Smart Molding International 2-2020

49 www.smart-molding.com service component can be expensive and of - ten comes with a long lead time. As wear of this component occurs and the flight diameters of the screw begin to deteriorate, the screw’s ability to ef - ficiently convey material is reduced, consequently leading to increased re - covery time, energy consumption, and increased melt temperatures. As a result, productivity can be im - pacted as these conditions can trans - late into increased cycle times as well as potentially impacting part quality. For most manufacturers, wear occurs slowly and over a period of time, con - sequently, the deterioration of the pro - cess is also slow and over a period of time, therefore, making it oftentimes difficult to immediately detect and challenging to observe. Our patent-pending system adopts an innovative energy-based assess - ment to provide awareness in the pro - cess. Its touch-free functions can yield insight on the screw’s health without adding sensors to the screw or barrel. This allows M-Powered users to proac - tively order a new screw and replace it before wear and tear has a great im - pact on each cycle. Fill case analysis Another key component is the feed screw tip, based on its essential role as the link between the machine and the mold, containing a check ring or non-return valve critical to the mold - ing process. For manufacturers, screw tips are a high wear item that often catches the brunt of the molding ap - plication but provides challenges to understanding and actively measur - ing wear-and-tear. This leading con - tributor has a direct impact on pro - cessing quality and repeatability, thus demands frequent replacement when compared to other injection end com - ponents. M-Powered utilizes a proprietary shot-by-shot multivariate analysis to understand the state of the screw tip and indicate the effect of wear and tear on part quality, cycle time, and operat - ing costs. This application will display and alarm when issues impact repeat - ability. Like our screw analytics, this is an evolving machine learning process, that accounts for distinct parts and op - erator adjustments. Efficiency report Intentional solutions can be derived from aggregated machine data and quantified wear-and-tear for manufac - turers to summarize the operational ef - ficiency of the machine to understand the impact on energy cost shot by shot. This resourceful application presents the leading variables in a single plat - form that increase the cost of produc - tion such as increased heating energy, extruder or injection energy, cooling time or recovery. Using the application, operators can view a summary of their machine ef - ficiency for each machine or their en - tire fleet in real-time. From this, costly offenders of cycle deviations can be corrected. Milacron’s goal is to reduce un - planned downtime by providing so - lutions to assess wear and tear and predicting failures proactively. This ensures plastics processors operate at the highest levels of cost efficiency, quality and sustainability. Milacron www.milacron.com M-Powered is an industry-leading suite of IIoT applications for operators, managers, and service technicians Plasticizing screw efficiency analysis Using the application, operators can view a summary of their machine efficiency for each machine or their entire fleet in real-time