Injection molding with no personnel? New hybrid molding machinery? Robert Schad’s new venture approaching commercial sales

Schad, who founded Husky Injection Molding Systems, built it into a global supplier of hot runners, PET preform molds and injection molding machinery, and then sold it, went on to found Athena Automation Ltd. (Vaughan, ON) in 2008. We last saw Schad at the Chinaplas trade show in May 2011 as he was closely inspecting an injection molding machine with an Athena colleague. We asked him then about Athena but he said it still was too early to go public with his new company's developments.

Now, though, Schad and Athena are opening up. The company, with about 50 employees, operates out of a 40,000-sqf (4000-sq meter) facility and has acquired an adjacent 15-acre lot in preparation for expansion. Athena's employees are working on development of hybrid electric/hydraulic injection molding machinery as well as the development and implementation of lights-out automation systems for injection molders. That is a lot of ground to cover, but then in Greek mythology Athena was multifaceted too as the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill.

Niigon, which molds packaging, is one of Athena's test customers. At the processor's facility, its seven molding machines, central materials handling system, backup power generators, UPS, 42-kW photovoltaic panels, cooling towers and pumps all are tied into the Lights-Out automation system developed at Athena. According to Athena, Niigon now can run its complete operation with just two operators, who handle finished products and inspect part quality.

Working in Niigon's plant, Athena also is starting a project to transport finished goods within the plant using automated guided vehicles.

On the machine manufacturing side, Athena is developing a range (80-500 tonnes' clamp force) of hybrid injection molding machinery. According to the manufacturer, oil changes will be necessary only every five years, and the size of a machine's oil tank will be less than half that of conventional hybrid molding machines. Athena says its machines also can be easily configured for modular expansion.

The first prototype of its 150-tonne machine recently passed 3 million cycles and, claims Athena, beat a comparable all-electric machine from another manufacturer in benchmark testing. The test was performed using a 24-cavity, 38mm closure mold t10.33-second cycle times.

The Athena hybrid machine had specific energy consumption during the testing of 0.41 kWh/kg of material processed versus 0.40 kWh/kg on the all-electric machine. Shot-to-shot accuracy is said to be better on the Athena hybrid unit. The company reports it will be testing other prototypes during the rest of this year. The company also is developing a range of PET perform molding machinery, with some of those expected to enter testing early next year and to be commercially available by the end of 2012.