Extrusion International 5-2023

62 Extrusion International 5/2023 RECYCLING Growing Markets, Higher Throughputs Herbold Meckesheim is reporting an excellent order situation for PET and film washing lines towards the end of the current fiscal year. Towards the end of the US fiscal year, because since last summer Herbold belongs to the US group Hillenbrand Inc. Last October, a separate Recycling Business Unit was set up under the umbrella of Hillenbrand with the machinery building company Coperion to cover the entire process chain of plastics processing. This gives the Meckesheim-based plant manufacturer an even stronger basis and more impetus for its steady growth. T he Recycling Business Unit offers comprehensive and innovative overall solutions based on the com- plementary and aligned technologies of Herbold and Coperion. From mechanical processing – size reduction, washing, separating, drying and agglomeration of plas - tics – to bulk material handling, feeding and extrusion, as well as compounding and pelletizing, the Business Unit covers the entire process and thus value chain. A global network of engineering sites, project manage - ment and service centers ensures fast order fulfillment, whether in the USA or Asia, and, thanks to literally short distances, enables installation and commissioning as well as competent and fast on-site service. State-of-the- art test centers for product development and customer trials round off the Recycling Unit's range of services. In the course of the integration, the management of Herbold Meckesheim was also restructured: In addition to Massimo Serapioni, who is also General Manager of the Business Unit, Christian Raiser took over the man - agement of the operating business as Managing Direc- tor in July of this year. He is responsible for the success of the site and reports directly to Markus Parzer, Presi - dent Polymer Division of Coperion. Christian Raiser has learned the management of a mechanical engineering company from scratch: His professional career began in 2007 in production at Coperion in Stuttgart in the screw element manufacturing segment. From 2013, he was responsible for assembly and lo- gistics in the former Compound- ing and Extrusion Division. In 2019, Raiser moved to Coperion's Wy- theville site in the U.S. state of Virginia, home of parts manufacturing and as - sembly of ZSK extruders for the American market, as General Manager and Vice President Operations. Not only in the United States, where Herbold has a subsidiary, but especially here the interest in the modu - lar and automated recycling solutions fromMeckesheim is unabated. And PET washing lines continue to domi- nate the order intake alongside those for films. There is also strong demand for lines for big bags and hard plastics in general. In addition, the spe - cial machinery manufacturer is not for- getting those customers who are still interested in single machine solu- tions. These are mainly granulators and fine mills as well as plastcompac - tors. Moreover, Herbold Meckesheim tra - ditionally thinks of the circular economy also in terms of its own machines and maintains an exten- sive program for overhauling, retrofitting and selling used units. A glance at the order books shows that it is constantly higher throughputs that are being sought by customers all over the world. In addition to the United States or the United Kingdom, the EU countries from Scandinavia to Bulgaria or Turkey and India are strongly expandingmar- kets. Often, the inquiries here are now aimed at several The new management of Herbold Meckesheim: Managing Director Christian Raiser (left) and Massimo Serapioni, also General Manager of the Recycling Business Unit (Pictures: Herbold Meckesheim) Full order books: increasingly higher throughputs of the washing lines are requested from Herbold Meckesheim by customers all over the world