FEATURE APPLICATIONS IN IRELAND


A BRUSH WITH PRECISION N


Northern Ireland injection moulder Denroy has achieved 100% availability and 20% less downtime after investing in Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Systec moulding machines


orthern Ireland injection moulder Denroy has 100% availability and


20% less downtime after investing in two new Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Systec moulding machines. Producing more than half a million handles annually for Denman branded hairbrushes, the repeatability and enhanced control enables the plant to maintain its glossy handle finish still favoured by hairdressers around the world. Headquartered in Bangor, Northern


Ireland, Denroy Group is the parent company of Denroy Plastics, a manufacturer of precision plastic parts. With 26 moulding machines Denroy Plastics performs general trade moulding and makes components for the haircare, aerospace and medical industries. Denroy Plastics is contracted to mould handles for its sister company’s hairbrushes and in recent years the volume required has grown significantly.


INCREASE IN DEMAND This increase in demand has come about as a result of market growth. Production of the Denman hairbrushes has increased by 50% since 2011. In addition, Denman’s decision in 2013 to ‘reshore’ most of its manufacturing from the Far East back to Bangor meant more moulding work was coming in Denroy’s direction. “Denman had sourced some products in the Far East but continuity and consistency of supply was becoming a problem,” explains engineering manager Mike McGrath. “The hairbrush handles are quite tricky to produce because of the very high quality, high gloss finish that is required. From a tooling point of view they are quite sophisticated as they have collapsible cores.” To cope with the upturn in demand in 2013 Denroy Plastics replaced one of its oldest injection moulders with a Sumitomo Demag 160-tonne hydraulic injection moulding machine, the company’s first investment in new moulding kit in 15 years. “We’d had the old machine since 1989,”


continues McGrath. “It had done a lot of hours and was breaking down frequently. It needed replacing.” “We’ve traditionally been a Sumitomo


Demag house; over 50% of the machines in our moulding department are Demag and our working relationship spans three


26 SUMMER 2016 | IRISH MANUFACTURING


decades. Operator familiarity is high on our list of criteria when buying new equipment as it means the training and learning is much less than it would be with a rival machine.” The NCV Systec 160/520-840 moulding


machine was integrated with a Sepro robot to remove parts from the mould, two or four impressions at a time and place them onto a conveyor.


IMPROVEMENT IN LINE AVAILABILITY Due to the highly polished surface of the handles this has to be done using vacuum cup effectors. On installing the new injection moulding machine Denroy immediately noticed an improvement in line availability. “Even though cycle time remained the


same there was a 20% reduction in downtime,” explains McGrath. “The Systec 160/520-840 has given us 100% availability as we can guarantee it will be running reliably from the moment it is switched on.” McGrath has been impressed with the


sophisticated NC5 control system which is characterised by an intuitive control concept combined with a touch screen. It provides operators with a visualisation of the injection molding process to facilitate control over the process. “This sophisticated control system gives us greater control over the process and


Denroy needed additional capacity to keep up with demand, prompting investment in a second Sumitomo Demag NCV Systec 160/520-840 injection moulder in 2015


excellent repeatability,” says McGrath. “There are many more visual graphs to enable deeper analysis of inputs and resulting outputs. The information layout is user friendly and flexible with all of the relevant product information accessible via a single page. The page numbers are all aligned to the previous NCIV version of the software, aiding familiarity.”


ADDITIONAL CAPACITY Even with the new injection moulder fully available Denroy needed additional capacity to keep up with demand, prompting the company to invest in a second Sumitomo Demag NCV Systec 160/520-840 injection moulder in 2015. “While the first machine restored reliability the second gave us more capacity,” concludes McGrath. “We’re now producing half a million hairbrush handles every year. We don’t have any concerns about meeting customer demands both in terms of volume and quality thanks to the reliable performance of the Sumitomo machines.” Denman brushes are sold in 60 countries but there’s still scope for export growth claims the company with China being eyed as their next big target.


Sumitomo (SHI) Demag T: 01296 739500 www.uk.sumitomo-shi-demag.eu/


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