A North Carolina injection molder is upgrading its machinery with a hybrid machine to boost both production capacity and energy savings.
Double O Plastics, located in Concord, is swapping its aging 500-ton Van Dorn press with a new 500-ton Sumitomo machine, company founder and President Lee Orlic told Plastics News.
“It's a Sumitomo machine, and it's a 420 Systec machine, it's got all the bell and whistles on it. We're pretty excited about it,” he said.
Double O manufactures injection molded products for the construction, home products, furniture and other markets at its 34,000-square-foot facility. Its 11 presses work with a variety of materials including ABS, polypropylene, polystyrene and acrylic.
In addition to increasing the company's capacity, the new hybrid machine will lead to an estimated 12 to 15 percent in energy savings, Orlic said. Double O is also eligible for an energy efficiency rebate from Charlotte-based gas and electric company Duke Energy to help with the cost of the machine. The new machine will be monitored after installation to verify its energy savings.
“It's a pretty nice program, to get anything toward the machine,” Orlic said. “When they do hybrids like this or all-electric machines, they do have a rebate system set up for it, what you have to do is prove to them that you're actually going to get that 12 or 15 percent decrease in energy.”
Double O already operates two electric machines, a 100-ton press and a 150-ton press, Orlic said.
