Erick Yllescas, as new Sales Director Mexico, will be in charge of managing the activities. He is supported by a team of ten Kautex employees focusing on field and remote support in English- and Spanish language.

Erick Yllescas has been working for two decades in leading positions for various international companies in the Industrial Automotive and Plastics Sector in Mexico and Latin America. Being a business advisor for several years he knows how to develop markets and has a strong customer focus.

Mexico is considered the most advanced country for processing HDPE thermoplastics for the packaging industry in Latin America. Mexican companies have a very high technical standard and also reach the level of European countries in the area of recovery and recycling. With a share of 58 percent, Mexico is also the largest importing country for machines and molds in Latin America. According to ANIPAC, the Association Nacional de Industrias del Plástico A.C., extrusion blow molding has a share of 27 percent of the total plastic processing in Mexico.

"Mexico is an important growth market for us with an impact on many countries in Latin America. We see a great demand here, especially for our innovative Skyreef machine platform for consumer and industrial packaging. The platform enables flexible and demand-oriented adaptation of the line to the specific market conditions and product requirements of our customers," explains CEO Thomas Hartkämper. "Our innovative blow molding production lines are high-performance machines that create added value for our customers. The focus is on highest article quality, sustainable production and low unit costs," Hartkämper continues.

Kautex Maschinenbau is one of the leading international manufacturers of extrusion blow molding machines for the production of hollow containers for the consumer and industrial packaging industry, automotive and special applications sectors. According to its mission statement "BeOne - with customers and partners", the company develops smart and 

sustainable production solutions for value-added articles. The company's machine solutions are regarded worldwide as particularly efficient, reliable and sustainable. In addition to its three main locations in Bonn (Germany), Shunde (China) and New Jersey (USA), Kautex Maschinenbau is represented by subsidiaries in numerous countries around the world. The Mexican office was now relocated to the German Centre Mexico in the southwest of the Mexican metropolis.

At the end of 2019, Kautex Maschinenbau responded consistently to massively changed market conditions. With a new vision, mission and philosophy for the Kautex of the future, thecompany has initiated a new strategic direction. With success: Kautex Maschinenbau has already implemented the change quickly, consistently and successfully in many areas of the company.

Thomas Hartkämper, CEO, explains: "Part of this strategy is also the succession planning in the Group's management, always in line with the new vision, mission and philosophy for the future Kautex. Now it is time to initiate this change in sales and service as well."

He added: "In this context, we would like to thank Andreas Lichtenauer for his many years of dedication and passion for Kautex Maschinenbau. He has helped shape a successful era for the company. Andreas Lichtenauer was not only instrumental in building up the Chinese market. His success in building up the fuel tank business worldwide has also had a lasting impacton the company and the entire industry.

In August, Christian Pum will take over as the Group's new Managing Director Sales, responsible for global sales. As an experienced manager in the field of sales for injection molding systems, he will strengthen the global team, particularly for the target segments of packaging, pharmaceuticals and medical. Continuing the change in sales as well as building an internal succession will be among his tasks.

Thomas Hartkämper (CEO) will additionally be responsible for the service area in order to strengthen the overall customer focus. Julia Keller (CFO) will be appointed to the management board of Kautex Maschinenbau GmbH.

The virtual trade show will focus on Kautex’s current product campaign, particularly its new SKYREEF machine platform, as well as its new extrusion heads. Product quality, sustainability, and digitalization in production will also be addressed. Specifically, the company will be highlighting the following aspects under the hashtag #madebykautex: “Perfect product quality thanks to a perfect melt,” “Using Kautex RapidXchange and K-Foam technology to guarantee sustainable production,” and “Digital services – from virtual training and simulations through to virtual commissioning.”

The interactive trade show booth can be visited at any time between June 8 and June 10 and in a variety of different languages. There will be live links to local contacts, who will be able to guide visitors through the booth. Video chats with Kautex staff and a chatbot will also be on hand to answer questions and exchange ideas between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. (CEST) throughout the virtual show. 

From the virtual booth, visitors will be able to access various presentation rooms hosting live talks and discussions. Anyone interested can register with Kautex from today by following this link: www.k-sphere.com.

The K-Sphere virtual event environment has been designed as an expandable customer platform. Having started life as an interactive booth, the format will be used in future as a flexible stage for all manner of different communication and presentation events. These include the “Flash Events,” which are open to the public, and the customer-specific “K-Talks,” both of which have already proven successful. The interactive K-Sphere also gives visitors a place to contact Kautex experts directly, even outside the booth’s opening hours, and access presentations, information, and videos.

Setting itself the mission to “BeOne – with customers and partners,” Kautex Maschinenbau is developing smart and sustainable production solutions for value-added products. As a global team, Kautex is working to strengthen its leading role in the ongoing transformation and in generating added value in cooperation with its customers and partners.

Kautex is currently realigning its whole product portfolio for the future as part of its product promotion campaign: Instead of highly specialized individual solutions, the company is now focusing more on standardization, modular concepts, and platform-based strategies.

Kautex will now be giving visitors to this year’s Chinaplas their first glimpse of its new Skyreefseries. The innovative idea behind the machines combines technologies and components from different Kautex series and is designed for a future of smart production. The ultimate aim? The autonomous machine. Customers can choose whether their Skyreef is powered by a hydraulic, all-electric or hybrid drive, making it both flexible and adaptable. 

The company will also be showcasing more of its latest ideas under the strapline #madebykautex, including“Perfect product quality thanks to a perfect melt,” “Using Kautex RapidXchange and K-Foam technology to guarantee sustainable production,” and “Digital services – from virtual training and simulations through to virtual commissioning.”

China is a major market for Kautex, and the company has run its own production site in Shunde in the south of the country for over 25 years now. Visitors to Chinaplas will be able totake a shuttle to see machines being manufactured in Shunde for themselves. Shenzhen, thevenue for this year’s trade show, is just over 60miles from Shunde, and a free shuttle servicewill be on hand to take visitors to the Chinese plant.

Chinaplas is being held in Shenzhen from April 13 to 16, 2021, and Kautex Maschinenbau will be at Booth 10G03 in Hall 10.

The change in control was the optimization of the cycle time on the post-processing station ofa Kautex KBB400D blow molding machine in Spain. The new control change initially developed in the Kautex factory in Bonn and tested on a virtual post-processing station (IntelliGate module). 

It was only then that the commissioning at the customer's production location in Spain was carried out by a service technician on site. The service technician received support from a virtually linked Kautex programmer. The complete process on site with commissioning and final adjustments took only one day. 

It was therefore possible to restart the system after just half the amount of time that was originally calculated. Project manager Dirk Hiller of Kautex sees a great deal of potential in the process: "The simulation process which we use for pre-commissioning and testing on virtual Kautex systems reduces time and staffing requirements for the implementation on site. Digital twinning of our machinesmeans that we are now in a better position to adapt the control of the production system to changing conditions and production requirements more quickly."