Resource efficiency. Sustainability. Standardisation. These are the key points raised by the esteemed panel at VDMA's press event at NPE2015.
Sustainability
Led by Thorsten Kühman, Managing Director of the VDMA Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association and SPI CEO Bill Carteaux, the session covered the subject of the importance of applying efficiency and corporate responsibility across the board in the plastics industry.
Mark Sankovitch of Engel Austria, Werner Herbold of Herbold Meckesheim, Carl Litherland of motan and Uwe Peregi of Hermann Ultrasonics were quizzed on their stance and strategies as to the growing issue of sustainability in plastics.
"The image of plastics is not good. We've got limited resources and we need to care for them," Kühmann began.
Both the VDMA and SPI want to ensure the greatest possible alignment of technical requirements, especially in matters of safety, in order to simplify machinery deliveries.
“Cooperation at the level of ISO/TC 270/WG 1 for injection moulding machines represents a key milestone for us,” said Kühmann.
Carteaux remarked that the close cooperation has brought a breakthrough regarding the requirement for an additional mechanical device, the “jam bar”, within reach.
Corporate responsibility
Machinery manufacturers are making an important contribution to sustainability in the form of plastics recycling. As a manufacturer of shredding plant for post-consumer waste, Werner Herbold, said the greatest challenge in developing technologies capable of dealing with increasingly complex plastics waste while at the same time being cost-efficient.
He has noticed a growing interest in plastics recycling in the US, but also in Canada and Mexico, but stressed that on those markets, even more than in Europe, recycling models must be profitable from the outset since they receive no state subsidies.
Nevertheless it is the brands and government initiatives that are helping to forge the difficult pioneering path to sustainability.
"Some brand owners like Coca Cola and P&G took producer responsibility for the packaging," Herbold said. "Some [US] states gave government grants to encourage plastics recycling investment. The industry has learned there are cheaper and reliable raw materials available out of the recycling chain. Entrepreneurs understood they can make money out of it. It can be profitable."
Lightweighting cars
Injection moulding machinery manufacturer ENGEL looks to lightweight construction for resource efficiency. In the automotive industry the demands for lighter vehicles in order to save fuel are often at odds with increasingly stringent safety requirements and Mark Sankovitch even noted that the US's love of the traditional 'gas guzzling' SUV is at risk unless manufacturers harness lightweighting.
"The conflict can be resolved by using composite materials," added Dr. Christoph Steger, CSO at ENGEL AUSTRIA.
The Internet of Things
motan is looking to provide solutions not only in the area of material flow but also in the energy consumed in the plastics conversion process itself. Carl Litherland, Head of Marketing at motan, explained that decentralised combined heat and power systems can be deployed to optimise the efficiency of the primary energy source used for energy generation. Process optimisation in the material flow harbours considerable savings potential in terms of the amount of material used. To this end motan uses an automated central material handling system.
The successful deployment of material management systems does not only require intelligent control technology that constantly and optimally coordinates all the stages in the material flow, it in fact requires all components to communicate with one another in real time, from the material dryer to the processing machine.
"Inside your own moulding shop, you have to look at it as one single process. Industry 4.0 is becoming reality. The Smart Factory is possible, and we as component manufacturers need to be ready to invest in developing the necessary communications interfaces," said Litherland.
Ultrasonic welding
As far as ultrasonic welding is concerned, Uwe Peregi, CEO of Herrmann Ultrasonic forecasts a clear trend towards functional integration.
"Our customers are increasingly asking for several processes from a single source. We offer solutions which, in addition to ultrasonic welding, also integrate robot handling/feeding as well as testing and marking for traceability," said Peregi. To that end Herrmann Ultraschalltechnik has developed a control architecture that combines the various process stages. Control design is tailored to the customer’s requirements right at the project planning stage.
If it is to be successful in the long term, plastics conversion requires an integrated approach to all process stages. That is the only way that processes can be optimised and new products developed. And that will only work if all the partners involved cooperate - including the industry press, added Kühman.
