REP shows off new facilities, machines

ERJ staff report (PR)

Corbas, France – REP International highlighted the results of a €4-million investment in modernising its production facilities and new product development at an open house event in Corbas, near Lyon. The event also marked the 10th anniversary of its partnership with the Taiwanese company Tung Yu.

The modernisation programme is intended to increase the market responsiveness, productivity and operating costs of the Corbas plant. This has included the addition of two high-speed machining centres, with compatible tooling and programming facilities.

Technologies featured at the event included micro-moulding and devulcanisation, as well as the capabilities of the company’s REP’s G9 and G10 moulding presses - these make up the bulk of the French company’s sales.

Features on the G10 machines include predictive maintenance, 3G link and auto-tuning for optimisation of settings. Ergonomic developments, meanwhile, included reduced working height, improved visibility of the moulding area and a double-screen on the operator interface.

REP has also improved the energy efficiency of various elements of the machine: mould heating, injection unit heating, hydraulic power and cycle time.

Another theme of the open house was REP’s work in developing industrial partnerships to access emerging markets.

Under its 10-year partnership with Tung Yu, REP ensures sales and aftersales service for the taiwn company’s compression presses and shares manufacturing - partly in France, partly in Taiwan - of RT9 budget moulding machines. The partnership has sold more than 1,000 machines, among which over 400 RT9 injection moulding machines.

Reviewing the company’s strategy in emerging markets, REP president Bruno Tabar said: "Each market has its own needs, sometimes even opposing. Our ambition is to adapt our offer to each situation by offering innovative solutions, neglecting none of these needs," said.