M.TEC Ingenieurgesellschaft für kunststofftechnische Produktentwicklung mbH joined the Feddersen Group at the end of June 2018 and was present at Fakuma for the first time as a co-exhibitor. The company offers a wide range of product development and engineering services for reputed clients across different markets and industries. Artificial intelligence used by the Herzogenrath-based company is also increasingly being used for entirely new developments in plastics engineering. It is the basis for the warpage optimisation method for digital twins developed by the company. This topic was presented to trade visitors at the fair.
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| Lively exchanges take place with customers about materials and applications at the Feddersen Group exhibition stand |
"Fakuma 2018 was successful for us and we are delighted with the positive response to our activities in the area of warpage optimisation for digital twins. The sector also showed great interest in M.TEC becoming part of the Feddersen Group. As part of the Group, going forward we would like to think about plastic product development in a new light and lead the way as pioneers!", summarised Dr Volker Gorzelitz, Managing Director of M.TEC.
Compared with the budding partnership with M.TEC, the corporate group has been collaborating for a much longer time with Hoechst AG and its successor companies Celanese and LyondellBasell in the field of plastics distribution. "This year we can look back on 50 years of successful collaboration in the area of engineering plastics with both of these partners," says Dr Stephan Schnell, Managing Director of K.D. Feddersen GmbH & Co. KG. But the company is also building on new contacts. ELIX Polymers has been a supplier of ABS and ABS blends since 2017. With immediate effect, the ELIX ABS CC (Chemical Compliance) product range will also be available via the distributor. This product range has been developed specifically for applications that involves food contact, e.g. household appliances, toys and cosmetics containers. Such applications are subject to strict regulatory standards. The new product range complies with these standards in terms of both its formula and production technology. The ABS CC portfolio includes various types of injection moulding grades which are characterised by standard ABS properties, such as good impact strength and ease of processing as well as a high degree of gloss . "To make product testing easier for customers, K.D. Feddersen provides them with a material-specific certificate issued by ELIX Polymers, for example concerning the material's suitability for food contact," explains Hermann Legatzki, Product Manager at K.D. Feddersen.
New glass fibre reinforced PP compounds with a low deformation propensity under long-term stress were presented using LyondellBasell´s "Creep Piano". The creep-optimised Hostacom grades are suitable for use in engine compartments with short-term temperature loads of up to 130°C. This means they are also well suited for coolant expansion tanks, for example.
"The trade fair was also a success from the point of view of our Celanese product portfolio," says Daniel Brock, Director Distribution at K.D. Feddersen. "As well as intensive exchanges with our long-standing customers, we had some very interesting conversations about new projects, to which we will be able to contribute the technical application expertise of our distribution team as well as outstanding properties of HOSTAFORM® and FORTRON® products."
This year AKRO-PLASTIC GmbH, a compounder based in Niederzissen, Rhineland-Palatinate, celebrated their 30th anniversary. The company presented two new products at Fakuma to mark the occasion. "In AKROMID® C28 GF 25 FRT we have developed the first polyamide that complies with Railway Standard EN 45545-2, R6 HL 2," explains Thilo Stier, Head of Innovation and Sales at AKRO-PLASTIC. He goes on to explain, "the material has a tensile strength of 170 MPa, an elongation at break of 2.5% and an impact strength of over 60 kJ/m²."
Can you get a hydrolysis-stabilised PA 6.6 for less than €3 per kg? "Of course not," says Marc Ollig, Head of Global Product Management at AKRO-PLASTIC. "But with the PA6/PP blend AKROMID® B3 GF 30 4 Lite we have developed a product which retains its other properties very well under hydrolysis in line with VW standard TL 52682 (1,000 hrs at 135°C in G12 Evo)," Ollig explains further. The manufacturer has promised a reliable supply of this material. And this means it will be a good alternative to PA 6.6, a raw material that the market has been experiencing a constant shortage of for years. In addition, its density is 8% lower than that of PA 6.6.
AKRO-PLASTIC GmbH's branches were also represented on the shared stand. "We are delighted that sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions for the plastics sector are increasingly in demand, and that this was confirmed by visitors to the trade fair," says Dr Stanislaw Haftka, Head of Sales at BIO-FED. The Cologne-based company is waiting eagerly to see what role bioplastics will play in the context of the EU ban on single-use plastics and is very keen to see the corresponding recommendations from the EU Commission.
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| Stimulating discussions and networking at the dinner in the Dornier Museum Friedrichshafen |
Dirk Schöning, Head of Sales at AF-COLOR and who is also responsible for master batches within the corporate group, was very pleased with the visitor numbers. "In addition to our well-known customers, we were able to establish some new contacts. We also gained many new supplier contacts, some of whom had very innovative ideas in the area of plastics additives."
On the evening of 17 October, the 8th Orange Blue Nite took place in the hangar at the Dornier Museum in Friedrichshafen. The joint event, to which customers of every company in the Feddersen Group are invited, has been extremely popular for many years. With over 270 participants, this year's function marked a new attendance record. "Our event is a well-established constant in our customers' exhibition calendars," says Dr Stephan Schnell.
About the Feddersen Group
K.D. Feddersen GmbH & CO. KG (Hamburg), part of the Feddersen Group, specialises in the commercialisation and distribution of engineered plastics. With over 60 years of experience, the company offers qualified professional competence, customer-focused service and a sales and distribution operation performing to the highest standards in the plastics-processing industry.
Apart from Hamburg, K.D. Feddersen GmbH & Co. KG and its subsidiaries are located in Paris, Värnamo, Birmingham and Vienna.
Along with its branches AF-COLOR and BIO-FED Group division AKRO-PLASTIC GmbH in Niederzissen, Germany, is the European headquarters for the development and production of engineered thermoplastics, bioplastics and master batches. AKRO-PLASTIC operates further production sites in the Asian market in Suzhou, China, and in South America in the state of São Paulo, Brazil.
