Motan Colortronic
Motan Colortronic Ltd distributes and services plastics processing peripherals, including conveying, drying, dosing, metal separation, recycling, temperature control and chilling equipment, across the UK and Ireland as part of the German Motan Group.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1974
- HeadquartersChesterfield, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Motan Colortronic does
Motan Colortronic Ltd is a UK-incorporated private limited company headquartered in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, distributing and servicing material handling peripherals for plastics processors across the United Kingdom and Ireland. Founded in 1974 by Erwin Miller as Colortronic LTD and merged with Motan UK in 2010 after the German parent Motan Group acquired Colortronic GmbH, the company operates as the UK and Ireland arm of the Motan Group, serving injection moulding, blow moulding, extrusion, compounding and recycling customers with a portfolio spanning material conveying, drying, dosing and blending, metal separation, temperature control, and process chilling equipment.
The product architecture combines proprietary Motan and Colortronic technologies, including ETA Plus adaptive dryer airflow control, Moisture Minder real-time moisture measurement, Gravicolor loss-in-weight dosing, and the MetroNet central control platform with OPC-UA interfaces for plant-wide MES integration. Beyond its own brands, Motan Colortronic holds exclusive UK and Ireland distribution rights for partner lines including Sesotec metal detection and sorting, Herbold Meckesheim recycling machinery, Regloplas temperature control, Reglochill and Industrial Frigo chilling systems, and Ettlinger and Maag melt filtration and downstream equipment, augmented by a 24/7 online spare-parts portal operational since 2005 and a Tech Centre with a 360-metre conveying test line.
Revenue is generated through direct regional field sales to enterprise plastics manufacturers, supplemented by Ireland coverage through Invotek Polymer Solutions, a digital spare-parts e-commerce channel, and recurring service and maintenance contracts delivered by regionally-based technicians. The business serves industrial accounts such as Wavin UK, Synthotec, John Guest, Plastek UK, Utz Ltd, Fibre Extrusion Technology, CRC Evans, Denroy Group, Boddingtons Plastics and Indigo Environmental, with approximately 30 staff as of 2024 and no external funding or public listing.
Motan Colortronic firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Motan Colortronic
- Legal name
- Motan Colortronic Ltd
- Website
- https://motan-colortronic.co.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1974
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Motan Colortronic Ltd distributes and services plastics processing peripherals, including conveying, drying, dosing, metal separation, recycling, temperature control and chilling equipment, across the UK and Ireland as part of the German Motan Group.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Motan Colortronic is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chesterfield
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Motan Colortronic business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Equipment Sales: Sale of peripheral equipment and systems for plastics processing including material conveying, drying, dosing, temperature control, metal separation, recycling, and chilling equipment
- Spare Parts: Online part finder system allowing customers to search and order spare parts 24/7; comprehensive stock of parts maintained at Chesterfield facility
- Service and Maintenance: Technical support, scheduled maintenance, and field service for complete product range delivered by regionally-based service technicians
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Motan Colortronic product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Motan Colortronic designs, supplies, and services peripheral equipment and systems for plastics processing manufacturers across the UK and Ireland. Its portfolio covers material conveying, dosing and blending, drying, metal separation, recycling (granulators/shredders), temperature control, and process chilling. The company distributes its own Motan and Colortronic brands alongside exclusive partner brands such as Regloplas, Reglochill, Herbold Meckesheim, Sesotec, and Ettlinger.
Product overview
Motan Colortronic offers a comprehensive modular portfolio of material handling equipment and systems for the plastics processing industry. The product range includes material conveying systems (single units and central systems), dosing and blending solutions (volumetric and gravimetric), drying systems (small and central dryers, crystallizers), recycling equipment (granulators, shredders, washing systems), metal separation technology (magnetic and detector systems), temperature control units (water up to 230°C and oil up to 350°C), and process chillers. The company distributes its own Motan and Colortronic brands alongside exclusive partnerships with Regloplas (temperature control), Reglochill/Industrial Frigo (chillers), Herbold Meckesheim (recycling), Sesotec (metal detection), and represents Ettlinger melt filters. Products serve injection moulding, blow moulding, extrusion, compounding, and recycling applications. The portfolio is unified through the MetroNet control system enabling central monitoring and data integration with customer MES systems.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Material Conveying Systems Single and central conveying systems for transporting plastic granules and materials throughout the manufacturing process, including single conveying units, central systems, and conveying accessories.
- Dosing & Blending Systems Volumetric, loss-in-weight, and batch gravimetric dosing and blending equipment for accurate material proportioning, including digital-disc, gravicolor, and minicolor product lines.
- Drying Systems Small dryers, central dryers, and crystallizers for removing moisture from plastic materials, including Luxor dryers and EMA smart dryers.
- Recycling Equipment Granulators, shredders, pulverisors, plastcompactors/agglomeration equipment, washing/drying systems, and ancillary equipment for plastic recycling under the Herbold Meckesheim brand.
- Metal Separators Metal detection and separation equipment including grid magnets, inline magnets, on-machine combinations, freefall units, and conveyor belt units under the Sesotec brand.
- Temperature Control Units Water and oil temperature control units up to 350°C including Smart series, standard units up to 200°C, pressurised water units, and oil units, distributed under the Regloplas brand.
- Reglochill Chillers Water chillers with air or water condensation, free coolers (DCW/DCG), and energy saving systems (IES) for process cooling.
- Part Finder Online Spare Parts System Internet-based spare parts ordering platform allowing customers to search and order common spare parts 24/7.
- Used Equipment Refurbished and used peripheral plastics processing equipment offered for resale.
- Ettlinger Continuous Melt Filters ERF and ECO continuous melt filters for processing heavily contaminated plastic materials including PE, PP, HDPE, PS, and PET with high contaminant fractions for recycling and sheet extrusion.
- SpectroPlus Gravimetric Dosing & Mixing Unit Synchronous loss in weight gravimetric dosing and mixing unit supporting 2-8 dosing modules for granules, regrind, flake and powders for food and starve fed applications.
- EMA Smart Dryer Fully adaptive smart dryer with mobile single hopper unit available in 60, 100 and 150L capacities, featuring ETA Plus technology with fully automatic air flow control, touch screen control, and heat insulated drying hopper with large cleaning opening.
Quantifiable outcome
- Energy optimization through LED lighting conversion and solar module installation generating approximately 50% of required electrical energy
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Motan Colortronic
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Motan Colortronic technology and API
TechnologyAPI detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration4 records
Feature5 records
Motan Colortronic partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered major and core.
- Invotek Polymer SolutionsmajorDublin-based agent for Ireland territory providing solutions for Motan Colortronic, Regloplas, Reglochill, Sesotec and Herbold Meckesheim products. Led by Andrew Hitchcox with 23 years plastics industry experience.
- SesoteccoreDistribution partnership expanded to include Sesotec sorting machines for recycling industry customers in Great Britain. Motan Colortronic already distributed Sesotec metal detectors; partnership extended to include full sorting equipment range.
- Ettlinger Kunststoffmaschinen GmbHmajorSales and service agreement for UK & Ireland covering Ettlinger ERF and ECO continuous melt filters since 2015. Products filter polymer feedstock with high contamination levels for recycling and sheet extrusion applications.
- Sesotec (Metal Detection)coreExclusive sales and service agent for Sesotec brand range of metal detectors, metal separators and magnet systems for UK and Ireland since November 2014. Expanded from product inspection focus for food applications to plastics and non-food side.
- Fibre Extrusion Technology (FET)coreLong-standing partnership as system supplier and developer for peripheral equipment. Motan Colortronic supplies dry air dryers, dosing systems, conveyor systems and components. Collaboration since 2012 on ground-breaking biomedical materials processing using resorbable polymers for sutures and medical devices.
- Herbold Meckesheim GmbHcoreExclusive representation of Herbold recycling machinery specialist for plastic recycling industry in UK & Ireland. Products include granulators, shredders, pulverisers and complete recycling systems.
- Regloplas AGcoreExclusive representation of Regloplas temperature control systems for water and oil applications in UK & Ireland. Products include water units up to 230°C and oil units up to 350°C.
- ReglochillcoreJoint venture with Industrial Frigo for stand-alone and central chilling and cooling plants. Products include standalone chillers 4-1440 kW, IES energy saving systems, and propane environmentally friendly chillers (R290).
- Maag GroupmajorRepresentation of Maag Group downstream equipment including Automatik, Gala, Ettlinger, Reduction Engineering Scheer for gear pumps, pelletizing, and filtration systems in UK & Ireland.
- Industrial FrigomajorPartnership through Reglochill joint venture for industrial chilling and cooling solutions including stand-alone chillers, energy saving integrated systems, and special designs.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves12 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Motan Colortronic competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Wittmann Group: Wittmann is the largest global supplier of plastics auxiliaries — drying, conveying, dosing, granulators, robots, and temperature control — and competes head-on with Motan Colortronic's core product portfolio across every primary use case (injection moulding, blow moulding, extrusion).
- Piovan Group: Piovan is a direct competitor headquartered in Italy with overlapping offerings in drying, conveying, dosing, storage, and chillers for plastics processors, including the same target segments (injection, extrusion, blow moulding, recycling).
- Moretto S.p.A. Moretto is a leading European competitor specialising in dehumidifying dryers, gravimetric dosing, granulators, and centralised conveying — directly comparable equipment categories to Motan Colortronic's Luxor, Gravicolor, Minicolor and central conveying lines.
- Conair Group: Conair is a US-based plastics auxiliary equipment manufacturer (drying, conveying, dosing, blending, recycling) serving the same injection moulding, blow moulding, and extrusion customer base as Motan Colortronic.
- Maguire Products: Maguire is a long-established US competitor best known for gravimetric blenders and material handling systems used by injection moulders and extruders — overlapping directly with Motan Colortronic's Gravicolor / SpectroPlus dosing and blending lines.
- AEC (Applied Equipment Company): AEC supplies plastics-process drying, conveying, granulating and mould-temperature control equipment serving the same processors; its product scope closely mirrors Motan Colortronic's drying, conveying and temperature control units.
- Movacolor: Movacolor (Netherlands) specialises in gravimetric loss-in-weight and gain-in-weight dosing equipment for plastics compounding — a direct head-to-head with Motan Colortronic's gravimetric dosing line (Gravicolor, Minicolor, SpectroPlus).
- Labotek: Labotek (Denmark) is a European competitor focused on plastics dryers, crystallizers and central conveying — directly comparable to Motan Colortronic's Luxor / EMA smart dryers and central conveying systems.
- Pelletron: Pelletron (Germany) specialises in pneumatic conveying, dedusting, and drying for plastics and other bulk-materials industries — directly comparable to Motan Colortronic's material conveying and drying product lines.
Broad incumbents
- Coperion: Coperion is a broad incumbent in bulk material handling, feeding (K-Tron), compounding and extrusion systems for plastics and beyond; overlaps with Motan Colortronic on dosing/feeding and downstream extrusion equipment.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Motan Colortronic social profiles
Digital presenceMotan Colortronic compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Motan Colortronic financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Motan Colortronic leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
Motan Colortronic funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Motan Colortronic M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Motan Colortronic
What does Motan Colortronic do?
Motan Colortronic designs, supplies, and services peripheral equipment and systems for plastics processing manufacturers across the UK and Ireland. Its portfolio covers material conveying, dosing and blending, drying, metal separation, recycling (granulators/shredders), temperature control, and process chilling. The company distributes its own Motan and Colortronic brands alongside exclusive partner brands such as Regloplas, Reglochill, Herbold Meckesheim, Sesotec, and Ettlinger.
Is Motan Colortronic a public or private company?
Motan Colortronic is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Motan Colortronic founded?
Motan Colortronic was founded in 1974. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Motan Colortronic based?
Motan Colortronic is headquartered in Chesterfield, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Motan Colortronic make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Equipment Sales are the primary driver. The others are spare Parts and service and Maintenance.
Who are Motan Colortronic's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Wittmann Group, Piovan Group, Moretto S.p.A., Conair Group, Maguire Products, AEC (Applied Equipment Company), Movacolor, Labotek and Pelletron. Coperion is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Motan Colortronic have an API?
No public API is recorded for Motan Colortronic.