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“Earth-friendly technology can touch on a wide spectrum of the services we provide, including coinjection, gas-assist, all-electric machinery, barrier screws, and guaranteed energy savings,” explains Bob Strickley, director of marketing at Milacron Inc. (Batavia, OH; www.milacron.com). At the SPE Antec conference/Plastics Encounter show (May 4-8) in Milwaukee, WI, IMM chatted with Strickley about the new earth-friendly marketing campaign his company has launched—a new campaign highlighted by Milacron's first public display of the energy-saving and productivity-improving barrel heating and cooling technology it calls Servtek TCS (see photo).
After months of extensive processing and energy-consumption evaluations on machinery in its facility, and having verified its results at several molders in real-world trials, Milacron added this earth-friendly technology, originally developed by Rex Materials Inc. (Fowlerville, MI; www.rexmaterials.com), to its portfolio. The system incorporates radiant heaters embedded in high-temperature ceramic insulation engineered so that all of the heat goes directly into the barrel.
It obviates the need to have heating elements maintain tight contact with the barrel. Ambient air is drawn directly across the barrel for faster cooling. And waste hot air can be used to preheat materials and heat your plant, or can keep your shop cooler by exhausting it. Energy savings of 30-50% have been documented, and payback comes in as little as 18 months, according to Strickley. “At this very critical time of escalating energy costs, high resin prices, and serious offshore competition, the Servtek TCS technology is available exclusively from Milacron for all makes and models of our injection molding machines. The product qualifies for a Milacron earth-friendly technology classification. Energy savings, operator safety, and precise process control all bring about responsible manufacturing,” states Strickley.
Also on hand to help Strickley inaugurate Milacron's earth-friendly marketing campaign was multimolder extraordinaire Peter Bemis of Bemis Mfg. Co. (Sheboygan Falls, WI; www.bemismfg.com). Bemis runs the largest Milacron press ever built, an 8000-ton two-shot machine. “Pretty much everything we do involves multishot technologies,” Bemis says.
In addition to coinjection molded toilet seats, a number of huge parts multimolded by Bemis were on show, including a tractor incorporating components Bemis produces for John Deere. We can't think of a better way to launch a keeping-it-green marketing campaign than that.
