LISTED plastics developer Millepede is on the hunt for a local manufacturing partner to help develop its continuous injection moulding (CIM) technology.
LISTED plastics developer Millepede is on the hunt for a local manufacturing partner to help develop its continuous injection moulding (CIM) technology.
Millepede managing director Vincent de Villers said discussions were taking place with three Japan-based companies, however, he would like to see the development of the CIM technology stay in WA.
“I’m looking for a company to come in, I’d like it to be in WA but of course it could come from anywhere. We could get someone in to be a partner or to take a share. It could go overseas but it would be a shame,” he said.
“What I am trying to get across to the general public is that there is a WA business that has the potential to be the 21st century 3M [the company behind post-it notes].”
Mr de Villers said the CIM technology would revolutionise the way plastics were produced but the company required $1 million for further research and development on the machine.
“It [CIM] is cheaper and it’s quicker and it works. It has huge global potential, but it needs R & D,” he said.
“There are two ways that plastics are normally moulded. One uses two steel plates that close, plastic is squirted in, and then the plates open and the plastic is kicked out.
“Then you have extrusion moulding. That is where you have a shape and you push the plastic through it. We have a combination of the two.
“We have a process that is cheaper in terms of manufacturing costs and eliminates post production processes required to treat extruded products.”
Mr de Villers said the company’s main product, Mille-tie, was gaining momentum in the international telecommunications market place and that he expected it to become a household product within several years.
“In a year period we have had some major agreements and next is the explosion of sales. We are about to hit the upside of the bell curve,” he said.
“There are five major cable manufacturing companies and we have co-labelling agreements with two of them. We are in discussions with the other three.
“Ultimately this will be a household product.”
The Mille-Tie self adjusts to prevent compression and loss of bandwidth in electronic cabling used in the data communications industry.
The company announced last month that it had achieved sales of one million Mille-Tie units in one month.
