Manufacturing is all about reducing complexity. After all, if you can remove a step from the process, wouldn’t that save time and (of course) money? The big question is, (also, of course)”how”? Enter “in-mold labeling,” which is the process of applying labels to plastic-injection molded products like containers or bottles during the manufacturing process. In-mold labeling,…
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Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, cars were made out of three materials: metal, metal and more metal. OK, that’s something of a hyperbole but not much — automobiles of the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s were renowned for their lavish use of sheet metal — “acres and acres” of it, as…
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They are the perfect employee: fast, productive and salary-free. And they never need to take a break (unless they break!) Of course, we’re talking robots. And, while they aren’t new to plastic injection molding, they’re certainly getting more and more ink. For good reason. But first, a little robotic history… Cartesian or linear robots, sometimes…
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It’s simple, really: the primary purpose of feed rate control in regard to plastic injection molding is to achieve consistently accurate proportions of recipe components (resin and required additives) prior to pelletization (in compounding) or end-product manufacturing. Enter feeders: feeders produce a precise and controllable discharge rate for the material they are designed to work…
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It had to happen sooner or later. We’re talking about fiber optics vs. thermocouples: which sensor is better at monitoring melt-temperature during the injection molding process? For years, the all-important melt-temperature monitoring process was strictly a thermocouple thing. But leave it to a Chicagoland vendor (Okay, Futaba of Japan … but they’ve been in Schaumburg…
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Twenty years is a long time in the plastic injection molding industry. Even thought the internet age had already dawned in the ’90s, a shop floor manager working in that era would most likely have been still twisting knobs and staring at analog dials. Operators still consulted printed instructions to set up equipment by hand. Pneumatically driven…
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Plastic as art? You’d get a lot of guffaws from the general public, which is more familiar with artistic materials such as oil paint and metal sculpture, even glass. But plastic? Puh-leeze! But the answer is “yes,” plastic can be the raw material for art, and we can prove it, as more and more designers…
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Even if 3D printing eventually usurps plastic injection molding — and that’s a BIG if — prototypes will continue to play an indispensable role in the production of plastic parts. Why? Simply put, prototypes are crucial to several steps which precede the actual production of parts. These include communications, engineering studies, market studies (to evaluate…
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Cooling time: is there any plastic injection molding company that wouldn’t like to reduce it, and thus reduce cycle time? After all, a typical production cycle for a plastic part is 30 seconds to a minute, but cooling takes more than half of that cycle time. Time is money, so lowering cooling time directly impacts the bottom…
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Andra Rush, founder and CEO of Detroit Manufacturing Systems, was a guest of Michelle Obama’s in the First Lady’s box at last month’s State of the Union Address. President Obama, noting Rush in the gallery, asked Congress to do more to “speed up growth and create more jobs” by encouraging programs that emphasize training and…
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