Hot Runners for Transportation & Logistics Market Size, Share & Covid-19 Impact Analysis, By Type (Open Gate Hot Runners and Valve Gate Hot Runners), By Application (Garbage Bins, Plastic Pallets, Big Containers, Foldable Crates, and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027

The global hot runners for transportation and logistics market size was USD 95.7 million in 2019. The global impact of COVID-19 has been unprecedented and staggering, with the hot runner system witnessing a negative impact on demand across all regions amid the pandemic. Based on our analysis, the global market will exhibit a lower growth of 3.9% in 2020 as compared to the average year-on-year growth during 2016-2019. The market is projected to grow from USD 99.4 million in 2020 to USD 132.0 million in 2027 at a CAGR of 4.1% in the 2020-2027 period. The rise in CAGR is attributable to this market’s demand and growth, returning to pre-pandemic levels once the pandemic is over.

The rising trends towards complex and precision industry packaging, seeking greater productivity, and evolving demand for smaller molds, micromolding, and high-cavitation molds for extremely small plastic parts applications are likely to drive the hot runners for transportation & logistics market. To meet the demand, suppliers are focusing on the introduction of technologically advanced products in the global market. For instance, in October, 2018 Milacron Holdings Corp., a Hillenbrand Inc. brand, announced the launch of its new advanced thin wall packaging hot runner (ThinPak) in the FAKUMA 2018. The latest hot runner features a robust gate seal for handling high pressure, general in thin wall mold packaging operations. Besides, stringent governmental regulations and norms for recycling plastic and reducing carbon emissions, emerging molding technologies, and many others are the factors majorly responsible for the rising penetration of the hot runner systems for transportation and logistics across various applications.   

COVID-19 Pandemic to Provide Opportunities for Emerging Industries

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has increased the market ambiguity leaving hot runner suppliers to a standstill position. During the first quarter of 2020, industries faced an adverse impact of Covid-19, as a consequence, overall consumption and car sales decreased substantially, further slowing the growth. The car sales decreased compared to 2018, and new car models in tooling recorded a 15% drop versus 2018. Also, factors such as duties/tariffs applied or threatened from the US to China/Europe, norms, and regulations about car pollution compelled hot runner suppliers to shift their focus towards non-automotive applications.

In the short term, the impact of COVID-19 over the hot runners for the logistics and transportation market is due to the sudden disruption in the manufacturing activities and halt in the global supply chain systems. However, in the long term, the market of hot runners for transportation & logistics is going to surge. High adoption of fully digitalized processes and collaboration with regional/local raw material suppliers are the core strategies hot runner suppliers are implementing for combating the supply chain disruption. Also, sectors such as logistics and environment, houseware, domestic appliances, consumer goods, technical applications, and others are focused on reviving their position in the market.

LATEST TRENDS

Adoption of Servo Valve Gate Technology to Boost Growth

Servo valve gate systems enhance the control and flow regulation to reduce the clamp pressure of the apparatus used in the mold. Servo valve gates enable independent control at each gate, eliminating the handling compromises related to the complete mold set. This allows molds to run in faster, smaller, and less expensive machines, reducing the overall project cost. Servo valve gates prevent overfeeding of the molds and uneven finish and formation on different parts, this is achieved by simultaneously filling up the cavities. These servo-driven products maximize efficiency and decrease costs, and help in managing the WIP (work-in-process) with large part alterations. With all these benefits, the adoption of servo valve gates is expected to increase for bigger nozzle size hot runners in the coming years.

DRIVING FACTORS

Growing Cross Continent & Cross-Country Logistics Network to Fuel Product Demand

Global road connection between countries and regions remained a major challenge for the distributors and suppliers to transport their goods. Governments of numerous emerging and developed countries are concentrating on overcoming these challenges by building cross-continent and cross-regional roads/ highways, thereby allowing the transporters to deliver their products and goods in the remote regions. For instance, the silk road economic belt is the best example of a cross-border and cross-continent project. Silk road is also known as One Belt, which allows 40 countries to import and export their goods and products, thereby enhancing the use for pallets & containers globally, thus responsible for fueling demand for hot runners for transportation & logistics. Also, transportation and logistics service providers need a good quality of pallets and containers to provide spill and break free support to the products. To cater to this, hot runner vendors are rigorously focusing on developing their products that can provide high quality logistics products capable of withstanding harsh environments.

RESTRAINING FACTORS

Maintenance and Replacement of Hot Runners Individual Parts to Impede Market Growth

The main challenge faced by the manufacturers with the hot runners for transportation & logistics is the irregular maintenance causes flash on the parts, this degrades the quality of the molded products and also increases the wastage. Furthermore, during the manufacturing process, if there is a single breakage in the cavity, the whole system and process are brought to a halt. This causes decreased output and increased cost of production. Also, the maintenance process requires methodology and techniques for correctly and safely disassembling, cleaning, inspecting, and reassembling a manifold system. This requires a professional approach, which includes using the precise tools for the job and refraining from cheap fixes.

SEGMENTATION

By Type Analysis

Open Gate Hot Runners Segment to Show Higher Growth Rate in forthcoming Years

The types of hot runners considered in the scope of the study includes open gate hot runners and valve gate hot runners.

The open gate hot runner’s technology is majorly used for the mass production of simple parts and products. Also, its ability to shorten cycle time, material savings, and reduce product defects are the major factors end-users are integrating open gate hot runners for producing pallets, crates, and other plastic products further responsible for the market growth.

Besides, valve gate hot runners are anticipated to show moderate growth in the forthcoming years as this type of system is majorly deployed for application wherein smooth closures and a high aesthetic outlook are required—for instance, an application like making automotive parts attractive packaging of consumer goods.

By Application Analysis

Big Containers Segment to Hold the Highest Share

Based on application, the hot runners for the transportation and logistics market is segmented into garbage bins, plastic pallets, big containers, foldable crates, and others

Big containers hold a dominant position, and it is expected to grow at a higher rate owing to rising warehouses and distribution centers across various geographies. Also, properties such as the ability to withstand harsh environments and chemical resistance are likely to fuel the production of big containers in the coming years.

Followed by big containers, plastic pallets, and foldable crates segment is anticipated to grow at a moderate rate due to their lightweight and high durability properties. Also, the rising focus towards efficient material handling solutions, adoption of new and innovative technologies to produce customized pallets with a textured surface to provide a safe and easy non-slip grip resulting in longer service life and lower replacement costs are some of the factors responsible for augmenting the market growth.

Garbage bins segment is likely to show steady growth in the coming years owing to increasing residential and commercial construction projects, rising governmental initiatives towards waste management, and others.

REGIONAL INSIGHTS

Geographically, the market is segmented across five major regions, namely, North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. They are further categorized into countries.

Asia Pacific holds the highest share and is dominant in the hot runners for the transportation and logistics market. This is mainly due to the presence of Chinese authorized and unauthorized local players catering to a significant market share globally. Also, according to The Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL), around 30,000 injection mold manufacturers are present in China, and approximately USD 4.7 billion revenue was generated from sales of injection molds. Similarly, according to The Conversio Market & Strategy GmbH, in 2018, the global plastic production in Asia Pacific was 51%, wherein China covered 30% of world plastics production of around 359 million tonnes. Besides, a major hot runner for transportation and logistics suppliers are now focusing on expanding its businesses across Asian countries and widening its market presence. For instance, companies such as YUDO Hot Runners, Hot mold engineering, and other companies are now emphasizing assembling hot runners in countries like India to cater to the unattended market.

Following Asia Pacific, Europe is anticipated to grow at a steady rate owing to high plastic production observed in this region for instance, according to The Conversio Market & Strategy GmbH, in 2018, plastic production in Europe almost reached 62 million tonnes. Also, the European plastic industry had a turnover of USD 422 billion. Besides, the presence of prominent hot runners for transportation & logistics manufacturers in this region is likely to grow the product demand.

North America is forecasted to grow at a moderate rate in the coming years owing to the rising construction of mold manufacturers, higher adoption of technologically advanced hot runner systems, rising government concerns for using recycling plastic, and others. Besides, the retail industry in North America is growing rapidly, further creating demand for foldable crates to store products and increase the shelf life.

The Middle East and Africa is anticipated to grow at a steady rate in the future times owing to the increasing focus of major hot runners for transportation & logistics suppliers to expand their manufacturing units across emerging economies. Also, the growing e-commerce and logistics sector across these geographies is another factor responsible for market growth.

South America is likely to grow at a stable rate in the forecast period owing to the rising consumption of plastics, mainly in Brazil, Argentina, and other nations. Also, massive governmental funding in establishing small and medium plastic molding and converting enterprises is contributing to the hot runners for transportation & logistics market growth

KEY INDUSTRY PLAYERS

Key Players to Focus on Sales Channels to Remain Competitive in the Global Market

Key manufacturers are proactively focusing on strengthening their sales and distribution networks by collaborating with local mold service companies and plastic injection suppliers to stay competitive in the global market. For instance, In January 2020, HRSflow adopted the market strategy of collaborating with Surtechno, a Belgium based mold service company, to provide customers the best and fastest support related to aftersales and process optimization. It is also enabling hot runner suppliers to achieve the best lead times and target customized product solutions.

LIST OF KEY COMPANIES PROFILED: 

• Inglass S.p.A. (HRSFlow) (Italy)


• Barnes Group Inc. (United States)


• Hillenbrand Inc. (Milacron) (United States)


• YUDO (SUZHOU) HOT RUNNER SYSTEMS CO., LTD (Korea)


• Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. (Canada)


• Mold Hotrunner Solutions Inc. (Canada)


• Top Grade Molds (Canada)


• Mastip Technology Limited (United States)


• J-Tech Hot Runner (Canada)


• GÜNTHER Heisskanaltechnik GmbH (Germany)

KEY INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS:

• September, 2020: Inglass S.p.A. (HRSFLOW) introduced new Hyper-GF series available for HRSflow’s Ga and Aa nozzles in order to improve the performance of hot runner systems while processing over highly abrasive materials.


• July, 2020: Thermoplay, a Barnes Group Inc. company, unveiled its new thermal hot runner solution, which can directly inject from the side. The new open side gate nozzle is available for both radial and linear layouts.

REPORT COVERAGE

The research report provides an in-depth analysis of the market dynamics and competitive landscape. It also offers various key insights, including recent industry developments in the hot runners for transportation & logistics market, such as mergers & acquisitions, macro, and microeconomic factors, SWOT analysis, and company profiles.

Report Scope and Segmentation