At an open house last month in Niigata City, Japan, Niigata Machine Techno Co. Ltd. previewed its new two-platen hybrid injection molding machine. More than 350 people filed into the company’s recently expanded technical center to kick the tires on the Niigata JN1200H, which the company is calling a “true hybrid machine.”

The 1200-ton machine features a servo-hydraulic powered clamping mechanism paired with an all-electric injection unit. Unlike other machines that claim to be hybrid when, in fact, they are fully hydraulic and are simply powered by a servo-driven variable-volume pump, the hybrid design of the Niigata machine offers molders the best of both worlds, said Peter Gardner, Vice President Sales and General Manager of Niigata’s distribution arm in the United States. The clamping unit is run by an efficient servo-hydraulic system, while an all-electric, servo-controlled system is used in the injection unit, providing precise 0.01-mm-per-second speed control and repeatability, said Gardner.

The machine also boasts a compact footprint: It is about the same length as Niigata’s 720 US ton all-electric machine.