INJECTION MOLDING MACHINE MANUFACTURER YIZUMI AT THE RWTH AACHEN CAMPUS

Yizumi is by quantity the third-largest manufacturer of injection moulding machines and the second-largest manufacturer of die casting machines in China and the world. Yizumi just founded a development center in Germany on the RWTH Aachen Campus to start up with preliminary development work and, in close cooperation with its Chinese colleagues, to steer the implementation towards products suitable for industrial use. AZL interviewed Richard Yan (CEO) and Hans Wobbe (CSO) from the new AZL Premium Partner Yizumi.

AZL: Asia, especially China, is the world's largest demand region. What is your perspective on the market from the point of view of a Chinese machine manufacturer?

Richard Yan: The Asian market, especially our home market China, is growing at an enormous rate. We participate strongly in this, as Yizumi was founded only 15 years ago and now builds about 1,000 machines per month. By contrast, the European market, which is dominated by Central Europe, is rather stable, but is characterized by advanced technologies and innovative trends. So far, we have been less present, but we have formulated this as a goal in our strategy.

Which technological trends do you regard as most important?

Hans Wobbe: I can clearly see the lightweight construction with multi- material systems in the top focus. Equally important, however, is the trend towards individualization – the key word here is additive processes. In addition, all technologies that promise surface finishing, whether optical or haptic, are future-proof.

What technologies does Yizumi rely on in the field of lightweight design with plastics?

Richard Yan: We introduced the basic foaming of plastics some time ago, based on MuCell technology. In addition, we are uniquely positioned with our injection moulding, die casting and thixomolding activities. This means that any combination is possible.

Hans Wobbe: In particular, we are thinking here of lightweight construction technologies based on organic sheet thermoforming or UD tapes. But die casting of structural components made of magnesium also has future potential.

What role do combination technologies play?

Due to our product range, the metal- plastic combinations will play an important role. We see a lot of development potential here in a swivel- platen machine that combines the Mg-Thixomolding with the plastic. The combination technology of injection moulding with polyurethane is also on our agenda, together with a European partner.

Fig.: Plastics News photo from K 2016 Yan and Wobbe

Your company has now founded a subsidiary in Europe for the first time, on the RWTH Aachen Campus. How would you like to use the Institute network?

Richard Yan: From our point of view, the institute network in Aachen is unique. Before we decided on the RWTH Aachen Campus, 6 alternative university locations were scanned in terms of technological breadth and technical depth. With a clear distance to all other places, Aachen came first at the end. For all of our planned innovation areas, the technical know-how is available and is represented by institutes with a high reputation. We will use this by network-based developments, of course also using the equipment available in the technical centers.

How do you see the competitive advantage?

Hans Wobbe: We are the only company in our industry to be located directly on a university campus with a development centre. There is no better environment for innovation!

We will merge this advantage with the speed of innovation and the cost advantage of the Chinese parent company in the later mass production.

How do you want to get involved in the AZL company network, and which partnerships do you want to build?

Richard Yan: Our goal is to actively participate in the AZL company network in all projects that overlap with our strategy.

Hans Wobbe: In particular, we intend to initiate new projects in the future from our side. We see the resulting partnerships ideally always consisting of material manufacturers, institutes, end users and mechanical and plant engineering. Our experience has shown, that the best results are achieved in such a combination of proven experts. This is why we are planning to expand our current offices on the RWTH Aachen Campus into a fully equipped development center with our own technical center in the coming years.

Editor's note: This article is reprinted by permission of AZL Aachen GmbH.