AUTOMOTIVE | UNDER THE HOOD
ingly critical. “Product recalls are increasing in volume and this is where machinery equipped with smart manufacturing technologies can assist,” says Langwald. “Heavily regulated products like airbag sensors, requires comprehensive audit trails. However, it is not purely about information track- ing. Real-time traceability is about being able to call up data and verify the exact settings used on the injection moulding machine when that indi- vidual plastic part was made. “At Sumitomo (SHI) Demag we liken it to issuing
Above: Engel has recently supplied a V-Duo press to CCP Gransden of Belfast in Northern Ireland
buses), and for non-road mobile machinery. At the
end of 2018, the EU set the target to cut car CO2 emissions by 37.5% by 2030. “However, the limits are currently set according to the mass of vehicles, meaning heavier cars are allowed higher emissions than lighter cars. It has been suggested that this will switch to a footprint based approach, so the limits would be set on the size of the vehicle rather than weight, encouraging manufacturers to switch to lighter plastic compo- nents post-2020 in order to boost fuel efficiency and reduce weight. The result will be much higher volumes of lightweight components. “There has also been a definite trend among OEMs and vehicle makers to switch their procure- ment of plastic components to domestic suppliers as it reduces supply chain risk and lead times. There is also a trend towards parts consolidation. In order to keep procurement, crash testing and approval costs lower, automotive parent companies, which tend to have multiple brands in their portfolio, frequently leverage product and technologies across vehicle models, for example a chassis. The downside to this is if there is a cross-model quality issue, the risks and recall volumes become higher.” Traceability in vehicle manufacturing is increas-
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each component with a unique fingerprint. It means that any potential quality defect, which might not be picked up for several months, or even years, can be tracked back to the very day and cycle it was manufactured to achieve item-level traceability and conduct root cause analyses on parts and compo- nents. To facilitate this traceability we created a fully automated plastic injection moulding and laser marking station that connects and communicates the code back to Management Executive System (MES), where it reconciles up with the machine processing data. In addition to boosting traceability, this synchronised data gives production managers greater visibility on product cycle times and quality.” Langwald says that all-electric machines were once deemed the preserve of medical moulding. “However, automotive plants are predominantly automated,” he says. “This means assembly robots are not tolerant to variables or even the smallest defects, and this is driving the automotive supply chain towards precision moulding. Furthermore, all-electric machines, like the IntElect, are more efficient if working with more complex materials or reducing the weight of components. They also deliver significant energy savings to moulders. As a result, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag is in the process of increasing the range of machine sizes, including a mid-sized unit for automotive moulders looking to switch from hydraulic machines to all-electric.” Engel agrees that in automotive, lightweight
PHOTO: ENGEL
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