Circularity, new Freeformer in the spotlight for Arburg at K 2022

The plastics industry has been tasked with developing recyclable materials that can be reused as often and quickly as possible so their products won't be equated with waste — and machine builders are on the front line of the effort.

At Arburg GmbH + Co KG, some 3,600 employees are tackling global issues about resource conservation, the circular economy and carbon reduction.

"Our message in this regard is that, as machine manufacturers, we have understood the problem, we have recognized the scale of it, and we are doing our utmost to contribute to the solution — if possible working shoulder to shoulder with many others," Michael Hehl, an Aburg managing partner, said at a K 2022 news conference held Oct. 18.

The company's slogan — there is only a Plan A — represents how seriously the family-owned business accepts the task.

"We only have one world, and we all have to take responsibility for it! There's no alternative," Hehl said.

To master the challenges, machine builders need to be resilient, especially as they balance opportunities and risks, to stay in a competitive position, added Jürgen Boll, Arburg's managing director of finance and controlling IT.

"At Arburg, we have been acting in this spirit on an ongoing basis for decades. Our facts and figures prove this time and again," Boll said.

He expects Arburg will see sales of about 750 million euros in 2022, which puts the company above and "beyond the level" of 2018, which was a record year.

"We currently have a good order backlog and are manufacturing according to our planned production schedule," Boll said, emphasizing that is the case in spite of material shortages and supply bottlenecks.

"Sounds trivial but, in fact, it is not," he added. "It is a complex task that can only be accomplished with the right product range and planning systems. This creates the necessary resilience even in the event of material shortages."

Arburg's long-standing partnerships with predominantly local suppliers also helps as does its high level of vertical integration, Boll said.

As for opportunities for sales and to promote sustainability, Arburg officials introduced a new 3D printer — Freeformer 750-3X — that has an extremely large build area, which they say continues the trend in industrial additive manufacturing toward becoming more cost effective for day-to-day production.

The build chamber of the Freeformer 750-3X is about 2.5 times larger than its predecessor, the Freeformer 300-3X, yet it has the same external dimensions.

The part carrier now measures 750-square centimeters — the name of the system refer to this — but maintains stable temperatures as the result of other technical innovations, like the compact size, slimmer melt pressure generators for dosing and injecting, and servo motors from AMKmotion, a company in the Arburg family.

The new machines is faster, too, with a higher discharge frequency, and flexibility to produce larger parts or several articles in one work cycle.

Arburg developers also tweaked the Gestica brand control system, which is built into Allrounder injection molding machines, for the additive manufacturing process. This improved the Freeformer 750-3X's process stability, part quality and build time.

Arburg officials said this means that injection molding and industrial additive manufacturing are on the same platform in terms of controller technology.

The printer automatically calculates the amount of material required per layer and is capable of a higher discharge frequency following upgrades in data processing.

As a result, latticed-support structures, for example, can be created with a build time that is up to 55 percent faster than conventionally built structures.

In one case, Arburg officials said the build time for a hollow tube produced with a Freeformer 750-3X was reduced 60 percent compared to the standard printing time, which had been 17 hours and 33 minutes.

Changes to the lattice support structures as well as accelerated droplet discharge, boosted frequency and increased layer thickness — from 0.2 millimeters to 0.25 millimeters — were achieved in 7 hours and 4 minutes without compromising quality.

For another example, Arburg officials said the build time for an automotive window seal, which had been 67 hours and 32 minutes, was cut 85 percent to 9 hours and 38 minutes.

Arburg officials said the Freeformer system closes the gap from pure prototyping to small series production in terms of both its size and speed of construction.

With the year drawing to a close, Arburg officials are satisfied with 2022 results, "even though things are currently quieter in terms of incoming orders," according to Gerhard Böhm, managing director sales, service.

Böhm gave an overview of what Arburg is seeing in different markets and regions. He said in Germany and the rest of Europe, customers are cautious and limiting investments to core projects while the United States has shown staying power — so far.

"However, with inflation and money market developments having arrived, we are seeing the first signs of braking there as well," Böhm said. "Asia is still at a satisfactory level for us in terms of the annual planning. However, we expect a possible decline in demand there as well."

In terms of markets, automotive is improving in the area of new electric vehicles and medical has currently reached, or somewhat passed, its peak.

"The COVID wave is over and the sector is developing again as usual," Böhm said.

Arburg continues to receive "a good number" of inquiries from the electrical, electronics and packaging sectors, he added.

"Nevertheless, the requested volume is no longer at the level it was in 2021, for example," Böhm said. "In general, we can say that the consumption development in the short and medium terms will intensely influence the coming months."