Arburg Event Focuses On Efficient Production

This year's Arburg Technology Days event, which was held on 18-20 March, focused on efficient production and included the first-ever Packaging Technology Forum. According to the company, plastics processing is currently in recovery, following the worldwide economic crisis. This makes it important for injection moulding companies to exploit the potential for production optimisation, including use of the latest technical developments.

Arburg used a variety of energy-efficient Allrounder injection moulders and systems to demonstrate how all-round productivity can be achieved with short cycle times. Another component in efficient production is intensive and individually tailored customer consulting. This includes the machine technology itself and the entire production environment. The representative cross section of the current Arburg range included complex production cells with Multilift robotic systems and six-axis robotic systems featuring the Selogica user interface.

The range of applications demonstrated by the hydraulic, hybrid and electric exhibits showed that the modular Allrounder injection moulding machine range offers a customer-specific solution for all injection moulding processes. The applications presented included the production of packaging and medical technology products - including clean-room conditions - multi-component injection moulding, micro-injection moulding and technical injection moulding and the processing of different materials, such as liquid silicone (LSR), thermosets and metal and ceramic powders.

Other areas covered included production management with the Arburg host computer system (ALS), as well as service and product training, which also play a key role in achieving efficient production, according to the company.

The topic of efficient production was also addressed and further explored as part of the programme of specialist presentations. In addition to technical solutions, particular attention was paid to commercial aspects in terms of the reduction of unit costs. Bihler discussed efficient production processes, while the Ludenscheid Plastics Institute examined the enhancement of quality and the value of plastic parts through surface design. Products unveiled this year included the new micro injection module and the large, hybrid Allrounder 720 H.

The micro injection module combines an 8mm injection screw with a second screw for melting the material. This means that small shot weights can be achieved even without micro-granulate. Thanks to the screw injection, the advantages of the first-in, first-out principle are said to be largely maintained. The new Allrounder 720 H - the largest member of the hybrid Hidrive series to date - was presented during the new Packaging Technology Forum.

This was the first time that Arburg offered selected partners from the packaging industry the opportunity to make a presentation at the Technology Days event. At the centre of the forum were the Allrounder H machines, which are said to offer short cycle times and reduced energy consumption, making them suitable for use in the packaging sector. The capabilities were demonstrated by the three Hidrive exhibits featuring high-speed, high-end applications with cycle times in the three-second range.

The first Allrounder 720 H, with a clamping force of 3,200kN (320tonf), produced 72 screw caps in a cycle time of 2.9 seconds, while the second model produced thin-walled 1.2-litre containers. The third exhibit was an in-mould labelling (IML) system based on an Allrounder 570 H, with a cycle time of 3.5 seconds. The topic was rounded off with a presentation by Stackteck; the company discussed mould concepts for packaging technology.