Small investment can pay big dividends

This issue of Best Practices goes to South Elgin, Ill., and custom molder Hoffer Plastics Co. — and Hoffer's magnetic attraction to Bunting Magnetics Corp. The message: A relatively small investment can head-off major production problems and costly downtime.

Several years ago, Hoffer installed Bunting FF drawer magnets on the feed throats of the company's machines. The magnets remove metal contamination from plastic material before the resin enters the press, where the metal can cause major damage to the equipment and get into the molded part.

It can be expensive. "At least $1,500 to $5,000 of part expenses will be incurred if metal gets into the hot runner or mold," said Charlotte Canning, Hoffer's vice president of brand and culture.

Hoffer Plastics makes some unique products, such as the Tether Lok, a one-piece spout and cap fitment, so it's important that the operations are not compromised.

Canning noted the major expense of the cost of labor to carry out repairs, as well as the costs of downtime on production.

"It is more than fair to assume that if metal got into the mold and worse, even into the manifold, that we would lose 48 hours," Canning said. "Conservatively, I would add another $5,500 to the tooling total to include downtime."

Marc Suderman, product manager of Bunting's magnetic separation division, said the Bunting FF drawer magnets have been on the market for about 40 years. "Hoffer has been a long-term customer of Bunting for decades," he said. "They show that a little investment can make a large impact to maintaining on-time delivery and quality products."

Bunting Magnetics is based in Newton, Kan.