Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Plastics News China
  • Rubber & Plastics News
logo-pn-color
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • End Markets
    • FYI Charts
    • LSR World
    • Multimedia
    • NPE2021
    • K Show
    • Special Reports
    • Top materials of injection molders
      Recycled PET use by product category
      US PET, flexible packaging desintations
      Global fluropolymers additives market: CAGR
    • NPE exhibitors question handling of deposits for canceled trade show
      Exhibitors back NPE cancellation: ‘We couldn't take that risk'
      NPE2021 canceled as in-person event
      NPE reviews its options as pandemic prompts exhibitor to exit
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • What Keeps You Up At Night
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Videos
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • CEO Issue
    • Best Places to Work
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • Heavy Metal
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Recognizing Plastek Industries for all-around excellence
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
    • Kickstart: A different kind of auto plastics in Spring Hill
      Kickstart: They're not used shoes, they're 'refurbished'
      Kickstart: Holy guacamole, science is cool
      Kickstart: Coffee with a splash of sustainability
    • Heavy Metal: Coronavirus edition, plus the work of working from home
      Don't put off succession planning
      What's a good gift for your cobot? Batteries?
      Here's some big ideas to mull over the holidays
    • University of Kentucky to honor Braskem's Krishnaswamy
      PE resin trends highlighted in Shell report
      Dow's Lowry honored by World Economic Forum for sustainability work
      Africa impacts new colors from Ampacet
    • Kickstart: My Earth Day force majeure — writing about reusables
      Climate debate in Washington increasingly includes plastic
      There was no choice but canceling NPE still a big deal
      The business case for producer responsibility
    • Annual PN LSR directory grows
      Want prices? Introducing historical resin pricing, now available in a downloadable form
      A new annual ranking: Top processor gains
      Thermoformers: Would you believe a 12 percent gain?
    • Working from home: Rugrats edition
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
    • Auxiliary equipment makers line up future work while noting: ‘Robots didn't get the virus'
      Machine builders press through pandemic with innovations
      PEX pipe maker Uponor donates $30,000 for Texas storm relief
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Perspective: The Materials Wars: Is plastic actually better?
      Perspective: Plastics manufacturers — a surprising contribution to sustainability
      Plastics industry business owners: Listen to your future workforce
    • Mailbag: Additional fees for electric vehicles ‘unfortunate'
      Mailbag: Where's the plastics industry's response to critics?
      Mailbag: Manufacturers struggling to follow COVID-19 safety rules
      Modernizing recycling infrastructure will benefit businesses as well as the environment
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
    • Maintenance can ensure efficient blender operation
      Dosing: Perfect for adding color
      Blending vs dosing: What you need to know
      Going low or high: Comparing volume
    • Colors and custom compounds
      In the laboratory: Compounding solutions
      Recycling content: Resins going ‘green’
      Compounding: Glass and other fillers
    • Dryer maintenance: Don’t err with air
      Dryers: Options for a shop’s process
      Dryer installation: Going central?
      Resins: Hygroscopic or non-hygroscopic
    • Electric injection molding presses: Efficiency is key
      Hydraulic injection molding machines
      Proper maintenance can prevent downtime
      Hybrid injection molding machines
    • Purging Hot runners: Open or closed methods
      Purging extrusion machinery
      Purging extrusion blow molding machines
      Purging: Chemical, abrasive and non-abrasive
    • Controls, special applications boost production, profitability
      Robot maintenance key for smooth operation
      High-speed robots: A rapid way to increase efficiency
      Robots: Every shape and size
    • Maintenance: Key for efficiency
      Shredders: Plastic in pieces
      Safety first for size reduction
      Granulators: The right fit
    • Structural foam molding: Flexibility for processors
      Video: Structural foam molding
    • Mold inventory: How many molds does a shop have?
      Molds: Innovation
      Mold changeover: Saving time and money
      How molds work
    • Labor: Apprenticeships may provide answer
      Internships: Solving the skills gap in-house
      College training, programs
      Lean Six Sigma: Transforming business operation
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Ask the Expert
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Polymer Points Live - May 2021
      Polymer Points Live - April 2021
      Polymer Points Live - February 2021
      Polymer Points Live - January 2021
    • Plastics in Healthcare 2020
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Plastics in Healthcare
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Data Store
  • Directory
  • More+
    • Classifieds
    • Digital Edition
    • Newsletters
    • Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Sponsored By Chase Plastics
      Styrenic Thermoplastics: 4 Polymers and Benefits of Each
      Sponsored By Bandera
      Bandera US was born for the North American market
      Sponsored By Ensign Equipment
      Filling systems customized for any process or budget need
      KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei retools in US with investment from parent ownership
    • KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei Retools in US with investment from Parent Ownership
    • Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Tailored maintenance for injection molding machines and robots
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Improve maintenance efficiency with e-connect.monitor
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Maximum precision for lowest shot weights
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Even more cost effectiveness for small precision parts
    • Shell Polymer
      Sponsored By Shell Polymers
      Food and beverage trends impacting the polymer industry
      Sponsored By Conexiom
      Use Sales Order Automation to free up time for CSRs to focus on customers, not manual entry
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
October 28, 2016 02:00 AM

Tennis rackets serve up an ace for S.T. Soffiaggio at K 2016

Catherine Kavanaugh
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    Marco Stepniak
    From left, Luca Moltrasio, managing director of S.T. Soffiaggio, and Martin Graziadei, managing partner, with a tennis racket being molded at K 2016.

    Düsseldorf, Germany — S.T. Soffiaggio Tecnica srl got a lot of marketing miles from the spiral walking sticks one of its machines cranked out for some 5,000 attendees at K 2010.

    On the heels of that promotion, a shoehorn giveaway in 2013 had a lot of people beating a path to the production exhibition of the Monza, Italy-based blow molding machine maker.

    Again at K 2016, ST had a giveaway that it expected to net it some attention and booth visits. The company made tennis rackets as it debuted the ASPI 150.3 Mono, which is an upgrade of its top-selling model, the ASPI 150.2 that cranked out the shoehorns.

    This third-generation machine packs a lot of new suction blow molding technology for smarter factories, particularly for automotive applications such as ducts for the air induction systems of turbo-charged engines for cars and trucks, said Martin Graziadei, one of the managing partners.

    “You are processing really high-technology raw materials on this machine. The plastics come out to 7 or 8 euros per kilogram, so it's really important to have a precise machine that saves not only energy costs and maintenance, but especially on the raw materials side,” Graziadei said. “If you have a put through of 2 million euros of raw material a year and can save 5 to 10 percent, it's a really important savings.”

    The new features include patent-pending parison diameter monitoring, which optically measures any “swell factors” that could require adjustment of the machine, the settings or the raw materials, as well as production data accessible by remote devices with an S.T. app.

    Graziadei tapped a phone icon and scrolled through a list to learn the machine status.

    “It's running on automatic. The heating is on. The pump is on,” he said. “The extruder is not running now because it is heating up. You can see the last cycle times, hourly production, the recipe you're using with the mix of resins, the number of cycles since the machine started, pieces produced, and on and on. You can have a lot of data constantly on all machines all over the world. This is a step toward the future and better control of your machines.”

    Compared to the previous generation, the new model also has larger platens for molds up to 1.65 meters and a patent-pending parison marking system that Graziadei said solves problems like rejection of parts because of unacceptable aesthetics and all the cleaning required of spraying nozzles covered in dried paint.

    Marco Stepniak

    S.T. Soffiaggio also had attention-grabbing products at K 2010 and K 2013.

    The new printing technique uses marking dots and a self-cleaning nozzle. A related print technique makes it possible to put text and characters directly on the parison during extrusion, which could help with quality control and production traceability. In addition, a ghost ink is available to mark characters intended only for machine operators with a UV lamp.

    A smart heating system also is available now thanks to software that reduces power utilization by limiting the maximum power used by each machine and optimizing the heating sequence by zone and time.

    “Our clients tell us on Monday morning when they heat up their machines there is a lot of electrical power utilization all at the same time,” Graziadei said. “Normally the amount of installed capacity is fixed, so if you go over, you pay a lot of penalties.”

    The machine also has a new self-diagnostics system that delivers information about its performance and different parameters, such as oil quality, pressure and pump and extruder efficiency.

    “When the parameters go below a certain level, an alarm says please check or within 200 operating hours you need to do maintenance. This makes it possible to actually predict when maintenance service is requested,” Graziadei said. “It works similar to the car when lamps come on saying you have to do maintenance. We can offer maintenance services ahead of when it is needed and prevent unexpected downtime of the machines.”

    S.T. Soffiaggio also put in a pneumatic power multiplier that can almost triple pressure power for a short time.

    “If you run the machine on 8 bars of pressure, you can have up to 20 bars for a short amount. This gives you two main advantages,” Graziadei said. “One is a better surface quality because you have more power that pushes the plastic to the wall of the mold, especially if you have writing on it. You can see it better. Another thing is a small increase of the cooling. You have better cooling if the plastic is pushed toward the mold in a strong way.”

    The company is heavily focused on the automotive segment, which makes up about 60 percent of its revenue. However, it does make conventional blow molding machines of larger sizes. Most clients produce items that from 30 to 2,000 liters.

    S.T. Soffiaggio also is the only suction blow molding partner of DuPont Co., which sells high-tech polymers and has its machines in labs in Switzerland and Japan.

    “We do a lot of testing,” Graziadei said. “Whenever they put out new materials, they are first run on our machines. This helps us have better machines. Whenever they have problems or issues, we can adjust our machines to their specific need.”

    While the auto sector is a big end market for customers, the company was in love with the idea of making black nylon tennis rackets at K 2016.

    “It's our tradition to come out with a nice gadget to show the capability of the machines and have something for people to remember,” Graziadei said.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    logo-pn-color
    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber & Plastics News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Plastics News China
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • What Keeps You Up At Night
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
        • Polymer Points Live
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • FYI Charts
        • Current FYI
      • LSR World
      • Multimedia
        • Videos
        • Galleries
        • Podcasts
      • NPE2021
      • K Show
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Best Places to Work
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • Heavy Metal
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Plastics in Healthcare
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Ask the Expert
      • Polymer Points Live
      • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
      • Plastics in Healthcare Library
      • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Data Store
    • Directory
    • More+
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified
      • Digital Edition
      • Newsletters
      • Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Processor of the Year submissions