Yizumi Germany GmbH: The Engine of Innovation

Yizumi Germany GmbH: The Engine of Innovation

In December 2017, Yizumi Germany GmbH was founded in Aachen, Germany. Different from Yizumi’s North American and Indian subsidiaries, Yizumi Germany has carried different mission since its establishment. Located in the heartland of plastic machinery technology in the world, the subsidiary inevitably takes up the role of being the engine of innovation, and driving the upgrade of technology and products.

In its first year, Yizumi’s German subsidiary, which is more than 8,000 kilometers away from the headquarters has begun to realize the transformation from 0 to 1, and even discovered new values and opportunities in some unexpected area.

The German team taking shape

Aachen has been a ideal location for Yizumi’s German subsidiary. The place is inevitably associated with the name of the IKV for every branch expert in the plastics industry. And Yizumi have consciously sought this proximity. Since 2016, Yizumi has been interested in join the research network. Dr.-Ing. Hans Wobbe, who was just appointed as the Chief Strategy Officer of Yizumi, even drove himself, and took the whole management to visit the surrounding technology companies and institutes. In 2017, Yizumi Germany GmbH joined the Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV) and entered into a premium partnership with the AZL Aachen GmbH on the campus in Melaten. This is also where the subsidiary’s own offices are located as its new headquarters.

It has been the task of Yizumi Germany GmbH to carry out preliminary developments with a focus on injection molding and thixomolding for the Yizumi Company, with the aim of implementing these innovative ideas into a product ready for series production that will meet the high demands of the European market in particular. From the very beginning, all employees are in close cooperation with the engineers and developers in China to commercialize the solutions and provide global customers with technology-leading and cost-effective solutions.

After the establishment, Yizumi Germany quickly recruited and now has hired eight senior engineers and sales personnel in Europe, specializing in additive manufacturing, polymer materials special process applications, lightweight and multi-material application processing research. With more than 20 years in the injection molding industry, Timo Günzel has extensive experience in special application technology and automation solutions, sales and after-sales service, product management and technology promotion. He is now the product manager of Yizumi Germany; Benjamin Wessling (Master of Engineering, RWTH Aachen University) is the head of Polymer Processing. He is responsible for PU, DecoPro, FoamPro and other projects.

Yizumi has high expectations for the new team. Richard Yan, Managing Director of Yizumi said: "The first employees of Yizumi German are key figures in leading the development of Yizumi in the next three to five years."

Sales in the German market begin

The mission of Yizumi Germany is more important in the development of products and technologies. Dr.-Ing.Hans Wobbe revealed that the current key projects are additive manufacturing, polymer process, lightweight and multi-material applications and process research, etc., “Yizumi Germany will become the innovation engine of Yizumi, striving to explore cooperation with advanced research institutions, break through traditional molding technology, continuously expand the product field, and more importantly, accelerate the R&D of new technology together with engineers at the Chinese headquarters."

In October 2018, Yizumi Germany successfully launched the SPACE A flexible robot additive manufacturing system. After being exhibited at the Fakuma and Formnext exhibitions in Germany, it was favored by European high-end customers and also received its first order. At present, Yizumi Germany is developing a solution combining injection molding and additive manufacturing. This may well be the world's first technical solution to combine large-scale high-pressure molding and personalization. With this innovation, Yizumi Germany intends to open the Chinese market for SPACE A.

In addition, the 1250T Thixomolding magnesium alloy injection molding machine developed by Yizumi Germany was successfully developed. This is the only one of its kind in the world. In early 2019, it successfully went into trial operation, producing electric bicycle chassis for a European customer. The part is only 1.16Kg, 30% lighter than aluminum alloy, but can bear more than 100kg, the equipment will be delivered to a German customer.

With the successful building of the team and development of new products and new technologies, in the fourth quarter of 2018, Yizumi Germany took up a new responsibility – selling injection molding machines in the German market.

Due to the higher demand of equipment performance, quality and service of German customers, Richard Yan believes that this will drive Yizumi to a higher level of development: “As sales in the German market begins, the demand for more mid-to-high-end markets will emerge and drive the technological innovation of Yizumi from the demand side, thus accelerating the pace of the connection between Yizumi and the German market and technology."

Q&A: Conversations with Yizumi Germany’s engineers and sales personnel

In order to better understand the progress of research and development of new technologies and new processes in Yizumi Germany, we interviewed some senior R&D and sales personnel of Yizumi Germany. They delved into the projects in their field and plan for the future.

	Nicolai Lammert
	Head of Additive Manufacturing Yizumi Germany GmbH

Q1:Please tell us more about your project: flexible additive manufacturing system SPACE A, and what’s the plan next?

A1:We have been researching processes and technologies that combine additive manufacturing with injection molding, additive manufacturing and die casting. The biggest highlight of additive manufacturing is the processing of plastics. With our deep understanding of additive manufacturing and raw material processing, we can also provide better solutions for customers in the future by combining die casting and injection molding processes. Instead of just selling machines, we offer our customers a complete solution.

 

Q2:SpaceA got its first order in Europe last year, which is great news. Can you tell us how the feedback from the industry is? What promotion plan is there in 2019?

A2:The feedback from the industry is very good and exceeds my expectations which underline our decision to show the prototype in that early status. We can start good contacts not only for AM but for complete Yizumi company and increase Yizumi’s popularity in the Germany. In 2019, we will attend Chinaplas2019, K 2019 and Formnext, expanding exposure of SpaceA.

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	Timo Günzel
	Head of Product Management Yizumi Germany GmbH

Q1:Please introduce your main responsibility as Head of Product Management.

A1:In this position, I analyze the global markets for Yizumi, curling trends and advancing developments in Yizumi's machine portfolio, especially in the field of injection molding, rubber and automation, thus continuing Yizumi's ongoing international path as a technology leader in the world market.

Q2:What is your plan of work?

A2:My plan is to carefully study how an industry will develop in the future, and which of our products are suitable for this industry; of course, an industry may use machines from our different product lines. Then we will train sales staff to help Yizumi succeed in the European market.

	Philipp Ochotta
	Head of Lightweight Design and Multi-material Systems Yizumi Germany GmbH

Q1:What projects are you responsible for?

A1:I am responsible for the development support of new technologies regarding lightweight design and multi-material systems. This includes e.g. the development of the new thixomolding machine, the direct fiber injection molding machine and other things.

Q2:What are the value and advantages of the project considering the development trend of technology in the world?

A2:For example, with our thixomoldingmachine, we will enable the production of big parts with higher shot weightsthat could be applied for automotive, for example. With this, Yizumi will beleading supplier of the biggest thixomolding machine worldwide.

	Benjamin Wessling
	Head of Polymer Processing Yizumi Germany GmbH

Q1:What progress have you made on DecroPro, FoamPro projects?

A1:For DecoPro we already showed an impressive part with an aluminum decor. In future we want to offer a variety of different décor materials with the possibility of serial production in China.

For FoamPro we will offer a high-performance solution at a competitive price with our new flexible screw design. We will also look into thin wall a packaging application which is a new area for MuCell. In addition, we plan to make adaptations to the machine utilizing the advantage of low clamping forces required for foaming.

Q2:Do you have any new solutions which are ready to display in 2019?

A2:On the Chinaplas 2019 we will present a fully automated production cell that produces a thermoplastic engine cover with a PU décor.