Negri Bossi looks to future machines

Düsseldorf, Germany — Negri Bossi SpA (Hall 15/B22) is next year celebrating its 70th anniversary in the manufacture of injection molding machinery, but the eyes of the Cologno Monzese, Italy-based company are very much fixed on the future.

In the two-and-a-half years since it was acquired by Rush, N.Y.-based Kingsbury Corp., Negri Bossi's development engineers have been busy with a new electric machine range, which it is showing at K 2016, along with work in progress on a new generation of machines.

Negri Bossi is presenting for the first time the ELE range of all electric presses. At launch, the range goes from 50 to 350 metrics tons, but it is targeting a wider range of 11 models from 50 to 650 metric tons, which will include multicomponent versions. Improvements in specification and performance from the previous electric machine range have been made to create a wider appeal in areas such as packaging and medical.

The ELE machine at K 2016 is a 180 metric ton model with an integrated in-mold labeling (IML) system with fast labeling by means of a side entry robot supplied by Sytrama, Negri Bossi's sister company. It is producing a four-impression IML lid in a cycle time below 3 seconds.

Craig Ward, CEO of Negri Bossi, said the company had focused on the specific needs of customers wanting electric machines, with a preference being shown for smaller machines.

“It's starting to become clear which markets are interested in electric machines,” said Ward during a news conference on Oct. 19 at the company's K 2016 stand.

The ELE machine is displayed with the new Tactum multi-touch controller, with features including remote access, built-in camera and gesture navigation.

The ELE machine also features Smart Flex 2, a new locking unit with a different toggle geometry designed to be coupled specifically with electric closing and to have characteristics optimised to its target market. The company developed the technology specifically for electric machines.

But the future for Negri Bossi is about a new platform flexible enough to be used for electric, hydraulic and hybrid technologies. Still at the concept stage, Ward unveiled clamp units that will form the basis for later generations of the company's machines.

Simply named the “X concept,” two clamp units were revealed at the K 2016 stand, an 850 unit with hydraulic actuation and 720 with electric actuation.

Ward said the new clamp units have all the physical characteristics of existing large toggling machines (for example, the mold opening stroke) while also competing with two platen units in their footprint.

So a new 800-ton clamp unit has the physical characteristics of the existing 1,100-ton machine but the footprint is smaller than the company's 650-ton machine. And the 700 is smaller than the current 500 with physical characteristics of the current 800.

Ward said: “X is a concept — we're looking at it from a modular viewpoint. We won't launch X as a product, but we will use elements from the concept in new machines.”

For Negri Bossi's future machine development, the approach in the concept is to allow flexibility going forward.

A key feature is that the locking unit is designed to be actuated both hydraulically and electrically so as to be available in hydraulic, hybrid and electrical formats.

The injection unit shown on the stand has higher standard injection speeds and pressures and is designed to accept both hydraulic and electric plasticising. The servo powerpack is modular to facilitate drive system configurability.

“We're not at this time releasing drive cycle times,” Ward said in answer to a question.

Machine controls are another development area. The new Tactum multitouch controller shown on the ELE machine is a further development of Negri Bossi's existing Tactus single touch controller. The company is also providing a tantalising glimpse of the next generation of controllers called Motus.

“We looked specifically at the architecture used in smartphones,” said Ward.

Development work is focusing on intuitive navigation through smartphone-type gestures, which Negri Bossi believes will be the norm for controllers in the future. Motus features a patent pending virtual object for the movement of various axis based on orientation of the gesture as well as swipe, zoom and other forms of gesture for both navigation and input.