Please share some background on yourself and your company 

I hold an M.Sc. degree from Texas A&M. I've been working for 24 years as the Overseas Sales Director and Process Engineer for Entex Rust & Mitschke GmbH.

Entex is the leading manufacturer of the Planetary Extruder for all specialty compounding applications from food, polymers, elastomers, adhesives, and reactive processing, to mention a few. Before Entex, I worked for Solvay Corp. for 22 years in polymer compounding, holding numerous positions from R&D to Production Manager.

 

What are the main challenges you hear from customers?

Customers primarily want to reduce processing costs in all areas. Developing and implementing extrusion lines to meet the demands of today. To include material temperature control, heating and cooling on the same central screw, high levels of de-volitation, wide processing tolerances, and continuous processing are all part of the requirements on machine manufactures today. Sustainability also plays a big role in the demands of today.

 

In your role, how does the overseas market compare to the US?

The major players in the US and Europe are the dominant leaders and dictate the direction that everyone else seems to follow. This is then followed by Japan and the rest of the Asian market. Naturally, there are exceptions, but this seems to be the general trend from my point of view.

 

What are you most looking forward to from the expo?

I am looking forward to find customers experiencing difficulties with existing processes and having the chance to present our solutions and machine capabilities in the extrusion world. I am also looking for new challenges in this fast-moving world of “Plastic Compounding”.

---

Michael Batton will be speaking on Day 1 at the Compounding World Expo Theater.

---

Conference Producer

Medwyn Roberts manages AMI's compounding portfolio of events. Over the past 2 years he has put together a variety of programs across three continents, including our various expos - Compounding World Expo Brussels 2024, Compounding World Expo North America 2023, and Injection Molding & Design Expo 2023. Medwyn has worked in a variety of industries and is interested in bringing together speakers from different disciplines to share best practice.