With a festive ceremony and around 140 guests from the Swiss plastics industry, ENGEL has opened a new Tech Centre at its site in Frauenfeld. The inauguration also marks the 50th anniversary of ENGEL’s business operations in Switzerland. With this new technology centre, the Austrian injection moulding machine manufacturer is making a targeted investment in customer support, training and further education, as well as technological development – particularly in the highly regulated medical technology sector.
The new Tech Centre includes modern training and office facilities as well as a hands-on application centre. At the heart of the installation are two ENGEL injection moulding machines: a tie-bar-less victory electric in medical configuration with a clamping force of 500 kN and a fully electric e-mac with 1,000 kN, equipped with an easix articulated robot. Both machines are fitted with the full range of digital assistance systems from the ENGEL iQ product family. These smart solutions help processors increase process stability and efficiency while significantly reducing production costs.
“The Swiss market is among the most demanding in the world,” said Stefan Engleder, CEO of the ENGEL Group, in his opening speech. “Many of our customers here are technology leaders in their respective fields. Collaborating with them has played a key role in advancing our technologies and services.” Engleder emphasised the company’s commitment to continuously strengthening its customer focus. The new Tech Centre represents an important milestone in this endeavour.
ENGEL has been active in Switzerland since 1975. The choice of location was of strategic importance then, as it is today: Switzerland is home to a large number of highly innovative companies that assert themselves on the global market through quality, efficiency, and technological leadership – despite high local operating costs. To succeed as a machine supplier in such an environment, one must meet the very highest standards.
With the new Tech Centre, ENGEL is pursuing several goals. Customers can explore new technologies under realistic conditions, test their own applications, and develop tailored production solutions. At the same time, the Tech Centre serves as ENGEL’s first medical competence centre outside of its production plants – a testament to the company’s strong commitment to the expertise of its subsidiaries.
Another key focus is the newly designed training centre. ENGEL offers both a comprehensive training programme and customised advanced training sessions, including production-accompanying instruction. “The demands placed on skilled personnel continue to increase,” says Christoph Vitz, Managing Director of ENGEL Switzerland. “Only qualified and motivated teams are capable of fully harnessing the potential of a modern injection moulding solution.”
The opening ceremony featured expert presentations by distinguished guests, including Silvio Ponti, President of the Swiss Plastics Industry Association, and Professor Frank Ehrig from the OST University of Applied Sciences. They provided insights into current developments in the industry and the challenges faced by manufacturing companies.
The new Tech Center is integrated into ENGEL’s global structure. In recent years, the company has established what it calls a triad structure: Europe, Asia and the Americas each form independently operating production and sales regions that can offer locally adapted solutions. ENGEL’s global manufacturing network, consisting of ten production plants in Europe, Asia and Mexico, enables the company to respond flexibly to market demands, reduce lead times and efficiently implement customer-specific adaptations.
With this structure, ENGEL aims to combine close customer proximity with global expertise. The new Tech Center in Frauenfeld reflects this strategy and makes a significant contribution to technological progress in the Swiss market - fully in line with the company’s motto: “be the first.”