities, Wiehe now supplies all electric injection moulding machines worldwide with its IntElect series with clamping forces up to 4,500 kN and also the hydraulic Systec series with clamping forces of up to 1,200 kN.

Sumitomo (SHI) Demag continues to operate the former Demag plant in Ningbo/China which has been active since 1999. Since 2007 the subsidiary located there, Demag Plastics Machinery (Ningbo) Co., Ltd, had its own, newly built plant and after reaching full capacity, moved to a larger factory with a production area of 11,000 sqm. Injection moulding machines from the Dragon and Systec C product lines with clamping forces of between 500 and 10,000 kN are produced here for Asian markets.