MONTREAL — Taiwanese injection press manufacturer Lien Fa Injection Molding Machinery Co. Ltd. has added three-axis robots to its offerings.
Lien Fa's injection machines and the robots “blend together perfectly,” according to Steve Fowler, president and CEO of Fultech Service Group, North American distributor for Lien Fa. “They are on Lien Fa machines now.”
Fowler said in an interview at Expoplast 2014 in Montreal that the three-axis technology is available for the 35 to 4,400 ton clamp range of Lien Fa injection presses. Fultech and Lien Fa have been working with outside robot suppliers up until recently and will continue to do so for customers needing a more complex robot than a three-axis type.
Lien Fa produces its machinery at a sprawling factory in Taichung City. The company, owned by the Chiang family, has been producing injection presses since 1967. Fowler said roughly translated, Lien Fa means “united with the customer to develop and grow.”
The machines are modular and based on servo/hydraulic designs. Cylinders are available as single units and in multiple-cylinder variations. Fowler claimed the presses are efficient, high speed and easy to operate. They feature a standard air blower to blow out molds
Fultech of Kitchener, Ontario, began representing Lien Fa a few years ago, about 10 years after Fultech was founded by a group of ex-Engel Canada employees as a molding machinery service company. Fultech runs a training center at its Kitchener head office facility and operates a parts distribution center in Buffalo, N.Y. In Quebec, Melplus of Lévis, Quebec, distributes presses in that province.
Fowler said Lien Fa's 1,200-ton presses are its most popular in the United States, where Fultech does most of its business. They are finding use in diverse applications. One of Fultech's biggest customers is a U.S. producer of plastic and metal telecommunications boxes. Lien Fa offers options for vertical and two-color molding and in-mold labeling. For turnkey manufacturing cells, Fultech works with custom automation specialist DDS Automated Machinery Design Inc. of Cambridge, Ontario.
Fultech was running a 150-ton Lien Fa press making small drinking cups at the Montreal show, which was held Nov. 19-20.