FREILASSING, GERMANY -- German thermoforming machinery producer Kiefel GmbH is supplying Qingdao, China-based Haier Group with 20 machines this year alone to make refrigerator parts.
The equipment is in addition to 15 machines that Kiefel has already supplied to the Chinese appliance producer.
Kiefel joint managing director Thomas Hallertz told European Plastics News at a briefing in Kiefel s Freilassing headquarters that Haier has experienced a large increase in demand for refrigerators in its domestic market in China, the result of government measures to encourage the sale of new appliances to save energy and reduce food waste.
Although thermoformed parts are traditionally used for refrigerator inner containers and door liners, Hallertz said Haier has introduced the first models that use a thermoformed sheet from Piesendorf, Austria-based sheet producer Senoplast Klepsch & Co. GmbH for the exterior housing of some of its models.
In 2009, BASF SE announced that it had started supplying a new grade of its Terluran ABS grade with significantly increased chemical resistance to Haier in China. This had involved cooperation with masterbatch and dosing equipment suppliers, as well as the introduction of a new business model for the refrigerator industry that has reduced the number of steps in the value chain and therefore saved significant costs at Haier, it was said at the time by BASF s Terluran product manager in Asia, Kyong Ho Shoon.
With 60,000 employees and exporting to 160 countries Haier claims to have become the world s largest white and brown domestic electrical appliance producer in general and the world s largest producer of refrigerators.
Aside from having used Kiefel machines in China for a number of years, Haier is known to have also included thermoforming machines from the Italian producer Comi srl in for example, its U.S. plant in Camden, N.C.
In Europe, Haier refrigerators have won product design awards in 2007 and 2010 from respectively Red Dot and iFDesign.
The equipment is in addition to 15 machines that Kiefel has already supplied to the Chinese appliance producer.
Kiefel joint managing director Thomas Hallertz told European Plastics News at a briefing in Kiefel s Freilassing headquarters that Haier has experienced a large increase in demand for refrigerators in its domestic market in China, the result of government measures to encourage the sale of new appliances to save energy and reduce food waste.
Although thermoformed parts are traditionally used for refrigerator inner containers and door liners, Hallertz said Haier has introduced the first models that use a thermoformed sheet from Piesendorf, Austria-based sheet producer Senoplast Klepsch & Co. GmbH for the exterior housing of some of its models.
In 2009, BASF SE announced that it had started supplying a new grade of its Terluran ABS grade with significantly increased chemical resistance to Haier in China. This had involved cooperation with masterbatch and dosing equipment suppliers, as well as the introduction of a new business model for the refrigerator industry that has reduced the number of steps in the value chain and therefore saved significant costs at Haier, it was said at the time by BASF s Terluran product manager in Asia, Kyong Ho Shoon.
With 60,000 employees and exporting to 160 countries Haier claims to have become the world s largest white and brown domestic electrical appliance producer in general and the world s largest producer of refrigerators.
Aside from having used Kiefel machines in China for a number of years, Haier is known to have also included thermoforming machines from the Italian producer Comi srl in for example, its U.S. plant in Camden, N.C.
In Europe, Haier refrigerators have won product design awards in 2007 and 2010 from respectively Red Dot and iFDesign.
