ROBOTS AND AUTOMATION | TECHNOLOGY
Injection moulders are increasingly turning to robots as technology improvements make them more easily reconfigurable and capable of co-working with humans. By Peter Mapleston
Automation: robots flex their muscles
The need for injection moulders around the world to automate operations has never been as great as it is today. Robots can improve reliability, repeat- ability and speed in production, and eventually have an important positive effect on the bottom line. And once one order has been completed, it is increasingly easy to reconfigure an automation system for the next one – thanks to the inherent ver- satility of the latest generations of robots, and to important improvements in communications between robots and injection moulding machines. The market is booming. Suppliers of automation solutions are reporting record sales, and the trend is likely to continue. At CBW Automation, latest developments are mostly to do with flexibility. That’s according to Taras Konowal, director of sales and marketing, North America, for moulds and robotics at CBW and its sister company Müller Fabrique de Moules. Both belong to Mold & Robotics Group,
www.injectionworld.com
based in Conthey, Switzerland. “With packaging products changing so quickly, injection moulding companies don’t know how long contracts will last,” Konowal says. “So they need to be sure their automation can be quickly and easily adapted to new applications – for example so they can accommodate moulds with different levels of cavitation, moulds for containers rather than lids, and moulds where the robot is taking parts out of the fixed instead of the moving platen.” Konowal also points out that with the growing emphasis in the packaging world on sustainability, “people want lighter products, which can be injected faster – and this puts more pressure on automation.” CBW joined Mold & Robotics at the end of 2017,
and Konowal says its integration into the group is going well. “The portfolio of CBW robots has been redesigned to better complement the Müller range,” he says. “Work is continuing on developing
April 2019 | INJECTION WORLD 45
Main image: Fanuc’s robots are used by UK moulder Advanced Plastics
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