Cells: The building blocks of manufacturing:When it comes to cells, moldmakers have the first word

The natural assumption is that the task of cell design falls to the molder. But the role of the moldmaker should not be overlooked. The mold, after all, is the heart of the matter.

Talking about molding cells would be moot without the mold. In fact, moldmakers are quick to tell you that the mold is the “heart and soul” of the system. The mold is the determining factor in the type of manufacturing cell that is required, including robotics and automation.

Nearly three decades ago, Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. had a dominant position in the workcell market, says Bruce Catoen, VP, automated systems for the Bolton, ON molding machine and moldmaking company. Husky actually left the moldmaking business a number of years ago, and then seven years ago made a strategic decision to return to it, driven by the fact that the mold is central to the molding-based manufacturing cell.

“The workcell starts with the mold and you build out from there,” says Catoen. “Part design and mold design are fundamental to the workcell. That’s why the moldmaker has such a strong position in the value chain.”

Tim Erwin, manufacturing manager for Pitney Bowes, agrees. ”Equipment you can buy from catalogs, with specifications,” he says. “Molds are unique. Once you have an idea of how you’re going to mold a particular component, you build a system around that.”

Erwin says he works with the moldmaker to develop a manufacturing cell around the mold, specifying the type of molding machine, which company will supply the robots, and so forth. All the machinery and equipment is then shipped to the moldmaker’s site, where the system is constructed and the mold installed. All the troubleshooting is done at the moldmaker’s facility, with Pitney Bowes people in attendance to be trained, disassemble the system, install it, and it get it up and running.

How Moldmakers Do It

Tech Mold Inc. (Tempe, AZ) has a separate 2500-sq-ft facility specifically for systems integration. In addition to molding machine integration, robotics and conveyor systems are integrated and all testing is done. Bill Kushmaul, president of Tech Mold, notes that offering customers a facility in which they can work in private and without the normal interruptions of a production floor setting is a huge value-add.

It also helps speed up the qualifying process. Kushmaul says that on one big turnkey project, the customer was able to qualify the mold and get the entire manufacturing cell, including robotics and conveyors, operational and ready to ship within two weeks.

“We did in two weeks what would take them three months in their facility,” says Kushmaul. “They were able to do all kinds of experiments . . . improve the cycle by improving the cooling—things they could have never done on the production floor,” because they couldn’t get sample press time.

Mold and machine coordination is the wave of the future, Kushmaul notes. It provides more value to the customer than strictly moldmaking services. However, these programs typically require early involvement of all players: moldmaker, manifold supplier, machinery supplier, and auxiliary equipment supplier—a team that consists of all parties critical to the success of the program. It’s a team effort, with the mold manufacturer as the coach.

Typically, a customer will send two to three people to qualify an integrated manufacturing cell at Tech Mold: a tooling engineer, a quality engineer, and a processing technician. To accommodate these personnel, Tech Mold also offers working offices with Internet connections. This allows them to work at their own pace, and do a full CPK and DOEs. They also have the keys to the door of the facility so they can work as long as they need or want to. “This is very important to these people,” contends Kushmaul. “They’ll spend the first week learning the machinery and the process, and the second week putting the mold in the press and making sure everything relative to performance of the unit is fully functional.”

StackTeck (Brampton, ON) also builds specialty systems for customers, particularly for molders who need a specialized cell for market differentiation, to serve a market niche, or for an application such as inmold labeling. Providing a turnkey system often requires that StackTeck become involved at the onset of a program.

“The mold is the heart of the system,” says Jordan Robertson, general sales manager for StackTeck, “so that’s the starting point. Once you have the component’s design, you’ll know what type of mold you’ll need, and then what type of molding machine and automation will be required.”

For specific market niches, StackTeck—which includes Fairway Molds Inc., Tradesco, and Unique—can be involved very early in the game as customers look to the company to design plastic components, and in many cases, ask StackTeck to provide the fully integrated manufacturing system as well.

“Maximum involvement would be a project where we do it all from part design through systems integration of a turnkey system,” explains Robertson. “In those instances, we’ll bring the entire cell into our facility, put our mold in it, integrate it with the customer’s machine, and demonstrate the capability of the system before it reaches their plant. Most generally, these are high-cavitation, specialized systems for unique market applications.”

The company completed five manufacturing cell integrations last year for multimaterial applications. StackTeck also has built a number of systems for inmold labeling where it provided the mold and automation, and integrated that with the customer’s new injection molding machine.

“More and more, customers are asking us to provide a system that is ready to go when it hits the production floor, without being restricted to one system component manufacturer,” says Robertson. In 2001, the company built a new Technical Center with three bays dedicated to turnkey systems to provide complete integration of machine, mold, product handling, temperature controller, and other auxiliary equipment.

Husky says that demand for manufacturing cells is increasing, with the company’s automated systems business becoming an “unbelievably strong segment” over the past year, not just in thin-wall applications, but also automotive, medical, and cosmetics applications, Catoen says.

“It’s an area where machinery makers have long recognized an opportunity, and now moldmakers are correctly recognizing that same opportunity to strengthen their businesses through part design and systems integration solutions.”