The machinery of occasion, slippery ground

There is everything. Perhaps it is the phrase that best summarizes the current scene of machinery second hand or occasion. The offer is wide, but the products available are quite heterogeneous. From machines that have more than 20 years and that would be better that nothing were directly to scrap up opportunities despicable. It is essential to understand a lot of machinery, know very well what you want and know the reality of the market for does not pinch the toes.

Quality and high productivity. Between these two variables go game on the market today of the transformation of plastics, like most other businesses. And to win you need a reliable machine that does not give problems and work in the most automated way, with a production adjusted to the strict requirements of the client.

Wanted at all costs reduce the cost of labour. If they produce the same with less employees or reduce machine preparation time, obtained margin, to equality of the other parameters, will necessarily be higher. But what happens if the workload is inadequate or we must make a product where the quality is not a key factor, or simply the set of costs does not to buy a new machine? The answer may be in the second-hand machinery, left by companies that do require the highest quality or work piece.

It is no coincidence that Plastics universal has decided to join its magazine from this issue, a permanent section dedicated to the offer in this area. It simply means that there are many transactions machinery of occasion. In short, there is market.

Move with caution

The second hand market should approach, however, with many reservations. All the consulted specialists recognize that it is a world that is difficult to move. It is essential to know very well what you want and learn about field to pisa. And not because it is a murky sector, in which no one wants to give guarantees. Precisely, because do not want to deceive the alleged purchaser and placed a commodity which is always a mystery, is told input there is and establishing a transparent and professional bargaining.

The parallelism of the used machines to the market of cars or floors of occasion is fairly accused, only that much less structured. The offer is much more diverse. There are machines with less than five years old have been replaced by requirements of quality or technological upgrading in a strict demand, as it may be that of the car, but they serve to make many other products. And also, to the side, there can be a machine that has worked non-stop for 20 years and who has reached the limit.

The diversity of the offer complicated its cataloguing. But fundamental to sell certain guarantees obstacle is the unpredictable cost of implementation to point. "When you open a machine, you never know with what you'll find;" sometimes don't do virtually anything and others begin to leave problems and costs you more repair that buy another new", said one of the experts consulted." Why tends increasingly to make intermediary and let the customer which starts to touch the machine.

The experience since then, helps determine the State of a machine. But even the most expert has encountered nasty surprises. Why is nobody wants to compromise beyond what is reasonable. It is given to know the history of the machine, when it knows, and negotiates the price depending on the supply and demand.

Half price

It is quite difficult to generalize about the price of second-hand machines. But, in the light of the consultations carried out, can be said that it is not difficult to get a discount of 50% for a machine that is in good condition. By way of example, a fuel transfer of 1.100 T year 1987 can cost from 24 to 25 million pesetas, when new cost 70 million. And a fuel transfer of 100 to 150 T of opportunity can be found for 3 to 4 million pesetas, when it hardly comes out the market for less than 8 or 9 million. If the price paid by the second-hand machine something about to final implementation is added and is removed something new by the different funding, we find that a machine in good second hand comes out at half price.

The situation, however, substantially modify these parameters. At the moment many transformers have an acceptable workload and closed fewer companies, is more difficult to find the machine needed. Often it is matter of luck.

Offer atomized

In Spain, companies engaged in the sale of machinery of occasion are quite small and make few exchanges among themselves. For this reason is essential to have good contacts and make the demand in several places, which leads many times to an overvaluation of the demand for the simple fact that it seems that there are five demands of a particular type of machine when in reality is the same which has led to five bidders.

The European market, by contrast, is a little more structured, with larger companies that communicate over each other. Anyway, the same specialists recognise that the nature of the transaction also allows many watermarks, because too much dedication to an operation makes that it can not make money and at worst, even Miss.

To complicate the picture, there are also several new equipment manufacturers that offer used machines. Do and why, they ask the reader? Because these companies to simply respond because many times the customers who buy them new machines ask to stay with the old. If this "old" machine is from the same manufacturer and has followed its history, it is easier to make a prognosis of his State, but even and thus, there are always surprises.


Figure 1 New machinery manufacturers offer used machines because their customers ask them to stay with the old.

A guaranteed alternative

The Transitus company works differently from the rest of the competition, because only sells German and completely revised second-hand source injectors. In this way, says Udo Krichbaum, Manager of the company, "we can guarantee the machinery and become a real new machinery alternative".

"In Spain there is a perception that when you buy a second-hand machine is because there is no money," says Udo Krichbaum, which is a serious problem for companies that sell second-hand machines. In Germany, for example, market of second-hand machinery is fully assumed and is considered an alternative such as the purchase of a new team, said the Transitus in Spain head.

Transitus is not a company for the sale of machinery, since its range is reduced to injectors in good condition and with full guarantee. The average age of the machines sold is from 5 to 7 years and normally leave at half price to the new equivalent model.

"Always offer German machinery that has been in operation until very recently and has decided to replace by technological improvements or changes in production." Is not never old junk which do not serve anything", says Udo Krichbaum."

Satisfied customers

Transitus is a German company, with subsidiaries in Spain and Poland and performances in several Asian and European countries. All injectors that arrive them are retrofitted and verified at the headquarters of Germany, although they sometimes also reviewed in Spain to fit the particular wishes of the client. This refurbishment is what allows to provide guarantees.

"Our customers are very satisfied with the machines that are installed and some of them are very important, as Robert Bosch or several car manufacturers," says Udo Krichbaum. "They are machines which are purchased for specific tasks and perfectly fulfilled its role during the specified time."

Krichbaum denies partnership between second hand machine and lower quality product. A second hand machine, especially if it has been revised, may meet the same requirements that a new. "Of what is to do numbers and see what machine is more profitable to buy: in some cases it is advisable to buy a new machine but in many others it is enough with a second hand".

Krichbaum recognizes that the machines offers are not cheap. "Are an alternative to the new and with a substantial price of the order of 50% discount." They are not a bargain nor nor bring unpleasant surprises, and that they are guaranteed"."

As an example of the seriousness of the service we offer, Krichbaum cites the case of the German company Battenfeld, one of the leading manufacturers of injectors, which recommends Transitus machines when he sees that his client is not enough money to buy a new machine. "Rather than lose a client, we recommend to us."

Transitus offer the full range of injectors, from machines with 25 tons of strength of closing up 3,500 T. The company is Spanish headquartered in store in the Basque country and Cantabria. It has, moreover, in Zaragoza and Valencia representatives covering the entire Mediterranean.

Lluís Alonso