Space-saving machine concepts for demanding production environments are booming. A real-life example of a slit micro-membrane for pharmaceutical glass vials shows how intelligent machine functions make an important contribution to supporting machine operators and continuous documentation of the production process.

Injection molding and slitting of an LSR membrane for a glass-vial closure for pharmaceutical products make high demands on precision

KraussMaffei Delivers a Customized Solution for LSR Processing

Automatisierungszellen

Automatisierungstechnik

Spritzgießen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Mikrospritzgießen

Medizintechnik

Silikonkautschuk

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Kautschuk / Elastomere

Medizinprodukte

Transparency in Production

ARBURG is one of the world‘s leading manufacturers of plastic processing machines. The product portfolio encompasses ALLROUNDER injection moulding machines with clamping forces of between 125 and 6,500 kN, the freeformer for industrial additive manufacturing, plus robotic systems, customer and industry-specific turnkey solutions, and further peripheral equipment.

ARBURG GmbH + Co KG  

https://www.arburg.com

Abkantmaschinen, -pressen, -bänke

Blechbearbeitungsmaschinen

Maschinen für die spanlose Fertigung

Additive Fertigung

Anlagen für die Additive Fertigung

Antriebselemente

Lineartechnik

Maschinenelemente

Ceramic-Injection-Moulding, CIM

Condition Monitoring für die Qualitätssicherung

Industrie 4.0 für die Qualitätssicherung

Industrie 4.0

Energieeffizienz

Handling, Handhabungstechnik

Kennzahlen

Qualitätsmanagement

Kennzahlen, Q-Leitstand, Q-Monitor

Qualitätssicherung

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Kühlelemente, aktive

Kühlkörper

Elektromechanik

Software

Management-Informationssysteme

Mehrfarben-Spritzgießmaschinen

Spritzgießmaschinen

Mikrobauteile

Montage

Montagetechnik

Mischer

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

NE-Metalle

Metall Werkstoffe

PUR-Schäummaschinen

Schäumen / Reaktive Verarbeitung

Partikelschäumen

Produktionssystem

Rapid Manufacturing

Rapid Prototyping

Reinraumsysteme / -technik

Reinraumtechnik

Betriebsausrüstung / Betriebsmittel

Reporting-Tools

Rückverfolgbarkeit, Traceability

Schnecken und Plastifiziersysteme

Schnecken und Zylinder

Simulation

Spanneinrichtungen

Systemperipherie

Spritzgieß-Zubehör und Einzelteile

Stetigförderer

Fördertechnik

Logistik

Trockner

Vorbeugende Instandhaltung für die spanende Fertigung

Industrie 4.0 für die spanende Fertigung

Tool and mold makers are detail oriented and innovative. Prof. Thomas Seul and Fabian Diehr met with some industry players to explore different paths they have taken through the thicket of this industry-jungle they have to deal with.

Tools for wet razors operate  in very narrow tolerance windows and their requirements are comparable to those in the medical and pharmaceutical industries 

A Journey through the Landscape of the Tool and Mold Making Industry

Mehrkomponenten-Spritzgießen

Innovationsmanagement

Produktentwicklung (F+E)

Spritzgießwerkzeuge

Werkzeuge für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Werkzeug- und Formenbau

Dienstleistungen

Werkzeug-, Formen- und Modellbau

Projektmanagement

Wirtschaft

Produktmanagement

Trend Setting or Following?

After a year’s forced break of Fakuma, Wittmann Battenfeld is announcing the new servohydraulic SmartPlus machine as the highlight of this year’s trade show. It is claimed to be characterized by high economic and energy efficiency and repeat accuracy.

The new SmartPlus machine is equipped with the HiQ Flow software and the CMS Light condition monitoring system

Schaumspritzgießen

Spritzgießmaschinen, allgemein

Messe Fakuma

kunststoffe-international.com

Spritzprägen

Elastomer-Spritzgießen

Industrie 4.0 für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Injection Molding Innovations In-House, Live and in Color

Anybrid GmbH has succeeded in transforming the usually rigid injection molding machine into a mobile machine that can move freely in the room and can be used to overmold profiles, etc. The company is thus serving a steadily growing market for the production of hybrid components. For the first time, the advantages of plastics processing are combined directly with the flexibility of robotics. In close cooperation with Rehau, extensive studies on an extrusion line were recently successfully completed.

The Robin injection molding system can be swiveled freely on the arm of a six-axis robot to the particular application points.

16:9

Automated Lightweight Module for Functionalization and Hybridization of Components

Hybridtechnik

Rohr- und Profilextrusion

Extrusion

Industrieroboter

Injection Molding on the Fly

Once again, the K 2019 in Düsseldorf, Germany, lived up to its claim to be the leading trade show for plastics technology. At least in the field of injection molding, there were exciting global innovations to see – if you looked closely.

Fig. 1. Smart Operation – the machine is operated with only four buttons (© KraussMaffei)

Injection Molding Trends at K 2019

Smart Factory

Fließpressen

Handling, Handhabungstechnik für die spanende Fertigung

Spritzgieß-Sonderverfahren

Spritzgießsimulation

Linearroboter für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Montage-Spritzgießen

Knickarmroboter

Co-Injektion (Barriere-/Sandwich-Spritzgießen)

Hybrid-Spritzgießen (Metall / Kunststoff)

Ressourcenmanagement

Produktion

Technical Excellence thanks  to Digital Assistance

Ewikon will be presenting the second generation of its smart Control system. The previous version has been upgraded with new performance-enhancing features and it can now be fully integrated into networked injection molding production via OPC UA.

The second generation of the smart Control system can be fully integrated into networked injection molding production via OPC UA

Heißkanalsysteme

Komponenten für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Smart Process Monitoring

In the production of plastic parts for the medical and pharmaceutical industry, the requirements for cleanroom environments are becoming increasingly stringent. In this area, not only the demand for all-electric injection molding machines is increasing. There is also an increasing use of electric drives for the implementation of mold movements, which meet the high requirements for cleanliness and reliability.

Fig. 1. Solutions for electrical mold movements, for example a 72+72 cavity stack mold for the closing cone production

Electrical Drives in Injection Molds

Elektrische Antriebe

Antriebe

Mess- / Regel- und Prozessleittechnik

Prozessautomation

Mess-, Steuer- und Regelgeräte

Qualitätssicherung Kunststoff

Mold Technology

Pipette tips feature a challenging wall thickness/length ratio, an inner geometry that is key for analysis results, and a tip opening just a few tenths of a millimeter wide. They have been in extremely high demand during the coronavirus pandemic, which is why the mold construction and hot runner specialist Männer has developed a mold with an innovative cluster concept.

At the Männer test center in Bahlingen, Germany: an injection mold for manufacturing pipette tips, shown here in operation. Automation of the system is currently being set up

Pipette Tips: Männer Presents a Mold with Replaceable Clusters

Maintenance During (Nearly)  Uninterrupted Production

Kebo has developed a new needle valve system called MultiValve to specifically address the needs of medical customers.

Kebo will be showing its MultiValve valve gate system in its maximum configuration of eight cavities in Friedrichshafen

Miniaturization is a Megatrend

Pharmaceutical crimp caps generally consist of a thin aluminum sheet and a plastic component, and are used to seal medical vials, for example for vaccines. Through a combined deep-drawing and backmolding process with previous inline laser treatment of the thin aluminum sheet, the process can be significantly shortened. The media-proof joining together of the two materials is carried out through a mechanically interlocking connection.

A crimp cap for injection vials is manufactured in a two-step process.

Combined Deep-Drawing and Backmolding Process with Mechanically Interlocking Joint

Aluminiumlegierungen

Laserbearbeitungen

Oberflächentechnik

Tiefziehen

Verfahren für die spanlose Fertigung

Simulation Stanzen / Umformen

Laserstrukturieren

Process Chain for the Production of Hybrid Medical Products

The consumables required for In-vitro diagnostics are manufactured in a production process that is subject to high requirements in terms of precision and quality, but also the complex cleanroom manufacturing environment. This has implications for the entire plant technology – especially toolmaking.

64-cavity tool for pipette tips. The hot runner system is balanced across all cavities

Strategic Approach through Classification according to Product Groups

Mold Platforms for IVD Consumables

Before Covid 19, some 65 % of pipette tips were used without filter, but meanwhile, a majority of pipette tips now has filters. What does this mean for manufacturers?

Filters on the pipette tips protect the pipettes and samples from unintentional and unnoticed contamination – especially with automated laboratory tests

Montageeinrichtungen

Filtergewebe

Halbzeuge und Zwischenprodukte

Kunststoff-Halbzeuge

Filter Assembly System for Pipette Tips

Pipette tips are small and relatively simple components that are now in high demand. One might think  producing large quantities of these products is a simple task. It is not. The requested high quality can only be reached by using complex automation. To meet these challenging requirements, MA micro automation has developed a modular solution: Centauri IVD.

The Centauri IVD production system can be adapted to meet specific pipette tip manufacturing requirements.

Automated High Volume Consumables Production

From Tool to Blister

For production of a “lab on a chip", two project partners designed a multistage 2-component injection molding and assembly process. The manufacturing cell consists of two micro injection molding machines connected together via a cleanroom tunnel. The molded parts are conveyed and brought together by means of Scara robots integrated in the cell. 

Micro-Injection Molding: Two Machines and a Cleanroom Tunnel 

High-Tech Production of Life-Saving Disks for Fast Analysis of Dangerous Germs

RKT has been manufacturing plastic products for medical and industrial technology for 45 years. Discs for the rapid analysis of multi-resistant hospital germs are a lighthouse project within the sophisticated product portfolio.

As a one-stop system service provider, RKT Rodinger Kunststoff-Technik GmbH based in Roding, Germany, a subsidiary of Alfmeier Präzision SE, supports its customers with expert information and activities along the entire value chain. Everything from development and design, mold construction, injection molding and finishing up to quality control, assembly and contamination-free packaging – all comes from a single source. To this end, the company not only uses Allrounder injection molding technology, but also makes intensive use of Arburg’s know-how in application and service technology.

Diagnostic discs, manufactured by RKT for start-up company Spindiag from Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, are a current and outstanding example from the field of medical technology. With this product, it will soon be possible to rapidly determine, within a maximum of 30 min, by smear analysis whether a patient is infected with multi-resistant hospital germs. Whereas complex laboratory analysis is required at present, the disc provides an immediate result. This will allow for quick decisions regarding the admission of patients, which can be vital for survival.

The requirements for components and quality assurance are very demanding as a result. The Spindiag discs have recesses and contours to hold the respective laboratory chemicals. Such complex geometries are a specialty of RKT. “These products feature microfluidic channels in the micron range,” emphasizes Dr. Dieter Pfeifle, Business Development Manager at RKT. “We process COP and COC plastics, which are relevant to medical technology, as inert materials with high light transmission values in an inert gas atmosphere to prevent oxidation.”

During the new product’s initial phase, the discs are produced on an electric Allrounder 470 A with a clamping force of 1000 kN, which is docked to a large ISO 8-equivalent cleanroom. The machine is equipped with a laminar-flow box, a laminar airflow system and a single hot runner master mold from RKT with inserts. The molded parts are removed by a six-axis robot and transported into a smaller cleanroom with air lock system and access control, which is located within the ISO 8-equivalent cleanroom. It meets the requirements of cleanroom class 7 according to ISO 14644–1 and also has to be free of contamination and without any foreign DNA entry (free of analytes). In this cleanroom environment, the parts are fed into a Bagmatic tubular bag machine, which double packs the parts free of contamination (bag-in-bag).

For further processing, they are then transported to another ISO-7 cleanroom, which is also located in the ISO-8 equivalent large room. Here, a worker removes the disks from the bags and feeds them to a production line. A robot now moves the components through individual stations, including a micropipetting unit, a drying oven and a thermobonding station, where chemicals are introduced by pipette, dried and atmospherically sealed with a plastic film. A lid is then applied to protect the film, the unit is sealed in an aluminum bag and packed outside the cleanroom in secondary packaging ready for shipping.

According to Andreas Persch, Head of Sales and Projects, the sophisticated work process itself has proven to be the most economical for the customers. “We generally build our entire production lines according to customer requirements,” Persch continues, adding that RKT has created a dedicated Process Development department for this purpose.

RKT has collaborated with Arburg since it was first founded in 1974. All machines of the manufacturer from Lossburg, Germany, are equipped with linear and six-axis robotic systems and can remove the molded parts according to cavity. Some of the machines are integrated in a clean area (ISO-8 equivalent) or operate into an ISO-7 cleanroom. As Andreas Persch says: “Such close connections ensure first-class service and competent application technology advice, enabling us to jointly realize new ideas.”

RKT Kunststoff-Technik GmbH  

https://www.rkt.de

Ausgabenartikel

 A six-axis robot picks the molded parts out of the mold under an inert gas atmosphere and conveys them into the cleanroom for further processing and packaging

Here, a disk is filled with a spherical freeze-dried reagent (lyophilisate)

A cover is clipped onto the disk (the circular sample inlet at the front) to protect the film

Name - Hauptartikel

<b>Martin Manka</b> is Senior Sales Manager Medical at Arburg GmbH + Co KG, Lossburg, Germany.