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.

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

Spritzgießen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Mikrospritzgießen

Mehrkomponenten-Spritzgießen

Innovationsmanagement

Produktentwicklung (F+E)

Spritzgießwerkzeuge

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Werkzeuge für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Werkzeug- und Formenbau

Dienstleistungen

Werkzeug-, Formen- und Modellbau

Projektmanagement

Wirtschaft

Qualitätssicherung

Handling, Handhabungstechnik

Automatisierungstechnik

Reinraumsysteme / -technik

Produktmanagement

Trend Setting or Following?

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

Kennzahlen

Qualitätsmanagement

Kennzahlen, Q-Leitstand, Q-Monitor

Kühlelemente, aktive

Kühlkörper

Elektromechanik

Management-Informationssysteme

Software

Medizintechnik

Mehrfarben-Spritzgießmaschinen

Spritzgießmaschinen

Mikrobauteile

Montage

Montagetechnik

Mischer

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

NE-Metalle

Metall Werkstoffe

Partikelschäumen

Schäumen / Reaktive Verarbeitung

Produktionssystem

PUR-Schäummaschinen

Rapid Manufacturing

Rapid Prototyping

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

Paint bucket or A-pillar finisher? In our thoughts and attribution of value, packaging items and high-tech components often represent opposites. Yet the two can complement one another – when you look at used packaging as a valuable raw material. At the fair, KraussMaffei will be showing the concept for a closed material cycle and is making plastics processing sustainable through this.

At the K, KraussMaffei Will Be Showing the Cycle from Product to Upcycling  to a New Product

Messe K-Kunststoffmesse

kunststoffe-international.com

Smart Factory

Steuern, Regeln

Folientechnik (IMD, IML, FIM, u.a.)

Digitale Transformation

Innovationen und neue Technologie

Laserbeschriftung

Oberflächentechnik

Laserbearbeitungen

Nachhaltigkeit

Umweltmanagement

Zerkleinerungsmaschinen

Greifer für die Kunststofftechnik

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Compoundieren

Today Packaging,  Tomorrow Raw Material

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.

Injection Molding Trends at K 2019

Schaumspritzgießen

Spritzgießmaschinen, allgemein

Fließpressen

Handling, Handhabungstechnik für die spanende Fertigung

Spritzgieß-Sonderverfahren

Spritzgießsimulation

Elastomer-Spritzgießen

Linearroboter für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Industrieroboter

Industrie 4.0 für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Montage-Spritzgießen

Knickarmroboter

Co-Injektion (Barriere-/Sandwich-Spritzgießen)

Hybrid-Spritzgießen (Metall / Kunststoff)

Ressourcenmanagement

Produktion

Technical Excellence thanks  to Digital Assistance

The diverse nature of industries and their requirements is something that suppliers of automation solutions also have to take into account. ''Adapted automation'' is the magic word, because widely ranging batch sizes, an increasing number of product variants and short product lifecycles typify many markets today. Plans for attractive, innovative universal solutions are hidden away in many drawers. Now is the time to pull these plans out and make them a reality. 

Automatisierungskomponenten

Handhabungsroboter

Industry in a State of Flux: Batch Size Is Everything 

Compared with 2010, the year of the last K fair, sales of robot systems doubled. By the end of 2013 the French supplier of robots and automation systems for plastics injection molding expects to sell more than 1,500 units. 

Sepro Robotique: Automation with Growth Spurt 

Beck Automation invented a new system to label plastics parts that is pending patent approval. Its special twist is the option of using a reduced opening stroke on the injection molding machine. For this purpose, the parts are rearranged in the mold after demolding. The process was introduced to the public at the U.S. plastics trade show NPE at the end of March, reducing the cycle times and costs of the production process, and stepping up output quantities for the packaging industry.  

Sophisticated Solution from Beck Automation Reduces Opening Stroke for IML Applications 

Rearrangement in the Mold 

At present, two automation trends are in evidence among plastics processing companies: On the one hand, the complexity of systems is increasing, while on the other, customers are seeking flexible solutions owing to ever faster product changes, increasing version diversity and, consequently, ever smaller unit volumes per order, down to one-off parts. This means, for example, that high-volume products can be individualized as one-off parts in a flexibly automated, digitally integrated production system by combining injection molding, generative production and "Industry 4.0" technologies. 

Automated Production Makes It Possible to Increase Part Quality, Process Reliability and the Productivity and the Flexibility of the Production Processes 

Steuerungen (Hardware und Software)

Mensch-Maschine-Interface

Greifer

Optische Mess- und Prüftechnik

Digital Integration – Flexibly Automated Plastics Processing 

Hörl Kunststofftechnik sees its core business in the production of small and micro parts made from technical plastics for the automotive and electronics industry. In operating and expanding its fully automated injection molding production, the supplier works closely together with Arburg. The machine manufacturer supplies turnkey systems that are precisely matched to manufacturing requirements. 

Automation in Injection Molding: More Control and Flexibility in Production 

Error-Free Coupling 

The vision for the smart factory is that the various components of the production cells will be permanently self-optimizing – distributed intelligence is a prominent feature of "Industry 4.0". For injection molding operations, this means that the focus is widening from just the molding machines to the entire production cell, including the automation. A new generation of linear robots is now capable of reacting to external influences in real time. 

New Software from Engel Compensates for External Influences in Injection  Molding Handling 

Beschleunigungssensoren

Linear Robots with Brains 

The French robot manufacturer, Sepro, sees the future of the industry in networked and flexible systems. At the K 2016 the company that has so far been successful even without any notable revenues from Asia will be presenting the largest robot in the product range to date. 

Sepro Sets New Sales Records and Gears itself for Further Growth 

Allez les Bleus 

Anyone looking around Fakuma could discover automation solutions to suit any budget and applications of any complexity. The forerunners of Industry 4.0 were also to be seen. 

Fakuma 2017 Offered a Wide Range of Solutions for Flexible Automated Production 

Inserttechnik

From Versatile to Highly Efficient 

With the new R9 robot controller, Wittmann demonstrates how the use of the latest hardware and software technologies can increase the efficiency and operational safety. For example, the functionality of a digital robotic twin that is now available as standard enables virtual validation of the processes to be performed by the robot at any time – without any danger to the processing machine or the real handling system. 

Wittmann Increases User Benefit with Digital Robot Twins 

Bedienterminals

HMI, Bedienelemente, Displays

Collision-Free and Quickly Equipped 

Leoni AG of Nuremberg, Germany, is a well-known worldwide supplier of wires, optical fibers, cables, and cable systems. A subsidiary of the group of companies, Leoni Bordnetz-Systeme GmbH, produces four different housings for automobile fuse boxes on an Arburg flexible injection molding system. The challenge here is to reliably process up to forty elements per cycle.  

Leoni Produces Four Housing Versions with One Flexible Turnkey System 

Hybridtechnik

KFZ-Zulieferer

Reliable Connections 

Picking up punched parts and bushings, inserting 15 filigree metal parts into a cavity, removing molded parts from the cavity and stripping away the sprue: this complex range of tasks is accomplished by four Stäubli robots in a highly automated manufacturing cell that produces four housings for oil level sensors every 36 seconds. 

Scara Robots from Stäubli Producing Oil Level Sensors 

Punching, Molding, Assembling  in a Single Cell 

New Kinematics for Increased Efficiency and Availability

The pic A Is the First Pneumatic Sprue Picker to Operate with a Swivel Arm

Besides custom-made automation solutions, there is also increasing global demand for standardized robots.  In many automation projects, they help to achieve a combination of high performance and high cost-efficiency. With the new pic A pneumatic sprue picker, the market now has a flexible, compact solution for separating sprues, and easy removal of small injection-molded parts.

Besides custom-made automation solutions, there is also increasing global demand for standardized robots. In many automation projects, they help to achieve a combination of high performance and high cost-efficiency. With the new pic A pneumatic sprue picker, the market now has a flexible, compact solution for separating sprues, and easy removal of small injection-molded parts.

At its premiere at K 2019, the pic A robot broke two records at once. Engel Austria GmbH, Schwertberg, Austria, declared that its goal with the new development is to place the most durable and compact sprue picker on the market. With regard to compactness, the first feedback has already been received from the market. Trodat, an international manufacturer of sophisticated stamp products based in Wels, Austria, has a great deal of experience with handling equipment from Engel. The injection-molding machines in its factory are equipped with type ER-USP sprue pickers. Last fall, it purchased its first sprue picker of the new pic A type (Fig. 1).

“The very compact construction with the innovative kinematics gives us a clear advantage,” reports Thomas Dobritzhofer, Head of Maintenance and Facility at Trodat Produktions GmbH in Wels. “We can fold in the robot arm completely and therefore no longer need to swivel the sprue picker out of the way for mold exchange. That significantly speeds up the mold set up.” Trodat is now successively replacing its former sprue pickers with the new pic A generation.

Fast and simpler set-up processes contribute to increasing the availability of the injection molding machines – a factor that is essential to its efficiency and competitiveness. When the swivel  arm is in the park position, the pic A frees up the entire mold mounting space. Conventional sprue pickers with a fixed X-axis would have to be dismounted or displaced to achieve this (Fig. 2).

In the pneumatic sprue picker segment, the pic A is the first robot to work with a swivel  arm. It is only with this innovative kinematics that all interference contours can be eliminated. “At first, the swivel  arm was not intended for use with this robot type at all,” says Gerald Huber, who was responsible for construction of the new sprue picker at Engel’s robot factory in Dietach, Austria. The developers approached the goal via different design concepts (Title figure).

For example, a linear kinematics, which would be able to move out of the way behind the fixed platen was evaluated. This concept was rejected since many applications need this space for peripheral systems or additional injection units.

The inspiration for the swivel  arm was finally provided by e-pic type robots. This servoelectric sprue picker from Engel is also highly compact thanks to the swivel-arm kinematics.

As with the servoelectric models, the swivel  arm of the pneumatic robot is responsible for movement in the X-direction, and thereby replaces the fixed X-axis (Fig. 3). Though looking unusual, it proves very easy to operate, since the triangular kinematics converts the vertical drive movement into a horizontal, linear demolding movement. The tool setters and plant operators therefore do not need to change the way they work.

Since the fixed X-axis is eliminated, the pic A is also particularly space saving in continuous operation. In confined molds, too, the swivel  movement is very reliable and precise. The demolding stroke is continuously variable up to a maximum stroke of 400 mm, which sprue pickers with conventional kinematics cannot manage.

Another new feature is that the Y-axis module can be adjusted with just a few manipulations. The rotation range of the A-axis can be flexibly adapted between 0 and 90° to suit the particular requirements (Fig. 4).

The pic A is fitted with a very sturdy mechanical system to achieve a long useful lifetime. The demolding stroke is particularly torsion-resistant, and the impact is additionally damped by adjustable sliding rails.

The maximum manipulation weight at the end of the Y-axis is 1 kg. To rotate and eject relatively large sprues, a B-axis can be optionally placed between the Y-arm and sprue gripper. Overall – depending on the end-of-arm tooling – both sprues and small injection molded parts weighing up to 0.5 kg can be manipulated.

Standardized Operating Logic across the Entire Cell

When used on an Engel injection-molding machine, the control system of the pic A, like the control systems on all other Engel robots, is integrated into the CC300 control system of the injection-molding machine. The greatest benefit for the user lies in the fact that the machine and sprue picker can be centrally and uniformly operated from the machine display. The standardized operating logics reduces the required training for the new robot generation, thereby further increasing the overall efficiency.

In this integrated solution, the sprue picker is supplied with power via the injection molding machine. It can be very easily commissioned by plug & play, since, in this solution, the mechanical connection in this solution is also from a single supplier. The sprue shaft  is compactly integrated into the injection-molding machine and is part of the CE safety certification (Fig. 5). Since the ER-USP predecessor model and the pic A use the same discharge chute and the same interface, existing injection molding cells can be very easily refitted with the new model. The sprue picker is compatible with all Engel injection-molding machines from the control generation CC200.

As a pneumatic sprue picker, the pic A fulfils the strict EN ISO 10218 robot standard with performance level d/category 3 and is already comprehensively designed for two-channel switch off. The demolding stroke can be easily and reliably adjusted with only one hand. For this purpose, the pressure is automatically reduced during set-up mode. Set-up mode is activated as soon as the safety gate of the injection-molding machine or the door of the safety guard is opened.

From cutting off and separation of sprues via product removal and deposition, through to a highly integrated, interlinked manufacturing process, Engel developed individual automation concepts for a wide variety of injection molding applications. The basis for this was a comprehensive portfolio of robots and a high level of special automation expertise. This is essential for developing solutions that perfectly meet quality, efficiency and cost-effectiveness requirements without providing additional functions that are not used.

Trodat GmbH  

https://www.trodat.net

Engel Austria GmbH Automation 

https://www.engelglobal.com

Ausgabenartikel

Fig. 5. The discharge  chute for deposition of the sprues is very compactly integrated into the injection molding machines

The development process extends from the predecessor model ER-USP (left) via multiple concept studies to the swivel-arm design (right) of the current pic A

Fig. 1. The swivel  arm replaces the fixed X-axis.

Fig. 2. In the park position, the swivel  arm is completely folded in. In this way, the pic A does not need to be demounted for setting up the injection molding machine

Fig. 3. The triangular kinematics converts the vertical drive movement into a horizontal linear demolding movement

Fig. 4. To eject the sprues, the axis turns to the  side through 90°

Name - Hauptartikel_Engel

DI Dr. Gerhard Dimmler is Senior Vice President Research and Development Products at Engel Austria GmbH in Schwertberg, Austria; <a href="mailto:gerhard.dimmler@engel.at">gerhard.dimmler@engel.at</a>

DI Robert Dutzler works in the development of robot mechanical systems at Engel in Dietach, Austria, <a href="mailto:robert.dutzler@engel.at">robert.dutzler@engel.at</a>

DI Wolfgang Höglinger is Head of Development Robots at Engel in Dietach; <a href="mailto:wolfgang.hoeglinger@engel.at">wolfgang.hoeglinger@engel.at</a>