Natech Plastics Inc. purchased and installed three new injection molding machines, which are now up and running at its Ronkonkoma, N.Y., plant.
"We were able to get them delivered and installed quickly," Noor Lone, digital content marketer at Natech, told Plastics News in an email.
Natech was able to start production four days after installing the machines, a June 19 news release said.
The company installed a new 470E 112-ton Arburg with an integrated robot, Nissei FNX280 with a YCII-250 servo-driven takeout Yushin robot, and Nissei FNX360 with a YCII-400 servo-driven takeout Yushin robot, the release said.
It also purchased new auxiliary equipment, including two Dri-Air dryers, which dry, mix and blend plastic resins.
Natech would not comment on the cost of the investment.
"The new Arburg and Nissei presses give engineers and operators more opportunities to efficiently run scientific molding," the release said. "Scientific molding is a data-driven approach that develops a reliable and repeatable process with little to no variation. Scientific molding optimizes the tool design and validates the part's end use."
"Because of the machine's new technology, we can develop more stable processes," Domingo Hernandez, plant manager of Natech, said in the release.
The new Arburg press has faster robot-to-machine integration, the release said. It also has a four-second difference in cycle time compared to the machine it replaced.
Natech's automation engineer, Sarah Worsham, programmed the machine to run automatically, it said.
"With a fully automatic process, the robot picks up the parts to put them on the conveyor. A fully automatic process helps produce the most parts per minute," Worsham said.
The new Nissei presses run bigger and smaller molds than the machine they replaced, the release said.
"With multiple machines that can run bigger molds, Natech has a more flexible schedule and clients don't have to wait because a machine isn't available to run their product," the release said.
The three machines replaced by the new purchases will be used at Natech's mold making facility for mold sampling and production. Natech has a total of 19 injection molding presses at three facilities.
Natech Plastics develops and manufactures products for medical device, diagnostics, pharmaceutical and consumer goods industries.