DIGITAL MOULDING | TECHNOLOGY


Suppliers ramp up smart moulding functionality


Reasons to adopt digital machine functionality have become more compelling, from better process control to cost and energy savings.Peter Mapleston reports on developments


A perfect storm is pushing injection moulding machine makers to smarten up their offerings. On the positive side, there is the onward progress of electronic technologies that enable, for example, sensors to be put just about anywhere to monitor any parameter affecting part quality and report back changes, which can then be immediately and automatically acted upon. The Internet of Things (IoT) can then help on a higher level to network machines into management systems and to put important data on mobile devices. On the other side, there is increasing pressure


for processors to increase automation because they find it difficult to get the necessary staff to carry out manual tasks – a situation that of course has been aggravated over the last two years by Covid-19. So what are injection moulding technology


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suppliers doing to come to the rescue of customers with their backs against the wall? A fair amount, as it happens. Speaking about “fair”, quite a lot of the latest developments will be on display at Fakuma 2021 in Germany (also see the Fakuma preview in this issue). For its Wittmann Battenfeld machines, which


already come with several basic monitoring features, Wittmann Group offers optional HiQ and Expert packages. HiQ packages are designed around the plasticising unit. “These are all entirely software based and therefore do not require any costly hardware modifications,” says Benjamin Pearson in Wittmann’s Application Development department. “HiQ Flow, for example, adapts the switchover and holding pressures within the same shot, for example to correct for instabilities gener-


October 2021 | INJECTION WORLD 25


Main image: Injection moulding is becoming a more digitally controlled process


IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK


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