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Unrestrained access to mold area makes automation solutions highly efficient. |
Various factors affect unit cost, from repeatability and power requirements to productivity of manufacturing facility. The next January 24 to 27 at Interplastica 2017 in Moscow, ENGEL will put on display how its precisely customized solutions combine top quality with cost-efficiency. At its booth, the Austrian manufacturer will focus on how networking and digitalization are utilized in a simple way to solve practical tasks. As a vivid example, ENGEL will showcase a tiebar-less ENGEL e-motion 170/80 TL machine that boasts top overall efficiency, especially for the manufacture of precision components.
Handling robots integrated efficiently
Unrestrained access to the mold area and large mold mounting platens of ENGEL machines make setup faster, robotics solutions more efficient, and production cells more compact. The e-motion TL machine combines these benefits brought by the ENGEL tie-bar-less technology with an all-electric drive. Sample items will be manufactured directly at ENGEL booth at Interplastica and removed by an integrated ENGEL e-pic robot that will deposit the parts on a conveyor belt. The highly compact pick-and-place robot features an innovative kinematic system and a jib arm made of composite material for an increased agility and power efficiency.
Smart assistants for increased quality and efficiency
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ENGEL e-motion TL injection molding machines bring together the advantages of tie-bar-less and all-electric drive technologies developed by ENGEL. |
Challenges of the 4th industrial revolution are many, and ENGEL faces them with inject 4.0. This concept’s objective is to enable the smart factory in the full sense of the term, with ongoing self-optimization of production processes by the means of system networking, organized use of process, production and machine data, and smart decentralized help systems. Thus, plastic processors can respond quickly and very flexibly to ever-varying demands while increasing their part quality and productivity.
ENGEL has developed and deployed three innovative assistance systems — iQ weight control, iQ clamp control и iQ flow control — for identification of fluctuations in raw material quality and environmental conditions and for their online compensation in real time. The trade fair attendees will witness the active reject avoidance thanks to the systems in question on the CC300 control unit display.
The iQ weight control system allows for keeping the melt volume highly consistent throughout the whole process of injection molding. iQ clamp control monitors mold breathing for readjustment of clamping force in real time.
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Challenges of the 4th industrial revolution are numerous, and ENGEL faces them with inject 4.0. |
Finally, the new iQ flow control system is built around ENGEL e-flomo, the water distribution system with electronic temperature control. The system monitors all the temperature control and cooling circuits of the injection molding machine for autonomous real-time flow volume / temperature drop regulation. iQ flow control relies e-flomo and the temperature control block, adjusting the speed of pump rotation in the latter to current requirements automatically. This allows for an increased power efficiency of the machine. The integrated e-temp temperature control system was designed by ENGEL together with HB-Therm (Switzerland), which allowed ENGEL to boost its system expertise level even further.
Complex processes: Safe monitoring
Deployment of smart assistance systems is a critical feature of a modern factory. As production processes get more complex in order to face challenges of ever-growing integration and networking, monitoring and control systems call for simplification. This is exactly where help systems come into play, raising process quality and capability with no need for special training of the machine operator.
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iQ flow control relies e-flomo and the temperature control block, adjusting the speed of pump rotation in the latter to current requirements automatically. |
The inject 4.0 range of ENGEL equipment includes many sophisticated products and integrated solutions for all the three key components of the intelligent factory, namely, smart machine, smart production and smart service. As standalone units or integrated into an entire digitalized production chain, ENGEL machines generate significant benefits alike.
Being close to customers for a high system availability
The sales and service subsidiary of ENGEL in Russia opened ten years ago. Olaf Kassek, Managing Director at OOO ENGEL in Moscow, sums it up: “We have managed to expand our market share in the last few years. The field of technical injection molding is attracting the most investment, followed by the packaging industry.” Since the inception of its business in Russia, ENGEL always played to its strengths and continues doing so with close to thirty employees currently at the local branch, even considering the recent economic situation in the country. Kassek to add, “It is very important to our customers that we reach their premises quickly when something needs servicing. That is only possible if we have the necessary manpower.” ENGEL has its own local warehouse for spare parts and a dedicated service hotline in Russian. Two service and training centers located in Saint Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod complete the Russian network of ENGEL, bringing the company closer to local customers.
