Rapid Granulator Adds Production Capacity, Capabilities

The manufacturer of size reduction equipment is investing €4.5 million ($5.3 million) in new capacity, having already added a turning/milling machine in April with a horizontal machining center installed in June and a third system scheduled to come online before the end of the year.

The metalworking equipment, including the “Done-in-One” turning and milling machine installed in April, are fully integrated with a FMS (flexible manufacturing system) center, featuring automatic rail-guided vehicles that have the capability of lights-out operation. The combination turning and milling machine machine allows Rapid to produce major components like rotors in a single step instead of requiring several separate setups. The large horizontal machining centers each hold more than 200 different tools and can carry out a wide range of tasks, including grinding, drilling and threading.

Components produced on the new equipment will be used in granulators that Rapid produces in Bredaryd and also at its Rapid Granulator, Inc. U.S. facility in Pittsburgh, Pa. Rapid’s CEO Bengt Rimark noted that the new machinery will allow in-house production of tolerance-critical components in higher quantities and larger sizes than before. Rimark noted in a release that the investment in capacity by its owner, Enköping, Sweden-based investment company, Lifco AB, which acquired Rapid in February 2015, reflects that company’s “vision to build for the future.” Rapid resides within Lifco’s Systems Solutions unit; the investment company groups other portfolio businesses into dental and demolition & tools.

Lifco has also invested in a major expansion of test facilities in Bredaryd and brought back in-house to Pittsburgh all production of Rapid’s granulators for the North American market.