Smart Molding International 2-2022

29 machinery www.smart-molding.com ance will cause unpleasant noises in car interiors. Wirthwein Crimmitschau uses a va- riety of technologies to manufacture its components, such as compact in- jection molding, physical foaming, multi-component injection molding, automation, fully automatic greasing and pre-conditioning of parts, right up to assembling complete structural components. Of the 33 injection mold- ing machines operating at Wirthwein Crimmitschau and ranging from 250 to 15,000 kN in clamping force, nine have come from WITTMANN BATTENFELD. Since 2018, exclusively machines from the servo-hydraulic SmartPower se- ries and the MacroPower series from WITTMANN BATTENFELD have been added. The matching parts remov- al robots have also come from the WITTMANN Group. Apart from their compactness and us- er-friendliness, the servo-hydraulic ma- chines from WITTMANN BATTENFELD stand out primarily by their intelligent, economical energy utilization. Their high level of energy efficiency is pri- marily due to the combination of a fast- response, speed-controlled, air-cooled servo motor with a highly efficient con- stant displacement pump, known as the “Drive on Demand” system. The machine most recently deliv- ered is a 3-component model from the MacroPower series with 7,000 kN clamping force and enlarged clamping plates. This MacroPower XL 700/3400H/350S/210V was installed at Wirthwein Crimmitschau in February of this year. The machine is used to manu- facture a component for a car window regulator consisting of PA, TPE and POM. The machine is equipped with a W843 pro robot from WITTMANN, which removes the finished parts and deposits them on a conveyor belt. Moreover, this machine comes with the HiQ Flow application software, which serves to detect and compensate viscosity fluctuations in the material. A special feature of the MacroPower XL 700 installed at Wirthwein is its di- rect control of the mold’s index plate by way of complete integration of the mold’s servo motor in the machine’s Unilog B8 control system. This enables high-precision rotary movements of the large-sized, heavy index plate and thus ensures an extremely safe produc- tion process. Great attention was also paid to the cycle time. Independent, parallel move- ments of the three injection units are a standard feature of the MacroPower Combimould machine. Each injection unit has its own servo-hydraulic drive. The screw drives of the injection units are also equipped with servo motors. This enables dosing of all three aggre- gates parallel to the movement of the mold. So, an optimized cycle time is en- sured even together with an extremely short cooling time. Dr. Maike Gruschwitz, Plant Man- ageress of Wirthwein Crimmitschau GmbH & Co. KG, and Marco Windrich, Managing Engineer, are very pleased with the machines from WITTMANN BATTENFELD. Particularly positive fea- tures are the user-friendly, self-explana- tory control system, aswell as the height of the machines. “Our machine set- ters like working with the WITTMANN BATTENFELD equipment”, reports Dr. Maike Gruschwitz. Moreover, the service provided by WITTMANN BATTENFELD is said to be excellent. “The commissioning of this most re- cently delivered machine took a very positive course. All tasks were solved immediately, customers’ wishes ful- filled straight away”, Gruschwitz says. And Marco Windrich adds: “The ma- chines from WITTMANN BATTENFELD are less prone to failure than others, and in the event of any problems, these can very often be solved by telephone, or if not, the WITTMANN BATTENFELD engineers are also quickly on site.” According to Windrich, especially the equipment’s low susceptibility to failure and the fast-troubleshooting service are important for Wirthwein Crimmitschau, since with more than 300 active products every machine standstill involves complex challenges. Apart from the high quality and easy operation of the machines and the ex- cellent service, the good energy balance of the machines is another important feature for Wirthwein. Marco Windrich comments: “The Wirthwein Group is From the left: Marco Windrich, Managing Engineer of Wirthwein Crimmitschau, Dr. Maike Gruschwitz, Plant Manageress of Wirthwein Crimmitschau, Peter Zahn, Sales WITTMANN BATTENFELD