More Korean Injection Molding Technology Coming Stateside

The launch of LS Mtron all-electric injection molding machines in the U.S. is actually a reintroduction of the former LG brand presses. Debuting at Plastec West 2015 in Anaheim, Calif., the LS Mtron machine was running in the booth of Hirate America Inc., Diamond Bar, Calif., a distributor of plastics machinery that brought another Korean press, Hyundai Injection Machinery, stateside at last year’s Plastec.

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Shingo Hirate told Plastics Technology that the LS Mtron line offers molders an all-electric option, with his company stocking machines from 90 to 500 tons. At the show, Hirate America featured a 240-ton LS Mtron running a 16-cavity mold from Dauntless Industries, Covina, Calif. Ron Wierzbowski, technical sales engineer at Dauntless, noted that the hot runner mold—Gammaflux supplied—was shooting optical parts and featured a stripper eject.

Hirate said this was the first U.S. show for the LS Mtron but the machines are already running stateside in Alabama in support of Korean automakers like Kia and Hyundai, as well as in Tijuana molding parts for Samsung. Hirate, who said his company sold more than $10 million in equipment last year, has seen business pick up thanks to molding jobs returning to the U.S.

“We have seen a lot of reshoring happening,” Hirate said. “We’ve had a lot of customers that wanted to start doing their own molding out of the blue, and we’ve been able to set up their entire plant.”