Athena – SIPA relationship ends

A three-year-old partnership between Athena Automation Ltd., of Vaughan, Ont., and Italy-based SIPA S.p.A. has now expired.

The two companies had partnered in December 2012 to launch new PET preform injection molding machines. Under the terms of the deal, SIPA managed the sales, service, and integration of all Athena PET preform machines on an exclusive worldwide basis, with Athena’s support.

Athena will now support SIPA in shipping and servicing the remaining “Athena for SIPA” machine inventory. Going forward, Athena’s next-generation PET preform molding machines will be sold and serviced directly by Athena, alongside its non-PET machines.

300-ton PET preform molding machine.

Athena currently builds 150, 300, and 450 metric ton injection molding machines. A new 155,000-square-foot plant for just-in-time manufacturing of machines only is in the early start-up phase. The company’s existing 40,000-square-foot building will remain as head office and will include sales and customer services.

“As far as molds are concerned, we’re not forming an alliance with a specific mold maker – we will let customers choose the mold maker they want to use with the post-mold cooling and quick mold-change technologies from Athena,” said Robert Schad, president of Athena. “We expect that our PET machines will have a substantially lower cost of ownership than comparable machines.”

Athena was founded by Schad in 2008. Previously, Schad was the founder of Husky Injection Molding Systems in Bolton, Ont.