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

Spritzgießen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Schaumspritzgießen

Smart Factory

Energieeffizienz

Mikrospritzgießen

Mehrkomponenten-Spritzgießen

Spritzgießmaschinen, allgemein

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Spritzgießmaschinen

Spritzgießwerkzeuge

Werkzeuge für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Fließpressen

Handling, Handhabungstechnik für die spanende Fertigung

Automatisierungstechnik

Handling, Handhabungstechnik

Spritzgieß-Sonderverfahren

Spritzgießsimulation

Software

Simulation

Elastomer-Spritzgießen

Linearroboter für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Industrieroboter

Montagetechnik

Industrie 4.0 für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Industrie 4.0

Montage-Spritzgießen

Knickarmroboter

Co-Injektion (Barriere-/Sandwich-Spritzgießen)

Hybrid-Spritzgießen (Metall / Kunststoff)

Ressourcenmanagement

Produktion

Technical Excellence thanks  to Digital Assistance

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.

Successfully Managing Digital Transformation with Automation and Artificial Intelligence

Industrie 4.0 für die Qualitätssicherung

Künstliche Intelligenz für die Qualitätssicherung

Digitale Transformation

Wirtschaft

Innovationen und neue Technologie

Kameras, intelligente

Fertigungsautomation

Bildverarbeitung

Machine Learning / Künstliche Intelligenz für die spanende Fertigung

Industrie 4.0 für die spanende Fertigung

Datenanalyse

Inline- / Online-Messsysteme

Qualitätssicherung

Qualitätssicherung Kunststoff

Inline Quality Monitoring and  Data-Based Quality Prediction

Making a racket is part of the trade. In the past, tradesmen would do this at markets by swinging wooden rattles to attract attention. Today, instead, it is the industry which is trying to make its developments heard and accepted, for example at trade fairs and in the media. What has injection molding technology had to offer recently, aside from Industry 4.0? The answer is process developments that in the main expand the range of applications for plastic parts, mechanical assistance systems that enable consistently high part quality to be achieved more reliably, and the huge field of temperature control. 

New Ways to Attain Special Part Properties Are Advancing the Art of Injection Molding 

Steuern, Regeln

Verbundwerkstoffe / Werkstoffverbunde

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

Temperiertechnik

Making a Racket for Plastics  

The Circular Economy is not only the theme topic at the K 2019. It is also the “green” thread running through the fair exhibit by Engel, the provider of injection molding machines and integrated system solutions. Industry 4.0 is turning out to be a driving force for recycling. This is a most timely insight, since the branch is in for several economically cool years.

Engel Supports Strong Involvement by the Plastics Industry in a Circular Economy

Doriat, Clemens, Dr.

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Organobleche (gewebeverstärkte Thermoplast-Halbzeuge)

Halbzeuge und Zwischenprodukte

Kunststoff-Halbzeuge

A Second Life for Plastics

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

Laserbeschriftung

Oberflächentechnik

Laserbearbeitungen

Rückverfolgbarkeit, Traceability

Qualitätsmanagement

Nachhaltigkeit

Umweltmanagement

Zerkleinerungsmaschinen

Greifer für die Kunststofftechnik

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Compoundieren

Today Packaging,  Tomorrow Raw Material

The announcements in the field of injection molding give the impression that the developments of recent years are continuing. These include the increasing digitalization of injection molding production, as well as highly integrated production cells that combine very different competencies. The spotlight shines not only on the machinery, but rather on optimum system solutions for integrating molds and individually configured peripheries in the digital and the real world. 

Fakuma 2018: Injection Molding Networked and Integrated 

Steuerungen (Hardware und Software)

ERP-Systeme

Treibmittel

Spritzprägen

Reinraumsysteme / -technik

The Communicative Machine 

Lightweight construction, small batches, and progressive integration of electronic functions: general industrial trends are spilling over into the injection molding industry. Recent years have seen the development of remarkable solutions for meeting all kinds of requirements. Machine manufacturers have not been idle though: precision-regulated processes form the basis for many applications, and now it seems that the self-optimizing injection molding machine is no longer a fantasy. 

Visible and Invisible Innovations Continue to Confer Benefits on the Industry.  And on Mankind, too? 

Additive Fertigung

Metallpulver-Spritzgießen

Laserstrukturieren

Nobel Prize for Injection Molding 

In contrast to recent years, when particular key themes often dominated the fair exhibits of the leading injection molding machine builders, this year’s Fakuma will present more combinations of many different competences in complex production cells. Thus, Industry 4.0 not only takes slowly concrete shape, but is put into context with peripherals and controls in the development of new series. 

Re-Inventing Injection Molding Holistically  

Servomotoren

Instandhaltung, Wartung in der spanenden Fertigung

Polyurethan

Gasinjektionstechnik

Machines as the Heart of Production 

The new Reverse Cube developed by Foboha manufactures various components or multi-component parts from varying materials in one step and assembles individual parts into finished products independently from the cycle time using an integrated handling robot. The automated process improves quality, accelerates cycle times by up to 40 % compared to separate injection molding and assembly processes, and thus enables substantial productivity gains at lower costs.

Manufacturing and Installing Multi-Component Parts on a Two-Part Cube Mold

Montage

Werkzeugtemperatursensoren

Messtechnik

Sensoren / Messwertaufnehmer

Heißkanalsysteme

Komponenten für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Reverse Rotation

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.

Messe Fakuma

Injection Molding Innovations In-House, Live and in Color

Industry 4.0, lightweight construction, and combined technology – that is how one could summarize the current trends and challenges that have been the subject of countless injection molding developments during the past years. In their advance releases for the K exhibition, exhibitors clearly indicate that they are continuing along these lines. 

Injection Molding between Industry 4.0, Lightweight Construction, and Combined Technologies 

Hybridtechnik

Trip to a Known Destination 

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.

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

Extrusion

Moving with the Times

Flexibilization of production, lightweight design, functional surfaces, increasing product customization, consistently low reject rates etc. ¿ the OEM wish list is becoming longer and longer. While the OEMs are the main drivers in the injection molding segment, their mounting demands are challenging Tier 1 suppliers, mold makers and systems suppliers alike. For an interview, we met with specialists from GKTool and HRSflow, for whom the search for new solutions is daily routine. The topic is integration ¿ of ideas, processes and system partners. 

Christian Götze (GKTool) and Moreno Carvani (HRSflow) about Cost-Efficient Production through Integrated Mold Technology 

Normalien und Heißkanaltechnik

"With System Integration,  Fewer Errors Occur" 

In addition to excellent mechanical characteristics and suitability for recycling, the key feature of hybrid lightweight structures made of fiber-reinforced thermoplastics is that automated, large series production is possible. New mold and process technologies were successfully developed within the scope of the ReLei research project, enabling the production of complex shaped sandwich elements in an efficient combined process.