INJECTION MOLDING
Plastic Components Inc., a maker of injection molded parts, offers a “Comprehensive Guide to Design for Manufacturing (DFM) in Plastic Injection Molding,” which guides molders, OEMs and customers through the process of designing a plastic part or product, taking into account materials selection, the capabilities of the molder’s equipment, design technology and manufacturing process systems, to control costs and increase customer satisfaction. https://tinyurl.com/yajjrq9f
MOLD MAKING
Deviations between molding simulations and actual process conditions can lead to material waste and force molders to undertake costly molding trials. CoreTech System’s Moldex3D can help molders overcome this problem, by allowing them to more accurately model molding behavior than they could through traditional computer-aided engineering strategies. For example, the technology can better analyze how the melt is affected by barrel compression at the screw head during the packing process, as discussed in “Barrel Compression on Application of Injection Molding Filling Analysis.” https://tinyurl.com/ybe2czu9
AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT
Machine vision combines a camera with the processing power of a computer to examine a manufactured product. Machine-vision systems can include a library of software tools that perform different types of inspections. “Introduction to Machine Vision Inspection” by Cognex discusses how to improve production performance with inspection applications. Cognex produces vision systems, software, sensors and industrial bar-code readers. https://connect.cognex.com/intro_machine_vision_inspection
RECYCLING/SUSTAINABILITY
AMI, which provides information, market intelligence and events for the global plastics industry, discusses the move toward a circular economy and the benefits of plastics in targeting carbon emissions and climate change in its latest market analysis. Its “Summary of the global plastics industry” looks at current demand and forecasts to 2023. https://go.ami.international/19_mi_whitepaper_global_plastics_industry/
IMFLUX discusses the advantages of its Auto Viscosity Adjust technology, which makes processing of sustainable and recycled resins easier and automatically manages the inherent variations in the material. It monitors fill time and corrects deviations with changes to the melt pressure set point, assisted by iMFLUX’s constant pressure molding method. www.imflux.com/portfolio-posts/2234/
AUTOMATION
A3, the Association for Advancing Automation, has released “Robots Aren't Taking Jobs: Uncovering the Real Crisis in Manufacturing,” which proposes that rather than worrying about being displaced by robot installations, workers should take advantage of the opportunity to learn new skills and advance their careers as new jobs are created and companies become safer and more competitive. https://tinyurl.com/y8nq6kgq
In its e-book “Get Started with Cobots: 10 Easy Steps,” Universal Robots discusses primary considerations when considering collaborative automation. Parameters such as cycle time, parts and end effectors, work environment and scalability, are ranked for their simplicity to automate with cobots. https://info.universal-robots.com/robot-report-newsletter-e-book
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
Diversified Plastics Inc. (DPI), a custom plastic injection molder and additive manufacturer, details the design possibilities of Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis 3-D printing technology in “Design and Manufacture the Impossible.” Some of the design elements discussed include articulating structures, sharp corners, complex lattices, consolidation of multiple components, new surface textures and other features that are difficult to achieve via traditional processes. www.divplast.com/possible
Fused-deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the most popular, cost-effective 3-D printing methods for large-scale manufacturers, but bottlenecks can arise during support removal. PostProcess describes its solution, which combines software-driven automation with chemistry, in “Disrupting Traditional FDM Support Removal to Enable Scalable Additive Manufacturing.” https://tinyurl.com/w6kl4n4
