An 8,000-ton dream for Milacron, 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics

One of the largest injection molding machines ever built in North America — an 8,000-ton Milacron press that's 94 feet long with 38 miles of wiring — is now installed at 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics LLC in Holiday City, Ohio.

The Milacron C-8000 features a total shot weight of 325 pounds, two injection units and a 260-millimeter feedscrew that power a 5-inch-per-second injection velocity.
"The C-8000 will open opportunities that have never existed before because of machine limitations," said Mike Gepfert, chief operating officer of 20/20 CMP.
The company is pursuing the bigger-is-better strategy to tackle wider market opportunities — think products like large plastic pallets for material handling, underground enclosures for the telecommunications and utilities markets, large pipe fittings and corrugated drainage tile.
A few years ago, the company installed a 6,750-ton Milacron press.
The foresight 20/20 CMP officials had about the growing need for large-tonnage technology was spot on. With hindsight being 20/20, the molder and Milacron moved on to a bigger brother.

"The C-6750 was already sold out by the time we actually started running it," President Ronald Ernsberger said. "Another larger-tonnage option was needed as a backup."

The Milacron C-8000 behemoth puts 20/20 CMP into an even more exclusive niche among large-part injection molders.

The C-8000 install is part of a $30 million expansion investment that began in 2018, according to Gepfert.

Founded in 1999, the company offers structural foam, structural web, gas-assist and high-pressure injection molding for a variety of markets, including construction, industrial, commercial, institutional and janitorial.

The company has a fleet of 45 Milacron-only presses at its headquarters and production plants in Bluffton, Ind., and Covington, Ga. (formerly Vantage Products Corp.), where it employs 650 people.

With $195 million in annual sales, 20/20 CMP ranks No. 54 among injection molders in North America, according to Plastics News data.

Another 30-40 jobs will be created to operate the C-8000. Gepfert said the machine will initially serve existing customers with new and existing product lines, but others are in line.

The giant C-8000 and its smaller counterpart are the latest in a long line of large-tonnage machines produced for 20/20 CMP. The C-8000 weighs 1.8 million pounds, excluding the mold. The moving platen cast weight comes in at 152 tons.

"The sheer size of this machine is hard to put into words, but its unique design and processing stats speak volumes," Milacron President Mac Jones said.

Jones called the C-8000 "a large-part powerhouse designed by some of the best plastics processing engineers in the world."

"Partnering with customers like 20/20 by providing cutting-edge solutions remains our focus, as well as our commitment, to the plastics processing industry," Jones said.

Ron Hertzer, Milacron's director of new product development, a 40-year veteran of the injection molding industry, collaborated with Ernsberger to lay the foundation for the cutting-edge machines.

"The Milacron C-6750 and C-8000 came to be due in large part to two experts in the industry who never settle for the status quo," Jones said. "Ron Ernsberger's vision conceived the prototypes from market demand he saw coming through the pipeline. And our Milacron team was the brains behind the custom design and development of both monster machines, with our Ron Hertzer at the helm."

Ernsberger said his company has always been a fan of Milacron's clamp technology and reliability and the staff's collaborative spirit.

"With Milacron, it's been a true partnership," he said.

Known as the "big brother" to Milacron's C-6750 machine, the C-8000's four-tie-bar design and its size-to-fit function for multiple molds give it a leg up in the plastics manufacturing space, according to the machine builders.

While a handful of 8,000-ton presses have been built by Milacron, Engel and Haitian, Milacron is the first North America-based OEM to produce an 8,000-ton press for a North America-based molder, according to the company.

The new four-tie-bar design enables more versatile access and overhead part retrieval than the eight-tie-bar systems other OEMs provide on their large-tonnage machines, according to the machine builders.

The C-8000's massive tie-bars reach nearly 38 feet in length and 1.75 feet in diameter.

The machine's 94-foot footprint allows it to provide an ample amount of a resource that's often sought after in the plastics processing space: daylight. The greater the extended daylight a machine possesses, the larger the mold the machine can handle, and the larger plastic part it can produce.

The C-8000 provides a bit more than 28 feet of daylight from its 24-foot clamp-stroke capacity, making it a dynamic machine that can handle mold sizes from just under 4 feet to more than 21 feet.

"This machine was designed with maximum flexibility," Gepfert said. "We can process multiple molds with multiple cavitation, in two different colors and/or materials. With 340 inches of daylight, we can mold ultra-deep-draw parts, stack molds, including those with deep draw part geometry. With a 325-pound shot capacity, large, heavy parts are also possible. I am not aware of a part that exists today which would exceed this machine's capabilities."

The magnitude of production the Milacron machines offer is now 20/20's "claim to fame," according to Ernsberger.

"The capacity these large-tonnage machines provide thrusts us into a unique position within the marketplace that's unsurpassed," he said.

Although there are several other molders out there with large machine capabilities, Gepfert said when machine specifications and capabilities are compared, "we believe our 6750-ton and 8000-ton machines set us apart today."

Ernsberger likens the machines to reliable workhorses.

"We want machines we can not only rely on for maximum repeatable output, but that make our employees' lives easier with software control platforms and processing technology they are familiar with, as well as machines that are easy for them to transition between while servicing a variety of customer needs," Ernsberger said.

Gepfert sees the partnership with Milacron continuing as the machine builder evolves in the plastics processing solutions space.

"As a custom molder, we always want a plan for what doesn't quite yet exist," Gepfert said. "In order to be competitive, we can't be constrained. Milacron understands this about us and has always been willing to take it to the next level."