The market for Plexiglass is booming as the need for social distancing and protection has increased, and producers in this market reckon the demand is here to stay.
Since mid-March, a rush in demand started for the production of face shields. Traditional suppliers did not have the capacity to provide enough face shields and there was a race to manufacture the product.
A few weeks later the rush gained intensity by the urgent need for clear acrylic plexiglass sheet panels. Supermarkets, coffee shops, restaurants, schools … the list goes on and on, as most business were adopting them to combat COVID-19, and front-line workers and customers were also demanding them. Orders are now up six-fold since March according to industry manufacturers.
A sheet extrusion line required to produce clear acrylic barrier sheets can take nearly 1 year from placing the order to manufacture and delivery, however producers cannot wait that long for a new machine. This has made many of them turn to the used machinery market in search of available immediately equipment.
Not everyone in the industry is convinced that the plexiglass boom will outlive the current pandemic situation and they do not believe the market is sustainable enough to invest in new lines. This is another reason why companies are turning to used machinery as a solution with a reduced investment in uncertain times.
Some manufacturers however do believe the clear acrylic barrier sheets are here to stay and demand for new lines has also seen an increase.
MachinePoint has recently sold a complete sheet extrusion line to help a client fulfill their particular rise in demand for clear acrylic barrier sheets. With roughly 47 meters length, the sheet extrusion line needed between 15-20 sea containers. The line located in Europe has been dismantled, packed and is on its way to America.
Times are changing so quickly that the deal was done in record time and virtually as travelling restrictions did not allow the buyer to inspect the machine personally. MachinePoint intermediated the operation and led the negotiations between buyer and seller, facilitated all information and services required to close it in record time for the benefit of both.
Collaboration with the OEM was key in giving the buyer the confidence about the state of the used machinery and aided the dismantling and packaging of the line for maritime transport.
