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This year’s annual Arburg ‘Technology Days’ event allowed customers a unique insight into the culture of innovation thriving at the centre of the rural surroundings of the Black Forest.
As headquarters go, it’s not your traditional establishment. Sporting a gleaming glass-front, the image is clean, contemporary and distinctive, and yet rather than sitting alongside an industrial estate, with the nearby buzz of a motorway, Arburg is nestled comfortably in the traditional and historical town of Lossburg, with stunning views of the forest, and a population of just over 7000.
But this is EPPM, not a holiday brochure - so let’s get back to business.
Innovation past, present and future
While the surroundings may be traditional, it’s clear that Arburg is as forward-thinking as ever. The innovations on display at this year’s event were not just aimed at current needs, but also at future applications.
That said, the group has retained a strong connection to its beginnings, in the form of the recently revamped ‘Evolution’ exhibit. Speaking during the press conference, Michael Hehl, Managing Partner at Arburg said: “The completely redesigned “Evolution” exhibit allows visitors to experience the history of Arburg interactively on an area of around 770 metres squared. The exhibit includes machines, innovations and plastic parts going back 90 years, as well as a wide range of multimedia content covering company and product development, the brand and trade fairs, as well as contemporary history and visions of the future.”
The Freeformer
On the subject of future applications, Arburg gave visitors a chance to get even closer to the soon-to-be-released Freeformer. The machine, which is based on additive manufacturing principles, made waves at last year’s K Show, with its launch opening the event.
Arburg says it wanted to show that the Freeformer fits into the existing product range, whilst opening up new opportunities for product design and the efficient production of one-off parts or small-volume batches. During the event, one and two-component parts were manufactured, including an ABS connector housing as a spare part for an Allrounder injection moulding machine, and a housing for the main switch of the Freeformer itself.
However, Hehl was keen to emphasise that the firm’s roots remain firmly in the injection moulding arena. “The development of the Freeformer does not mean that we are neglecting the injection moulding sector. Quite the contrary: with more than 40 Allrounder exhibits and a wide range of applications and industries, we will be presenting innovations, highlights and a representative cross-section of our current range over the next four days”, said Hehl.
Investment in facilities
Hehl confirmed plans for moving in to Arburg’s new two-storey expansion will take place in Autumn 2015. The capital investment, which amounts to tens of millions of euros, will expand the assembly area for large Allrounders up to 5,000 kN, as well as housing other projects. It will have a useable floorspace of around 18,600 m², increasing the floorspace at the Lossburg factory by some 13% to just under 165,000 m².
And it’s not just the HQ that’s growing. The new firm has already announced plans for a new US HQ in Connecticut, which will cover 2,500 m² and is being constructed in Rocky Hill, six miles from the previous Newington site.
The firm’s Polish subsidiary will also receive its own building with a floorspace of 800 m², and in the Czech Republic, the existing building is being expanded significantly in order to increase capacity for growing demand.
Particle-foam composite injection moulding
On display during the event was a turnkey system for particle-foam composite injection moulding (PCIM), featuring a two-component Allrounder 470 S with a clamping force of 1,100 kN. Product handling was done by a mobile Agilus six-axis robotic system with Selogica user interface from Kuka, which was moving on a further linear axis allowing for fast entry into the mould, and short cycle times.
With a load-bearing capacity of 6 or 10 kilograms and ranges of up to 1,100 millimetres, the new robotic system has been designed specifically for plastics processing jobs.
First, it removes tyres made of expanded polypropylene (EPP) from a magazine and inserts them into the mould — the PP wheel rims are then moulded on. A firm, permanent mechanical bond is created through controlled melting of the surface of the foamed insert. The pre-moulded parts are then transferred to the second cavity and the tyres are overmoulded with the soft TPE component. The cycle time for this is 40 seconds. The robotic system removes the finished parts and transfers them to a system that automatically packs the completed wheels into individual bags and prints them during the running process.
Fluid injection technology
The weight of thick-walled components can also be significantly reduced using fluid injection technology (FIT), in which gas (GIT) or water (WIT) is introduced into the cavity. Rod-shaped components with very large wall thicknesses such as handles are especially suited to gas injection technology.
Using a plastic garden trowel as as sample part, the group demonstrated how significant material savings can be achieved by creating a hollow space in the handle using nitrogen. The smaller wall thicknesses also result in shorter cooling times and therefore reduced cycle times.
The 65-gram component was produced on an electric Allrounder 470 E with a clamping force of 1,000 kN in a cycle time of around 60 seconds. The Selogica control system enables switching from material injection to gas injection as a function of time, distance or pressure.
Industry 4.0
Alongside the Freeformer, Industry 4.0 is Arburg’s other effort to prepare for future technologies and requirements. It is based on the evolutionary concept of a ‘smart factory’, which would require data integration of machines, order information and process data collectively. The group used a simple toy buggy as an application to to illustrate Industry 4.0 in effect.
In the buggy application, a unique QR code is used to call up all important process parameters for the buggy. The Arburg host computer system networks various independent stations, recording all the parameters and transmitting them to a web server.
“We are taking the Technology Days as an opportunity to demonstrate that Arburg has already started the journey towards the smart factory. We can individualise every component and trace it at every point in its production. This ensures transparency,” said Michael Vieth, Group Manager Technical Coordination at Arburg.
Personalised production
Visitors were able to have their own buggy produced for them. For this they first received a personalised chip card with a user name of their choice at a data entry terminal. When the visitor is ready, the card was read into the Selogica control system of the production cell. A hydraulic Allrounder 370 S produced the buggy in the next cycle. A new, fast-entry Multilift V robotic system removed the product and transferred it to a downstream laser printing system, which applied an individualised QR code onto the roof of the toy car. At the same time, the Selogica control system transferred the relevant product data to the Arburg host computer system (ALS). This enabled the process parameters to be assigned at a later point, so that all process steps can be documented error-free on an end-to-end basis.
The next step involved the visitors building their own personal buggy from four individual parts. A downstream camera test station documented whether or not the roof, front and rear axles have been mounted correctly on the chassis. Finally, a “test run” measured the speed achieved by the buggy as it rolled down a ramp. The Arburg host computer system recorded and archived the test results and transmitted the data to a web server.
An industrial handheld scanner can be used to read the buggy’s QR code. The visitor’s name would then feature on a part-specific internet page showing all the process data for their unique moulded part. Details of the time, cycle counter, cycle time and various injection moulding parameters and ambient temperature, humidity, speed, dimensions and photos from the camera inspection could all be viewed online. All of this information can also be retrieved later from home via smartphone.
Packaging
Rather than using applications for large unit volumes, as is typical of the packaging industry, Arburg displayed alternative that offers an efficient system for medium unit volumes. An electric Allrounder 570 A was producing a pair of 6.4 gram tubs from PP in a cycle time of 3.6 seconds. The automation consisted of a Multilift V from Arburg, which was equipped with a new dynamic mould-entry axis. This allowed the ‘action time’ in the mould to be reduced by 25% in comparison with a standard robotic system.
Arburg also exhibited a hybrid Allrounder 570 A (the “packaging” version) for the high-speed production of rectangular thin-walled 1-litre tubs in a cycle time of around 3 seconds. The high-performance machine with a clamping force of 1,800 kN has developed over time to become “a complete, high-performance solution”, says Arburg.
Medical
A GMP-compliant stainless steel Allrounder was used in a class 7 cleanroom, with a clean air module above the clamping unit to ensure clean production conditions. A mould made by Männer was used to produce two 2.35 gram syringe barrels from COP (cyclic olefin polymer) with a cycle time of around nine seconds. This involved lateral injection via a needle shut-off nozzle. COP is transparent and has similar barrier properties to glass, but is also almost unbreakable and cost-efficient to produce. In a subsequent step, the syringe barrels can be pre-filled, assembled and packaged ready for use.
The second electric Allrounder 370 A is also designed to meet the high quality standards required for the mass-production of medical parts. During the Technology Days, 64 pipette tips per cycle were produced on a high-performance mould from Tanner in a cycle time of 4.4 seconds.
Optics
For the field of optics, Arburg produced 25 millimetre thick lenses from polycarbonate in several stages in a short cycle time, using an electric two-component Allrounder 520 A with a clamping force of 1,500 kN.
The machine was equipped with a multi-timed rotary mould from Weber featuring three injection stations, four cooling stations and one removal station. Movement to the stations is carried out by means of an electric rotary unit in 45° steps.
A size 70 vertical injection unit injects the first layer at the first station. This is then cooled in three subsequent positions. In the fifth station, this layer is overmoulded with the second component of the same material. This involves a size 400 horizontal injection unit. Cooling again takes place in the next station before the third component is injected, also horizontally. The finished three-layered lens is then removed from the closed mould in the eighth and final position.
By producing the lens using multi-component injection moulding in three layers, with four cooling steps in simultaneous processes in the mould, the cycle time can be reduced to around 55 seconds.
The complete mould sequence, including the rotational movement, is fully integrated in the Selogica control system. In this example, the six-axis robotic system is directly connected to the machine control and can be programmed by the operator using Selogica user interface. It removes the finished moulded lenses and transfers them to an optically inspection station before being set down.
Record-breaking attendance
In all, Arburg’s 2014 Technology Days were a success for the company, and allowed clients to see into the firm’s innovative plans for the future. Approximately 6,900 visitors attended - a record figure for the event. Arburg says that around 45% of these came from abroad, the majority of which came from Europe, with 260 guests from the USA, and 185 making the trip from China. If you didn’t make it this year, stay tuned for details of the 2015 event — it’s well worth the trip to the Black Forest.