“Meeting the deadlines of this complex project has been one of the challenges that has satisfied us the most because of their utmost importance to both the seller of the machinery and the buyer”
MachinePoint has successfully sold and coordinated the dismantling and transportation of five high capacity extrusion blow molding lines from the UK to Turkey. When the British company entrusted the mission of selling its lines to MachinePoint, it was looking for a partner that would help in the complex process of selling a complete plant. There were five lines to produce bottles for the cosmetics industry, with all the adjacent equipment of conveyor belts and packaging machinery, with a capacity to produce a maximum of 150,000 bottles per day.
1 Find a single buyer for the entire plant
The initial challenge of the MachinePoint team was to find, if possible, a single buyer. This would result in a much more agile operation for the British seller than if the machines have to be sold to different companies, which would imply a lot more work in terms of visits with customers, logistics and management of payments and timings.
2 The machinery was “state of the art“ and complete information was provided
The machinery was in a perfect state of maintenance and with all its complete information. These was equipment for the extrusion-blowing of small plastic bottles of the TECHNE brand, very recognized amongst manufacturers of high capacity extrusion blow molding machines for bottles. The MachinePoint team valued the machinery and developed a promotion plan with the aim of finding one single buyer.
3 International promotion to a targeted group of clients
Thanks to the international presence of MachinePoint and its deep knowledge of the extrusion blow molding market in various geographical regions, it was possible to identify potential buyers in different parts of the world, who worked with the Techne brand. The promotion resulted in a success, and after making a filter of interested potential buyers, an inspection was made to the British plant that resulted in an agreement to purchase the plant. Having a well-defined and segmented portfolio of potential clients was key to achieving this result in record time.
The commercial team of MachinePoint, present today in several locations in Europe, America and Asia, is in continuously contact with the market, and are informed about future investments and divestments in capital goods. This allows us to quickly identify the needs of the companies that want to sell and those that want to buy, closing operations in short periods of time.
4 Truthful communication and time management
Héctor Sánchez, commercial manager of MachinePoint’s extrusion division in the UK comments, “The most difficult challenge for us in this project has been managing the times between the needs of the seller and the buyer. The timeframe in which the seller could release the machinery was greater than that intended by the buyer. It has taken up to 9 long months for the equipment to be free of production loads. This timeframe, although longer than wanted by the buyer, was accepted given the quality of the machinery. “
The work of MachinePoint is to get and transmit to all parties involved the most reliable information of the situation so that they can assess whether an operation is viable with all the variables of cost and time, and that appropriate measures are taken as the operation evolves. A trust between the parties is key to having correct information. MachinePoint has always opted for a quality and professional service, where trust with the companies with which it works is fundamental. That is why many customers repeat doing business with MachinePoint, as is the case in this project.
Héctor Sánchez appreciates the operation, “We are very satisfied with the final result of this project because the deadlines in the dismantling and loading have been fulfilled as agreed, without a single delay. When it comes to so much machinery, the dismantling and transport is complex and many unforeseen events can occur. Good project management and quality service providers are key. “
5 High quality logistics and technical providers accompanied by good project management
MachinePoint makes a good selection of the service providers with which it works, and verifies for each project, that the selected disassembly and transport suppliers fulfill all the necessary parameters for the particularities of each operation. With many years in the market, MachinePoint already has a wide portfolio of good suppliers to work with, but even so, a meticulous verification is made of each supplier for each project, as if it were the first one, to avoid unwanted surprises.
The second key factor for a successful disassembly and transportation is good project management. The equipment already selected must be coordinated in detail. Communication and rigorous attention to detail are essential. In this project MachinePoint has coordinated four different service companies: the dismantling company, the company that moves the machinery outside the factory, the transport company and the company that was responsible for generating the export documentation. Three days were allowed to disassemble and load the five extrusion lines, and everything went to plan.
Both the seller of the machinery and the buyer know the difficulty of this operation and are delighted with the service offered by MachinePoint. Respecting the times is key to avoiding extra costs. On many occasions space in the plant to be freed to allow for the delivery of new machinery.
Dismantling process
To load all the machinery, 7 mega trucks of 13.6 meters in length and 3 meters in height and three days of intense work were needed. All trucks were able to load both the rear and the top. This facilitates greatly the loading and allows better maneuvering depending on the final weights and dimensions, which are not always clear when transport is contracted. For example in this particular case, a priori the intention was to load the trucks from above, but after analyzing it on site it was decided that it was more viable to load them from the back.
The technicians of the buyer were present throughout the entire dismantling, something desirable so as to be able later to more easily mount the machines at destination. The MachinePoint team labels all the pieces, makes an inventory and films a video of the dismantling phases that can facilitate the buyer.
The logistics company contracted for this project reacted quickly and supplied extendable trucks, which allowed loading all the machinery without delay. The export company, with extensive experience in exporting from the United Kingdom to Turkey, supplied the necessary ATR document for the machinery to pass the Turkish border without problem. Once finished the project and back home, the MachinePoint team, including sales people and executives from the logistics and legal department celebrated a hugely successful operation!
