Sonly introduces ‘Supersonic’ machines in SA
FEW will be surprised that another new injection moulding machine from China has arrived in Africa, and possibly even fewer will doubt that the Sonly machines will perform well. Such has been the success achieved by new arrivals that sales of Chinese machines have increased steadily.
After first arriving in early 2022, Sonly set up its own office in Jet Park in Johannesburg, which doubles up as its head office for sub-Saharan Africa. The entry to Africa came about following interaction between a South African delegation and their Chinese counterparts at a BRICS summit in India in 2021. Midi Khorombi, a finance graduate who was part of the SA delegation, met Sonly management personnel who expressed interest in becoming involved in Africa. Sonly took the decision to set up in SA shortly after that.
Founded in 1998, Sonly operates from 60,000m² premises in Ningbo, just south of Shanghai on China’s east coast in an area characterised by a high level of industrialisation, numerous islands that lie just offshore and also for the fact that it now known worldwide as ‘the city of the injection moulding machine’. A large portion of China’s injection moulding marques originate hear, benefitting directly from the high level of research, skills and installed machining capacity.
Sonly builds machines from 50 to 3400 tons, has CE and ISO 9001 accreditation and has 27 registered patents to date. It has capacity for 5000 machines a year, which seems to be the chief criteria that Chinese injection moulding machines compare themselves by.
An advantage for Sonly and other Ningbo manufacturers who entered the market in the 1990s and even more recently was that they were able to take advantage of the shift to electronic control and servo motor technology advances pioneered by the European brands which the Chinese companies fully harnassed, to the point where they leapfrogged ahead. They have been highly competitive in the price-to-performance area and have improved their skills at dealing with Westeners. In the case of Sonly, one of the founder’s sons is British educated, which has helped make it far easier for the business to compete in mainly English-speaking markets, such as those in Africa.
Training for Africa
A group of 12 technicians from Sonly Africa is undergoing training in Ningbo, with some having already completed the modules. The experience may have been life-changing for some of the young Africans.
Khorombi, who is now sales manager for Sonly Sub-Saharan Africa, says some successful sales have been registered. A number of its ‘Supersonic’ range machines have also been trialled, including to companies who Sonly co-exhibited with at the Propak Cape event in Cape Town last October. Sonly is also offering a 12-month interest-free option as its pursues its rollout into Sub-Saharan Africa. A number of machines have also been sold into the Middle East region.
There are other Sonly machines in South Africa, with some of the machines having arrived ‘privately’ before the company’s official setup in SA, the result of keen-eyed convertors having purchased machines prior to 2020, usually after trips to Chinaplast.
Sonly adheres to the product concept ‘high-efficiency energy saving, precision with stability’ which, according to Khorombi, enables its machines keep electricity bills down and to run larger moulds than what was standard before. It had 170 and 330 ton clamp force machines on show at the Jet Park depot in May.
At this stage the Sonly range includes servo-motor, high-speed, two-platen, PET preform and fully electric series machines. The company also builds moulds for customers.
