JEC Composites Startup Booster: the 2022 winners have been announced

In a few years, JEC Composites Startup Booster has became a reference for entrepreuneurship in the composites industry worldwide.

16:9

Verbände, Institutionen, Messen

Dienstleistungen

Verbundwerkstoffe / Werkstoffverbunde

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Leichtbau

Start up

Wirtschaft

Unternehmen und Unternehmer

Faserverbundwerkstoffe

Andere Werkstoffe

Networking in the Composites Industry

You‘re spoiled for choice. This also applies when you’re seeking out a suitable recyclate. As a start-up, Plastship supports companies in this venture, aided by digitalization along the way.

Konstantin Humm (left) and Andreas Bastian (right) founded the start-up four years ago and now serve over 800 customers.

Recycling

Umweltmanagement

Ehrhardt, Melanie

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Kreislaufwirtschaft

„We Want to Simplify the Use  of Recyclates“

The pathways to plastics can be many – even metalworking in the case of AIM3D. That is what first got this start-up up and running. Fast forward to now and the young Rostock company can cover both bases.

Versatile: the 3D printer developed by this young company can process virtually all fusible materials.

Verfahren für die additive Fertigung

Anlagen Additive Fertigung / 3D-Druck, andere

Anlagen für die Additive Fertigung

3D-Drucker (für FDM, FFF, etc.)

Anlagen Additive Fertigung / 3D-Druck, Metall

Additive Fertigung

When We Break through  Material Boundaries

For the eighth time, the international Formnext Start-up Challenge has recognized young companies from the world of additive manufacturing for their innovative business ideas and technical developments.

The winners of this year‘s Formnext Start-up Challenge have been announced.

The Winners of the Start-up Challenge

New Plastic Heroes: The start-up ForPET worked with industry partners to develop a technology for the production of foamed rPET.

Sergey Nikitenko (in the photo) founded the start-up in 2021 with Mikhail Iakobachvili and Dmitrii Rastorguev. 

ForPET worked with industry partners to develop a technology for the production of foamed rPET.

New Plastic Heroes: ForPET

Polyethylenterephthalat

Thermoplaste

Verpackungstechnik

Recycling: Foaming instead  of Dreaming

Amazon is looking for early-stage start-ups with a focus on recycling: the second Amazon Sustainability Accelerator is starting, and European companies can still apply until March 17.

Amazon Sustainability Accelerator 2023: the deadline for applications is 17 March 2023 and successful applicants will be announced in the Spring.

Amazon Looks for Innovative Recycling-Start-ups

Recycling as a business model: the start-up HolyPoly wants to bring more high-quality products made from recycled plastic onto the market.

Johanna Bialek, co-foundeer of the start-up and head of human resources and organizational development , and Fridolin Pflüger, founding member.

“Recycling Is More than a  Trendy Topic“

New date for the industry event is June 22th to 25th, 2022.

Safety first: to ensure that guests from all over the world can meet at the Technology Days (the picture shows the 2019 event) as carefree as possible, Arburg has postponed the date

Spritzgießen

Spritzgießmaschinen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Arburg Technology Days 2022 Will Take Place in June

For the first time a readable digital watermark, imperceptible to the naked eye, has been incorporated into an injection-molded flip cap.

On the flip cap, the digital watermark is not visually perceptible, but can be read like a code by specialized high speed camera

Integration of Digital Watermarks in Complex Injection Molded Packaging Products

Spritzgießwerkzeuge

Werkzeuge für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Bildverarbeitung

Fertigungsautomation

Laserbearbeitungen

Oberflächentechnik

Barcode-Systeme

Identtechnik

Inspektion, Analyse und Sortierung von Rohmaterial

Qualitätssicherung

Qualitätssicherung Kunststoff

Key to Purity of Recycled Resins

Everyone is talking about digitalization and Industry 4.0. In practice, however, implementation is often difficult. The data-driven operation of an injection molding production is often still a dream. Only if the exact actual condition of the machines and peripheral equipment is known, work on optimizing the processes can be done. The Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences describes the challenges that have to be overcome and shows possible solutions based on a self-operated manufacturing cell.

Fully automated manufacturing cell for the production of a floorball at IWK’s technical laboratory in Rapperswil, Switzerland

Part 2 of the Series: Integrated Data Acquisition for the Injection Molding Production

Industrie 4.0 für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Industrie 4.0

On the Way to the Smart Injection Molding Factory

The article demonstrates the use of digital twins for molds in injection molding through the integration of track-and-trace technologies for data collection.

An RFID reader records whether a mold is ready for the setup process

How Track-and-Trace Technologies Can Support Mold Management

RFID

RFID Teileidentifikation

Digitaler Zwilling

Software

Simulation

The Digital Mold Twin

Arburg will be showing the hybrid high-performance Hidrive series on its stand no. 21B25 in Hall 2, with an Allrounder 520 H producing 32 pipette tips in around 6 s cycle time.

The hybrid Allrounder 520 H on show at Interplastica is equipped with a 32-cavity mold and produces pipette tips in a cycle time of around 6 s.

Spritzgießmaschinen, allgemein

High-Tech for Medical Technology

From 25 to 28 January, the OOO Engel team presents its booth in Moscow again. The injection molding machine manufacturer and system solution provider headquartered in Austria is making the huge potential of digital solutions tangible by producing technical parts live on a tie-bar-less victory injection molding machine.

Engel victory injection molding machines with tie-bar-less clamping units.

The Benefits of Tie-Bar-Less Technology

The product portfolio of Wittmann and Wittmann Battenfeld will in future be presented under the uniform Wittmann brand name. This reflects the company’s claim to be a provider of total solutions for injection molders.

Michael Wittmann, Managing Director and CEO of the Wittmann Group. The group operates eight production plants in five countries, and the additional sales companies at their 34 different locations are present in all major industrial markets around the world.

Unternehmen

kunststoffe.de

Wittmann Group Changes Its Brand Strategy

Enemac presents the power clamping nut ESB. With its integrated planetary gear it can be driven by a small nut outside the housing, easily and without much effort, so that the internal thread is a bit retracted, thus the counterpart is tightened.

The power clamping nut ESB is intended for consistently large work pieces or tools

Spanneinrichtungen

Montagetechnik

Systemperipherie

Pressen

Maschinen für die spanlose Fertigung

Spannmittel

Spanntechnik

Werkstückspanntechnik, spanend

Simple, Fast Clamping of Consistently Large Parts

“Mobile Injection Molding Needs Time to Mature”

What Anybrid envisions is using lightweight construction technologies to build injection molding technology compact and light enough to take off with the corresponding robotics or automation. The Dresden start-up knows how to convince: not only with words, but also with its grasp of technology.

Anybrid from Dresden makes light, mobile and flexible injection-molding machines. The start-up combines the disciplines of plastics technology and lightweight construction in a way it says has never been imagined before.

Michael Stegelmann is one of the managing directors at Anybrid: the Dresden start-up that makes light, mobile and flexible injection molding machines. Stegelmann and his three co-founders have broken new ground by combining the disciplines of plastics technology and lightweight construction in hitherto unforeseen ways. Stegelmann was the next guest in our ongoing New Plastic Heroes start-up series to talk about the company, its ups and downs and what the future of lightweight construction holds.

Michael Stegelmann: We have worked with the automotive industry to set up various processes in a number of publicly funded projects, which have seen us develop various structural components such as tailgates, seats or complete underbodies using thermoplastics, metals and/or composites. Many of these approaches involved us deploying injection molding alongside forming processes. The processes we refined to do so remain state-of-the-art and some have also made it to series production. However, if components are only to be functionalized locally with plastic, transferring existing solutions to sectors outside the automotive industry is not always easy.

Michael Stegelmann: Well among other factors, it‘s down to very high investments in plant and tool technology, the ROI of which only comes when you process in bulk. So we took this dilemma as the chance to develop an all-new approach. By doing so, we want to ensure the numerous advantages of injection molding technology can be leveraged to produce components via multi-material design, which other industries can also use. Scope to move an injection molding machine freely in space paves the way to implement flexible production and assembly lines.

Kunststoffe: At K 2022, you already showcased your second-generation mobile injection molding machines. What things have changed since your first trade show appearance in 2019?

Michael Stegelmann: Shortly after K 2019, we were awarded EXIST funding, which we used to extensively test our first pilot system and evaluate its usability in initial customer projects. What we also have to remember is that mobility exerts additional demands on mechanics, which are much simpler when classic injection molding machines are used. We were able to build on what we learned to improve the machine.

Michael Stegelmann: We made it an additional 10 % lighter. The position of the robot connection has also changed, which allowed us to optimize the system‘s center of gravity and extend its reach.

Kunststoffe: For which industries and components could the machine be useful?

Michael Stegelmann: In some projects, our plant technology will be used in the automotive industry. The key thing for us, though, is this: It is not the only use case. Inquiries have also come from construction and industrial sectors, the furniture industry or even the electronics industry, for a whole range of reasons. Companies from the classic profile extrusion sector are also included and very specific projects exist, setting out how our system is to be used in various scenarios.

Kunststoffe: What are the limits of your technology – for which applications is your technology not usable?

Michael Stegelmann: On the one hand, limits apply in terms of restrictions on shot volume and clamping force. On the other, our plant technology will not work if used in the same way as classic stationary injection molding plants. We see our system as an add-on module for other processes to locally overmold workpieces, profiles or components.

Kunststoffe: To date, what has been the greatest success for Anybrid?

Michael Stegelmann: As well as the various innovation awards that we have won over the past three years, our stand-out successes have been signing two cooperative agreements. The partners see how much potential our plant technology has and want to use it in various production scenarios. So on the one hand, we cooperate closely with Rehau Industries and on the other, with a South Korean electronics group.

Kunststoffe: Did you also experience setbacks?

Michael Stegelmann: Well, of course, we’ve also had setbacks. Under current circumstances, particularly, we soon see signs of interest, but the risk that taking further steps would entail is then avoided. This is often also due to the fact that a rethink is required in production, which involves effort from the outset and will only pay off later down the line. Fortunately, however, what we also now see is that many of those with whom we have spoken over the past three years are now approaching us with new and often very specific inquiries. And this underlines for us the fact that the idea of mobile injection molding just needs time to mature in what remains a rather conservative industry.

Kunststoffe: Which industries are spearheading present-day lightweight construction developments? Is it still aviation and carmaking?

Michael Stegelmann: It goes without saying that aviation and carmaking still underpin many classic lightweight construction topics today. However, applications in construction and industrial sectors are also growing strongly. Moreover, lightweight design has been present and applied in various plastics technology applications for many decades, without now necessarily being associated with lightweight design. As a general rule, foams offer the easiest and best solution: lightweight design by omission.

Kunststoffe: Where do you currently see the biggest challenges for lightweight construction?

Michael Stegelmann: As well as ensuring that lightweight technologies do not result in any additional costs, it is imperative to consider the required circularity of the components at an early stage during development. This is particularly applicable when several materials are combined. The already good separability of the materials must be further boosted significantly to allow efficient recycling.

Kunststoffe: In closing: Where do you see Anybrid or your technology in five years?

Michael Stegelmann: We firmly expect to have positioned our mobile injection molding technology in several series applications within the next five years. The goal for the next few years is also to boost awareness on the international market and win more customers there. We also hope to further refine the plant technology. We also see particularly great potential in coupling of several systems that are integrated in production processes in parallel.

ANYBRID GmbH  

https://www.anybrid.de

Ausgabenartikel

Founders from left to right: Michael Stegelmann, Michael Krahl, Tony Weber and Jan Luft

A mobile injection molding system for start-ups: However, the young company not only sells plant technology, but also develops products and processes related to mobile injection molding technology together with customers.

Anybrid - Start-up des Monats

Start-up Puts Injection Molding Machines on a Diet

<ul><li>Name: Anybrid GmbH</li><li> Founded: 12/2020 in Dresden, Germany</li><li>Total customers: 15</li><li>Number of employees: 4</li><li>Homepage: <a href="https://anybrid.de/en/">anybrid.de/en</a></li></ul>

Read the German version of the  article in our magazine <i>Kunststoffe</i> or at

<a href="https://www.kunststoffe.de/a/interview/das-mobile-spritzgiessen-braucht-zeit-zu-3279575" target="_blank">www.kunststoffe.de</a>