Engel sends heavyweight to South Africa

Engel sends heavyweight to South Africa
By John Whitehead

A giant 5,500-tonne Engel machine left the Austrian company’s St Valentin plant last week for Linpac’s moulding plant near Cape Town, South Africa.

Ordered through Engel UK, the machine is one of just three that Engel has made of this size. It will be used for the manufacture of a fruit bin measuring 1.3 metres by 1.1 metres by 0.7 metres in both PP and HDPE. A specially constructed Engel robot will de-mould the part on to weigh scales, integrated to the machine process data protocol.

The machine is a true heavyweight weighing 450 tonnes, equivalent to 100 of Engel’s 100-tonne machines. It has fixed platen alone weighing 83 tonnes, from which 8 tonnes of swarf was recovered during manufacture. The machine is 25 metres long with a screw measuring 8 metres and uses 1.2km of cooling hose delivering 2.5 tonnes of water a minute.

Engel had to complete manufacture of the huge machine within six months of receiving the order to meet Linpac’s schedule. A total of 16 lorries, some requiring police escort, are carrying out the transport.