Automation company Waldorf Technik GmbH & Co. KG has developed a process for inserting labels for in-mold labeling quickly and safety in the middle plates of stack molds.
IML is easier in single-face molds. But in stack molds, insertion of the labels was limited to the outer platen of the tool, which meant that containers always had to be injected from the inside—and inside gating brings the danger of plastic threads in the material from wear on the tools, and often a reduction in productivity from lower cooling of tool cores.
Some mold makers used complicated sprue bar systems to try and distribute the hot plastic to the outer plates, to avoid those problems.
Waldorf has simplified IML on stack molds, using standard automation for labels to be inserted into the inner plates.
“The danger of threads forming when using efficient stack molds is lessened by injecting containers from the outside,” said Holger Kast, sales manager at Waldorf Technik.
Waldorf is based in Engen, Germany.
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