Quick color changes delivered on Sumitomo Demag machine with dry color pigment feed

Sumitomo Demag’s latest productivity-enhancing solution in injection molding is an automatic inline color changing system from Japanese vendor PigMic coupled with one its SE50EV-A injection machines equipped with a screw especially designed for quick color changes. The PigMic system directly feeds dry color pigment to the injection screw at a loading of 0.2–0.3%. The machine on show at IPF was also equipped with a camera from Japanese company CAM Co. used to monitor the color change process and detect rejects optically. Color changes can typically be accomplished within eight minutes using the system.

Sumitomo Demag also introduced a high-speed, all-electric injection molding machine for thin-wall container molding. The 350-tonne clamping force SE350HSZ-Pack was molding PP cups weighing 26 g each in an eight-cavity mold in a cycle time of 4.5 seconds. The fast cycle time, 0.4 seconds quicker than previously possible, was achieved through what Sumitomo Demag calls CYC-Link, which allows more overlapping of the individual steps of the injection molding cycle. The machine also featured improved performance through high-response injection and high plasticizing capacity. In all, the SE350HSZ-Pack can reportedly produce 400,000 more cups per month than a machine that does not employ CYC-Link.