The “HiQ Melt Premium” assistance system is an indicator of melt quality and reduces the reject rate through interaction with the IM machine operator.

Software helps machine operators select the most resource-saving  settings.

16:9

Spritzgießen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Steuerungen (Hardware und Software)

Automatisierungstechnik

Digitale Transformation

Wirtschaft

Innovationen und neue Technologie

Industrie 4.0 für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Industrie 4.0

Spritzgießmaschinen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Mahlen

Resource-Saving  Assistent

Asset administration shells form the basis for interoperable production. In the InterOpera project, four submodels were developed for injection molding.

Asset administration shells attribute asset types (here: injection molding machines) with standardized properties and characterize the instances with specific values.

Big Data

Datenanalyse

The Interoperable  Injection Molding Production

Engel has used its new “e-connect” strategy to expand its existing customer portal into a scalable digital ecosystem.

Networked into the future with digital solutions from Engel.

Vernetzung / Cloudlösung für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

One Platform for All Injection Molders

Arburg has now packed numerous digital services into an app for smartphones and tablets. Among them: assistance in saving energy.

Via the customer portal, the individual apps – from the Arburg host computer system (ALS) to the ordering function – can also be operated using a smartphone.

Review of the Arburg Anniversary Days from March 8 to 11, 2023

Doriat, Clemens, Dr.

Hydraulik-Komponenten

Maschinenelemente

Energieeffizienz

Elektrische Antriebe für Spritzgießmaschinen

Antriebe

Elektrische Antriebe

Kreislaufwirtschaft

A Machine Park in the Pocket

Engel is expanding its e-connect customer portal into a production portal for injection molders. An important step towards this is the complete integration of the software house TIG.

sim link connects simulation to physical production – and is now being extended to a third simulation software provider, Moldex3D.

The Engel One Stop Shop for Digital Solutions

Part 2 of the series on the Plastics Innovation Center 4.0 (PIC 4.0) at RWTH Aachen describes the procedure by which industrial use cases of a Smart Factory are identified and converted into real testbeds within the PIC 4.0.

The PIC 4.0 extends the infrastructure of the Institute for Plastics Processing in Industry and Craft at RWTH Aachen University

PIC 4.0 Elaborates Holistic Solutions for Industrial Demands

Industrie 4.0 für die Qualitätssicherung

Use Cases of Digitized Plastics Processing

Maintaining competitiveness while producing in Germany requires not only cost-efficient production, but also high-quality products. Vorwerk Elektrowerke is accepting this challenge. In collaboration with the Institute of Product Engineering at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, the company is testing a 100 % inline quality monitoring system as well as a quality prediction using machine learning.

Customers who choose the Kobold VK 200 vacuum cleaner expect top quality. To ensure this, efforts for the introduction of Industry 4.0 measures are taken in the production plant in Wuppertal, Germany

Successfully Managing Digital Transformation with Automation and Artificial Intelligence

Künstliche Intelligenz für die Qualitätssicherung

Mehrkomponenten-Spritzgießen

Kameras, intelligente

Fertigungsautomation

Bildverarbeitung

Machine Learning / Künstliche Intelligenz für die spanende Fertigung

Industrie 4.0 für die spanende Fertigung

Inline- / Online-Messsysteme

Qualitätssicherung

Qualitätssicherung Kunststoff

Inline Quality Monitoring and  Data-Based Quality Prediction

Because it has not yet been possible to exploit the full potential of digitization in plastics processing, the Institute for Plastics Processing at RWTH Aachen University is building a new application-oriented research infrastructure along the lines of a Smart Factory. Kunststoffe is accompanying the building of the Plastics Innovation Center 4.0 with a series of publications. Part 1 describes the concept and the initial demands on the physical infrastructure.

Visionary overall picture of the expanded IKV in future, supplemented by the Plastics Innovation Center 4.0

The Plastics Innovation Center 4.0 Is under Construction at the Campus Melaten in Aachen, Germany

Smart Factory

Central Hub for Digitization  in Plastics Processing

Munich-based mechanical engineering group KraussMaffei is repositioning itself and uniting all divisions under a single brand. At a time of accelerated technological change, the company is increasing its efforts to develop new products for digital solutions and new business models – and that includes plastics recycling.

Everything remains different: Dr. Frank Stieler, CEO of KraussMaffei

KraussMaffei Consolidates Three Divisions and the Previous Group Brands under a Single Brand

Extrusion

Spritzgießmaschinen, allgemein

Nachhaltigkeit

Umweltmanagement

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Ressourcenmanagement

Produktion

Compoundieren

Moving with the Times

A consistent flow of data and information is essential for digital solutions and meaningful analytics. The introduction of potential solutions is therefore often associated with high costs for data preparation.

Exemplary information flow across several steps of the value creation process in injection molding(Work-Center-Layer)

Standardization Guarantees High Data Quality for Future Applications

IoT-Plattformen für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

To Get the Information Flow in a Row

M-Hub is the first mobile App that helps entrepreneurs to promote their business and find all players in the plastic industry with the tap of a finger.

M-Hub was launched at the K-show 2019. One year after, the app has reached more than 8000 professionals and 1500 companies from more than 80 countries.

Software

The Plastic Industry in Your Hand

The cluster of excellence “Internet of Production” at the RWTH Aachen University conducts research on structures to realize a “Google of Production”. The Plastics Innovation Center 4.0 serves as demonstration platform to present real-world solutions to the industry already today.

The Plastics Innovation Center 4.0 as part of  a network of research facilities at the Campus Melaten, Aachen, focused to production technology

IKV Offers an Application-Oriented Demonstration Platform for Excellent Research

The PIC 4.0 as Part of the Internet  of Production

Corona is also driving digitization in the used machinery trading. The global second-hand market for metal and plastics processing machinery is undergoing structural change.

The Gindumac Group focuses on global online trading with used machines.

Kunststoffverarbeitungsmaschinen

Gebrauchtmaschinenhandel

Dienstleistungen

Dienstleistungen in der Metallbearbeitung

Gebrauchtmaschinen

Sondermaschinen

Unternehmen

kunststoffe.de

Online Trading with Used Machines Booms in Corona Times

With the help of the coupling station, fast material changes become normal practice, material sources such as dryers, roller containers or external silos can be used by several consumers, and RFID monitoring ensures a faultless production process.

RFID antennas and tags on every coupling make sure that correct connections are established in every case between material feeding pipelines and processing machines

Kunststoffverarbeitung allgemein

Kunststoffverarbeitung

Materialhandling

Betriebstechnik für Kunststoffverarbeitung (Peripherie)

Material Distribution Monitoring

In an online survey, representatives of the plastics industry formulated their expectations toward the Plastics Innovation Center 4.0 (PIC 4.0).

Wordcloud generated from the answers to the open question concerning the most important use cases for PIC 4.0

Part 5 of the Series: Practical Demonstrators for the Plastics Innovation Center 4.0

Messdatenerfassung und -verarbeitung

Steuern, Regeln

Prozessoptimierung

Prozessmanagement

Machine Learning

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Focus on the User Benefit

From the Insulin Pen Cap to the Automotive Door Module

 At KraussMaffei’s booth, automotive door modules are produced from former caps of insulin pens. The system supplier is presenting not only the machine hardware necessary for this but also new digital solutions.

At KraussMaffei’s booth, automotive door modules are produced from former caps of insulin pens. The system supplier is presenting not only the machine hardware necessary for this but also new digital solutions with which high savings can be achieved in both the energy consumption and carbon footprint.

The global demand for disposable articles, particularly in the health sector, is huge. The products are often only used briefly and are not contaminated much. Ideal prerequisites therefore for using them afterwards as raw materials for parts with a longer lifetime. At KraussMaffei’s booth, automotive door modules are produced from former caps of insulin pens. The system supplier is presenting not only the machine hardware necessary for this but also new digital solutions with which high savings can be achieved in both the energy consumption and carbon footprint.

Tradeshow visitors can observe the entire sequence (Fig.): an all-electric injection molding machine PX 200–1400 produces 96 caps per shot for an insulin pen of medical grade virgin PP. The caps – when shredded – form the basis for the upcycling process through the ZE 28 BluePower twin-screw extruder. Here, various additives such as adhesion promoters and liquid pigments are added, mixed and homogenized. The recompound that is thus obtained passes to the next injection molding machine, a servohydraulic powerMolding 1300–11900, with a clamping force of 13,000 kN. This newly developed series is based on the tried-and-tested twin-platen technology, which, thanks to its highly standardized range of optional extras, has an outstanding track record as a cost-effective model especially for close-to-standard applications.

Besides the powerMolding, the counterpart of the tried-and-tested GX series, KraussMaffei is presenting another innovation in Europe, the precisionMolding. Analogously, it is the basic machine, with the reduced range of options of the all-electric PX series. Both have already been introduced in Asia and are especially suitable for standard applications. Advantage for customers: the basic machine permits short lead times.

Lower Carbon Footprint,  Lower Energy Costs

By its own account, KraussMaffei is the only manufacturer to offer complete hardware for the material loop – supplemented with digital products that make the circular economy much more efficient than before. Ultimately, the initial investment in a new injection molding machine only makes up about 10 to 20 % of the life cycle costs. The rest is accounted for by the actual operation. That means that reducing the outlays for energy, maintenance etc. not only benefits the environment but also improves the efficiency.

In the circular application, all the process data relevant to sustainability are gathered and presented, so that it is always clear how much CO2 could be saved by recycling compared to the use of virgin material. Together with Motan, for example, an application was developed, for example, which shows what energy consumption occurs per process step. It allows the processor to improve energy consumption in a targeted way. The digital product APCplus has been further developed and is now more suitable for recyclates. It reduces rejects through automatic correction under changing ambient conditions during the injection molding process. On start-up of the machine, the setpoint process is reached faster and rejects are thereby also significantly reduced.

The dataXplorer casts a glance into the process depth by collecting up to 500 machine signals in real time, every second millisecond, and thereby serves as a basis for measuring the carbon footprint. Deviations from predefined tolerance ranges can be immediately discovered in this way. In addition, there are some digital products developed with customers, for example processSupport and liveCare. One solution automatically identifies anomalies in the production process earlier than ever; the other continuously monitors and visualizes wear states.

A truly large exhibit – cost-saving processing of three different recyclates in the DCIM (direct compounding injection molding) process – is described in a detailed article from page 74.

In addition, KraussMaffei is introducing a new system for naming its products. Specifically, new machines will in future receive one of four suffixes: ‘pioneer’ for line and system solutions, ‘purity’ for products in the field of circular economy, ‘power’ for hydraulic injection molding machines and extruders and finally ‘precision’ for electric injection molding machines, as well as automation and downstream products, such as mixing and pipe heads.

<b>K 2022: Hall 15, booth C15/C24-D24</b>

KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH 

https://www.kraussmaffei.com

Digital solutions are an essential component of the material loop from the insulin pen cap to the car door module.