Injection Molding Automation:
From Concept to Flawless Volume Production in One Go
By Serge Jonnaert, Moldflow Corporation
There is no need to belabor the challenges facing today’s injection molding industry. In the last couple of years, injection molders have made sizable capital investments to improve quality and efficiency in an effort to counter competitive pressures as well as rising material and labor costs. Investments such as new injection molding machines, advanced automation and inspection devices, to automated assembly machinery and sophisticated materials handling equipment have enabled molding plants to significantly increase output with a lower operating cost basis. As a result, they now enjoy the highest historical productivity rates.
However, in spite of all these advances, the injection molding industry faces its biggest challenge yet. To further optimize efficiency, there is a need for an integrated approach that guarantees a flawless execution from the conceptual stage of part design, to its high volume production, to its ultimate delivery to the customer. Unfortunately, the injection molding manufacturing process is a patchwork of disparate systems with which it is difficult to intelligently exchange data, making the planning, setup and ramp-up of new production lines time consuming and plagued by inefficient trial-and-error and fine tuning methods.
From Design to Manufacturing Optimization
Moldflow needs no introduction in the world of part and mold design optimization. It virtually invented the space, and Moldflow’s design analysis products have become the world’s most widely used CAE solutions in the injection molding industry.
The CAE space has gradually evolved from basic problem solving tools in the 1980s to modeling and simulation for problem avoidance in the 1990s. The new frontier for CAE is a more comprehensive approach that also includes manufacturing optimization, an area where Moldflow remains on the forefront.
Moldflow Plastics Advisers® (MPA®) products are easy-to-use, 3D solids-based plastics flow simulation tools that allow part designers and mold makers to predict the manufacturability and quality of their designs during preliminary product development stages. MPA users benefit by avoiding potential downstream problems that can lead to production delays and cost overruns.
Moldflow Plastics Insight® (MPI®) products are a complete suite of advanced plastics process simulation tools for predicting and eliminating potential manufacturing problems and optimizing part design, mold design, material choice and processing conditions. MPI products simulate the broadest range of manufacturing processes and support all design geometry types associated with plastics molding processes.
Set Up, Optimize and Monitor
Once the part and mold designs are optimized and the effects of the molding processes have been taken into account, the logical next step is to deliver optimal processing parameters to the primary equipment and other process controls in the manufacturing cell.
Automating the setup process enables production to start more quickly and shortens the time required to determine and achieve the ideal process parameters such as cycle time, temperature and pressure settings. Used intelligently, design analysis simulation results can provide appropriate initial conditions from which to begin the manufacturing process setup and downstream optimization and control tasks. The more complex the part, the material or the mold, the narrower the processing window and the higher the need for continuous monitoring and optimization during production.
In a networked environment, monitoring and optimization can now be handled automatically from a single operator console in a central location, limiting operator interventions in the production cell to major equipment failures.
Optimal Temperature and Flow
Production capacity and yield are ultimately determined by the speed, reliability and quality by which the melt flows from the machine into the mold. This is where advanced hot runner controls come in, as they assure that materials are kept in an optimal molten state until injected into the part cavity. This final control element guarantees higher yields, reduced cycle times and better part quality. Moldflow now also offers the world’s most advanced hot runner control technology.
How Are We Doing Today?
Bringing production equipment into a networked environment does more than just extend the control and monitoring functionality. It provides access to real-time data that can be used for production monitoring, work order management, job scheduling, statistical quality control, production scheduling, preventive maintenance, production reporting and part traceability. The instant access to the metrics that define an operation’s performance give it the agility to quickly and confidently respond to changing market conditions and competitive pressures. Can you schedule additional jobs to maximize your capacity? How aggressively can you price your services? Can you provide detailed production quality data and assure part traceability to your customers? Moldflow Manufacturing SolutionsTM products provide you those capabilities.
The Knowledge Loop
To accomplish all of the above, a system needs to be totally integrated and balanced. It has to be a "knowledge loop" that starts with the in-depth profiles of production capabilities and material characteristics that are used to optimally design a part and mold and determine a practical processing window. From there, the information is used to control and monitor the optimal settings of the process equipment and the auxiliaries in the manufacturing cell. The knowledge loop is closed with the validated data serving as the source for future predictive modeling and design.
Implementing this knowledge loop requires a technology partner who understands the complex data interfaces needed to communicate with older as well as today’s state-of-the-art equipment. Turning proprietary signals from a multitude of sources into a wealth of meaningful and usable information
is invaluable.
The knowledge loop needs to be extendable to upstream and downstream processes. This can go from the basic handoff or exchange of intelligent data between process entities, to a superset of centralized control and monitoring functions that start with the supply management of raw materials, through automated assembly and packaging. The ultimate goal is to create a single continuum that is proactive in that it intelligently determines the optimal process steps to produce a product, and also reactive enough to predictably adapt to erroneous behavior, expand the body of process knowledge and document product genealogy and quality.
Solutions for the Entire Design-through-Manufacturing Process
To maximize capacity utilization and production efficiency without compromising quality, manufacturers need integrated manufacturing solutions that facilitate continuous process improvements and ultimately make them more competitive.
Moldflow’s “best-in-class” products allow manufacturers to optimize operations, drive down costs and increase profitability with end-to-end solutions that optimize the entire design-through-manufacturing process.
For more information about Moldflow Manufacturing Solutions, visit www.moldflow.com/products/MMS/ or contact your local Moldflow representative.
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