IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY

We run a 48 injection molding from 150 - 2.000tons. We've tried all of the obove suggestions and we found that set up time reduction is the key for an efficient production. We equipped all 48 machines with LENZKES clamps (lenzkesusa.com) and found that they had paid for themselves within a year! Excellent product.

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Dave

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To get good quality mould maintenance and repair location is the key.

The moulder must be located within a few km’s of the mould maker so that face to face communication is easy to get.

When the mould maker can visit a moulder and see for himself the issue then he has a better understanding of how to fix it. He understands the problem before the mould arrives at his shop. He can work out a plan before it arrives. This usually makes it easier and quicker to repair.

The moulder can also visit the mould maker if any other issues arise during repair – which usually do.

Face to face communication beats telephone, email or fax any day.

Paul Kuklych
www.skeng.com.au

2. Mold repair and maintenance to ensure full cavitation on all molds, and enable mold to maintain quoted cycle time.

I would agree with the above, but how would you go about this? For most molding facilities I see this would involve adding a used machine or maybe hiring another person scheduling pm's. I can tell you this does nothing. Molding facilities should be doing research in the area of how to keep tools running at full cavitation and productivity.Molds in bad shape are drain on resources. You need to be researching new technology that comes with full training and enables your company to handle anything other than new build and major ec's in house quickly and efficiently. Learning to do this in house is very beneficial as I can tell you that when you send molds out for this work, it is low priority for any good Mold Shop right now, if they will take it at all. How do you really know what is being done to the tool? you don't unless you are doing it yourself. The best moldmakers are way too busy with new builds to spend time going through old tools to make sure they run properly. They will do it to humor good customers or maintain relationships for slow times like a necessary evil .Unless all of your tools are running at full cavitation with no problems, this is the most overlooked area for improvement.

paul

Excellent!

If I were a boss of a moulding facility I would improve productivity and profitability by addressing the issue in 3 stages.

I would spend one month on the first stage, 2 months on the second stage and 6 months on the third stage.

I would also set a target to become at least 10% more productive by the end of this period of time.

The 3 stages would be:

Stage 1
Those things that can be done immediately.

Stage 2
Those things that can be done in a short period of time and at low cost.

Stage 3
Those things that can be done in the medium to long term and might require substantial investment.

Stage 1.
Those things that can be done immediately.

a) Reduce cycle time. Pick a machine and reduce the cycle time by 5%. Let it stabilize for 30 minutes and if quality is ok reduce it by another 5%. Keep reducing the cycle time until quality suffers. Do this on all machines.

b) Try a different grade of plastic material that you have in stock. Some grades are easier to eject from the mould allowing cycle time reduction.

c) Match the mould to the machine. In other words make sure the shot size is between 20% and 80% of the maximum shot size of the injection unit. Also make sure the mould size is not too small for the platens or too heavy for the machine.

Stage 2.

Those things that can be done in a short period of time and at low cost.

a) Reduce machine energy consumption by experimenting with machine settings. For example just by reducing plasticizing time from 5.0 to 2.5 seconds an energy reduction of 3.4% was achieved. This worked out to be a saving of $1,200 a year for that particular machine moulding that part. I did this test on a 260T Sumitomo machine running a 15 sec cycle.

b) Clean out the water channels in the mould. Hard deposits slowly “grow” inside the channels. I have seen decreases of 10% to 25% by drilling out the deposits inside the channels which usually takes only a matter of hours.

c) Mould Venting. Check that vents are as deep as possible and are located at the last point at which the cavity fills.

d) Gate diameter. Can the gate be larger without sacrificing quality. A larger gate can reduce injection time and therefore cycle time. A larger gate also reduces injection pressure which means machine energy cost savings.

e) Improve ejection system in mould. Can the part be ejected with just one stroke or does it require 2 or 3 strokes?

f) Mould polish. If the polish in the core and cavity is too glossy then the part tends to stick to it and makes it difficult to eject. Reduce polish to make it easier and faster to eject so cycle time can be reduced.

g) Draw polish. If polishing was not done in the direction of part ejection then it will be difficult to eject. Always draw polish core and cavity.
h) Make sure wall thickness of part is even. If mould design allows even up the wall section. When wall thicknesses are uneven it takes more time to stabilize the process and get good quality parts.

i) Add radii to any sharp corners on the moulding. Sharp corners make the part difficult to eject and can cause interruptions to the cycle.

j) Modify clamping plates of the mould so that clamping to the machine is quick and easy. For example instead of using clamps to secure the mould to the platen use direct bolting.

Stage 3

Those things that can be done in the medium to long term and might require substantial investment.

a) Buying used machines that have been reconditioned and have a guarantee. There are companies that do this.

b) Buying new technology machines that have faster platen speed, better injection control and energy saving features.

c) Refurbish existing moulds.

d) Proper cooling design in new moulds.

e) Correct part design in new moulds such as adequate draft and even wall thickness.

f) Ongoing employee training.

And probably the most important point : find a mould maker who is actually interested in helping you improve your productivity through his mould making skills.

Paul Kuklych.
Mould Making Nerd.

Hi Bill
All this comments have value, but from your questions it seems that you first need data to investigate what need to be address first. The data must be enough to narrow down the minimum detail to the target issue to be address. Example for machine and production you need to have shift data to account for machine cycle which must be compared to the quoted cycle of the job and the running cycle; cavitations compared ran and actual Output good and bad parts, and machine utilization. The information must be in some kind of worksheet by the end of the shift or the beginning of the next shift. This would be assign to the shift supervisor to have completed.
The information will provide the first group of data that will direct you into a system that will grow while borrowing down to the issues that are generating cost, while the analysis will drive your production floor to become better.
Some areas will have there own reporting like the mold set up crew, even though you need to know what is you change over time, you also need to know, what are the issues that cause delays, such as particular mold are more difficult to set up or get started, … The Why ? Why ? Why ? is the driving force to improvement ?
Hope this helps
Regards
JCM

The obvious answer is "all of the above", but in terms of return on investment, set up time reduction is money in the bank.

1 Sensible scheduling to facilitate mold and color changes and reduce scrap.
2. Mold repair and maintenance to ensure full cavitation on all molds, and enable mold to maintain quoted cycle time.
3. Availability of spare parts,components and tools.
4. Ongoing training.
5. Constant communication of quality and production results to people "on the floor".
6. Open and honest communication between management and "people on the floor"

Keep on Molding!

brent