Wittmann Battenfeld promotes stronger West Coast presence

Wittmann Battenfeld took the first step in augmenting its southern California presence by exhibiting a fully functioning molding cell within its PLASTEC West booth, including a 73-ton Wittmann Battenfeld injection press outfitted with Wittmann auxiliaries and robotics, as well as a new Western Territory Manager, Carlos Chávez.

A Wittmann employee going back to 1998, Chávez has been in southern California since January 3, working to establish a stronger base on the West Coast for Wittmann Battenfeld, including finding a location in Orange County that could include a showroom. After having worked 12 years at Wittmann's Mexican branch in Querétaro, Chávez has been succeeded as the general manager of the Mexican subsidiary by Rodrigo Muñoz, who comes from the company's Mexico City office.

Chávez told PlasticsToday that his company had garnered a very positive response at the show, particularly for the full cell it had on display in its 10-by-20-ft booth, with molding machine, three-axis robot, part conveyor, and beside-the-press temperature control, granulation, drying, and feeding. The only non-Wittmann Battenfeld equipment in the plant-within-a-booth was the mold, running a polycarbonate D-ring in 16 cavities, and the conveyor.

The hybrid ServoMotion 65/210 73-ton Wittmann Battenfeld molding machine was at the heart of the cell, with the molded parts, sprue, and runner removed by an integrated W811 servo robot that deposited sprue and runner in a Wittmann MAS1 granulator, with finished parts placed on an indexing conveyor. The PC resin was conveyed with a Wittmann Feedmax S3 loader and Feedmax B-105 S central vacuum receiver, and dried using a Wittmann Drymax D30-50/50 PDC dual-hopper dryer. A Wittmann Tempro Plus C360 dual-zone temperature control unit regulated tool temperature, and a CoolMax 2A chiller provided cooling to the workcell.

Wittmann Battenfeld has prepped the molding area of its machine to be clean room-ready with no tie-bar bushings and platen movement through precise linear-platen guides. Compared to fully hydraulic technology, Wittmann Battenfeld estimates energy savings of 30%, with a reduction in noise, and 25% lower water-cooling requirements.