Winning companies put technology to work

The Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors announced winners of its Innovation Award in late August. The contest, the third for MAPP, focused on automation. More than 250 industry professionals voted on 22 submissions.

First place was awarded to Intertech Plastics Inc., a Denver custom molder and MAPP member that boosted its presence in medical molding four years ago by acquiring Image Molding Inc., another Denver molder. Intertech won based on its presentation of how it automated a medical molding cell.

Faced with stringent demands for the medical component, Intertech built its own machine-side, automated work cell to take on the 3.2 million parts job last year. The cell relied on integrated process control and automated quality inspection to achieve zero defects.

Intertech President Jim Kepler said in a phone interview that the part is butterfly shaped with intricate features that cause asymmetric melt flow. The part has five living hinges and a locking tab at the far end that was key to its assembly into a medical product. Getting the tab right was critical. The job was difficult, with several pressure drops and spikes in the part and the threat of micro-shorts. Defects couldn't be detected with the human eye but the customer demanded zero defect shipments

"We added a visual inspection system with four cameras," Kepler explained.

"End-of-arm tooling presents the part for inspection to look for micro defects and distortion. We programmed the cameras by showing them good parts. If they saw a bad part it was rejected. If we got three rejects in a row we shut the system down to see what was going on."

The customer initially suggested Intertech add a second operator at the cell and increase quality assurance inspections to make sure no bad parts got shipped. But Intertech believed more automation was the solution rather than adding more production staff. Intertech felt automation would cut reject rates as well as decrease contamination in part handling and inspection. Automation would also lessen the risk of repetitive-motion injury.

Intertech used "watch dog" software for process control. The software monitors parameters during each cycle to make sure they are within limits and it communicates with the cell's automation to reject parts made outside the parameter limits. Each molded part from the four-cavity tool went into its own chute, allowing parts to be quarantined from each cavity.

The company spent about $66,000 to build the automated quality inspection cell in house. Return on investment was only 8.4 months just on labor savings alone because one operator's time was replaced by one-tenth of an operator's time.

Intertech also designed and built the manufacturing cell's end-of-arm tooling that features multiple gripper points and stabilizing features. Electronic part detection means the robot will alarm out and prevent mold closure if parts are not pulled from the mold correctly.

The company ran the molding cell with zero defects for eight months. Intertech's initiative earned the company preferred supplier status. Intertech replicated the technology to three additional work cells.

Microplastics Inc. took second place for a complex, under-the-hood auto component injection molded from glass- and mineral-filled polybutylene terephthalate. This connector header for a control housing includes 20 electrical terminal pins which must be precisely placed on the part measuring 4 inches by 3 inches by 2 inches.

"It was a totally new program," said Jim Krause, vice president of engineering.

"What drove it was a big boost in annual volumes, from 400,000 parts to 650,000 parts," he explained in a phone interview.

Microplastics had been molding the part for an undisclosed Tier 1 automotive supplier. It needed to increase output this year by about 60 percent to supply the increased annual demand. A company team needed to cut the amount of labor by 50 percent through reduced part handling while minimizing floor space and maintaining a very low parts-per-million defect rate.

"The project was on time and within budget," noted Krause.

Key to the solution was coming up with a way to place the 20 metal terminal pins precisely and efficiently. The part is first injection molded, then fed on a track where the metal pins are cut and fitted into the part. The rotary style setup includes controls in the manufacturing cell that automatically lock when variance arises.

Microplastics built the automation systems in the cell. Automatic cutting and stitching of the pins was the heart of the cell. The part is leak tested and vision inspected. Cycle time for the multi-step process is 20 seconds.

The footprint of the cell, at about 120 square feet, was less than half the space that a traditional approach would have entailed. Only one operator is required to run the cell.

Microplastics, founded in 1989, is an employee-owned business. It has been a MAPP member for 10 years. Its 50,000-square-foot St. Charles, Ill., facility runs three shifts making insert-molded components for customers in automotive, computer, appliance, electronics and medical industries. It strives for a high degree of automation for its vertical and horizontal injection molding machines to keep costs competitive

Third-place Makuta Technics impressed award judges with its 2-shot micromolding of a medical part with critical dimensions. The part is a small valve for a drug delivery syringe for an undisclosed customer. The parts combine a polypropylene body with a soft, overmolded thermoplastic elastomer tip. Engineers for the Shelbyville, Ind., company strove to develop a system that had to demold, inspect and bag the part without human contact.

Makuta chose an all-electric, horizontal Sumitomo Demag injection press for each of two cells molding the part. The press has dual injection units and a high-speed rotating plate. A dual-arm Star robot removes the part from the mold and hands off to a Fanuc robot that presents the part for in-line camera inspection. The camera inspects the part for critical properties before signaling acceptance and then bagging of the part or it signals rejection of the part for disposal. The part must show no flash, gate vestige or evidence of a short shot while conforming to critical dimensions at the micrometer scale.

"That job is typical for us," said Makuta President Stu Kaplan in a phone interview. "There can be no variance from one cell to another. It's a marriage of the [injection] machine and the mold."

Kaplan said Makuta emphasized scientific molding methods for the cells that run around the clock each day for weeks at a time. An operator is needed only for the first shift to set parameters.

U.S.-owned Makuta is part of the Sansyu Group, a $100 million per year company which claims to be the oldest and largest micro injection molding and micro mold-making company in the world. Makuta routinely holds tolerances down to 5 microns. Its Shelbyville plant is ISO 9001 certified with a Class 8 clean room. The facility also is audited to ISO 13485 medical standards The company claims it can micromold engineering thermoplastics with processing temperatures of up to 806°F.

Kaplan was generous with praise for other innovation winners.

"Companies that won are formidable and good MAPP members," Kaplan said.

Tied for third place was Wisconsin Plastics Inc., a custom injection molder and MAPP member in Ashwaubenon, Wis., near Green Bay.

"With this project our intent was not to replace people with machines, but to leverage technology using collaborative robots to enhance and complement human efficiency," said Carl Bartle, plant manager, in a news release.

Wisconsin Plastics combined a new Universal robot with a standard machine robot to pick, place and pad print components in a human assembly line. The new robot allowed the company to increase throughput for the assembly line by 25 percent while eliminating three assemblers per shift from the overall process. The company was able to reassign the three workers and start up another complete assembly line.

The labor savings were dramatic. The collaborative robot, or cobot as it is often called, runs 24 hours a day at a rate of about $5 per hour and replaces nine human assemblers spread over three shifts making $20 per hour in loaded wages.

Universal brand robots are supplied by Teradyne Inc. of North Reading, Mass. The cobots are flexible, low-cost, easy-to-deploy machines that work alongside production workers to improve quality and efficiency, claims Teradyne. They can do varied tasks such as tending injection presses, packaging, and assembly to boost productivity, reduce injury and lift morale in repetitive tasks.

Teradyne bought Universal Robots in 2015. The Odense, Denmark, company was founded in 2005 by Danish engineers who concluded the market for robots was dominated by heavy, expensive and unwieldy robots. They strove to make robotics accessible to small and medium-sized businesses.

The Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors announced winners of its Innovation Award in late August. The contest, the third for MAPP, focused on automation. More than 250 industry professionals voted on 22 submissions.

First place was awarded to Intertech Plastics Inc., a Denver custom molder and MAPP member that boosted its presence in medical molding four years ago by acquiring Image Molding Inc., another Denver molder. Intertech won based on its presentation of how it automated a medical molding cell.

Faced with stringent demands for the medical component, Intertech built its own machine-side, automated work cell to take on the 3.2 million parts job last year. The cell relied on integrated process control and automated quality inspection to achieve zero defects.

Intertech President Jim Kepler said in a phone interview that the part is butterfly-shaped with intricate features that cause asymmetric melt flow. The part has five living hinges and a locking tab at the far end that was key to its assembly into a medical product. Getting the tab right was critical. The job was difficult, with several pressure drops and spikes in the part and the threat of micro shorts. Defects couldn't be detected with the human eye, but the customer demanded zero defect shipments

"We added a visual inspection system with four cameras," Kepler explained.

"End-of-arm tooling presents the part for inspection to look for micro defects and distortion. We programmed the cameras by showing them good parts. If they saw a bad part, it was rejected. If we got three rejects in a row, we shut the system down to see what was going on."

The customer initially suggested Intertech add a second operator at the cell and increase quality assurance inspections to make sure no bad parts got shipped. But Intertech believed more automation was the solution rather than adding more production staff. Intertech felt automation would cut reject rates as well as decrease contamination in part handling and inspection. Automation would also lessen the risk of repetitive-motion injury.

Intertech used "watchdog" software for process control. The software monitors parameters during each cycle to make sure they are within limits, and it communicates with the cell's automation to reject parts made outside the parameter limits. Each molded part from the four-cavity tool went into its own chute, allowing parts to be quarantined from each cavity.

The company spent about $66,000 to build the automated quality inspection cell in-house. Return on investment was only 8.4 months just on labor savings alone because one operator's time was replaced by one-tenth of an operator's time.

Intertech also designed and built the manufacturing cell's end-of-arm tooling that features multiple gripper points and stabilizing features. Electronic part detection means the robot will alarm out and prevent mold closure if parts are not pulled from the mold correctly.

The company ran the molding cell with zero defects for eight months. Intertech's initiative earned the company preferred supplier status. Intertech replicated the technology to three additional work cells.

Microplastics Inc. took second place for a complex, under-the-hood auto component injection molded from glass- and mineral-filled polybutylene terephthalate. This connector header for a control housing includes 20 electrical terminal pins that must be precisely placed on the part measuring 4 inches by 3 inches by 2 inches.

"It was a totally new program," said Jim Krause, vice president of engineering.

"What drove it was a big boost in annual volumes, from 400,000 parts to 650,000 parts," he explained in a phone interview.

Microplastics had been molding the part for an undisclosed Tier 1 automotive supplier. It needed to increase output this year by about 60 percent to supply the increased annual demand. A company team needed to cut the amount of labor by 50 percent through reduced part handling while minimizing floor space and maintaining a very low parts-per-million defect rate.

"The project was on time and within budget," noted Krause.

Key to the solution was coming up with a way to place the 20 metal terminal pins precisely and efficiently. The part is first injection molded, then fed on a track where the metal pins are cut and fitted into the part. The rotary style setup includes controls in the manufacturing cell that automatically lock when variance arises.

Microplastics built the automation systems in the cell. Automatic cutting and stitching of the pins was the heart of the cell. The part is leak tested and vision inspected. Cycle time for the multi-step process is 20 seconds.

The footprint of the cell, at about 120 square feet, was less than half the space that a traditional approach would have entailed. Only one operator is required to run the cell.

Microplastics, founded in 1989, is an employee-owned business. It has been a MAPP member for 10 years. Its 50,000-square-foot St. Charles, Ill., facility runs three shifts making insert-molded components for customers in automotive, computer, appliance, electronics and medical industries. It strives for a high degree of automation for its vertical and horizontal injection molding machines to keep costs competitive.

Third-place Makuta Technics Inc. impressed award judges with its 2-shot micromolding of a medical part with critical dimensions. The part is a small valve for a drug delivery syringe for an undisclosed customer. The parts combine a polypropylene body with a soft, overmolded thermoplastic elastomer tip. Engineers for the Shelbyville, Ind., company strove to develop a system that had to demold, inspect and bag the part without human contact.

Makuta chose an all-electric, horizontal Sumitomo Demag injection press for each of two cells molding the part. The press has dual injection units and a high-speed rotating plate. A dual-arm Star robot removes the part from the mold and hands off to a Fanuc robot that presents the part for in-line camera inspection. The camera inspects the part for critical properties before signaling acceptance and then bagging of the part or it signals rejection of the part for disposal. The part must show no flash, gate vestige or evidence of a short shot while conforming to critical dimensions at the micrometer scale.

"That job is typical for us," said Makuta President Stu Kaplan in a phone interview. "There can be no variance from one cell to another. It's a marriage of the [injection] machine and the mold."

Kaplan said Makuta emphasized scientific molding methods for the cells that run around the clock each day for weeks at a time. An operator is needed only for the first shift to set parameters.

U.S.-owned Makuta is part of the Sansyu Group, a $100 million per year company that claims to be the oldest and largest micro injection molding and micro mold making company in the world. Makuta routinely holds tolerances down to 5 microns. Its Shelbyville plant is ISO 9001 certified with a Class 8 clean room. The facility also is audited to ISO 13485 medical standards. The company claims it can micromold engineering thermoplastics with processing temperatures of up to 806°F.

Kaplan was generous with praise for other innovation winners.

"Companies that won are formidable and good MAPP members," Kaplan said.

Tied for third place was Wisconsin Plastics Inc., a custom injection molder and MAPP member in Ashwaubenon, Wis., near Green Bay.

"With this project our intent was not to replace people with machines, but to leverage technology using collaborative robots to enhance and complement human efficiency," said Carl Bartle, plant manager, in a news release.

Wisconsin Plastics combined a new Universal robot with a standard machine robot to pick, place and pad print components in a human assembly line. The new robot allowed the company to increase throughput for the assembly line by 25 percent while eliminating three assemblers per shift from the overall process. The company was able to reassign the three workers and start up another complete assembly line.

The labor savings were dramatic. The collaborative robot, or cobot as it is often called, runs 24 hours a day at a rate of about $5 per hour and replaces nine human assemblers spread over three shifts making $20 per hour in loaded wages.

Universal brand robots are supplied by Teradyne Inc. of North Reading, Mass. The cobots are flexible, low-cost, easy-to-deploy machines that work alongside production workers to improve quality and efficiency, claims Teradyne. They can do varied tasks such as tending injection presses, packaging and assembly to boost productivity, reduce injury and lift morale in repetitive tasks.

Teradyne bought Universal Robots in 2015. The Odense, Denmark, company was founded in 2005 by Danish engineers who concluded the market for robots was dominated by heavy, expensive and unwieldy robots. They strove to make robotics accessible to small- and medium-sized businesses.