What if new technology upended some of the hard and fast rules of injection molding? Canon Virginia, Inc. is doing just that.
The company is taking an unconventional approach with its patented Shuttle Mold System. Molders for decades have searched for ways to reduce cycle time and cut the time spent cooling a mold after a part is run, in an unending effort to increase production.
Instead, Canon’s Shuttle Mold System embraces longer cooling and cycle times to make more parts. Instead of running only one mold at a time on a conventional press, the system doubles that number by using two molds that can each make unique parts. By doubling down on the number of molds used, production also can double without the added cost of buying a second machine. Part cost is potentially cut by half, even as cycle times can remain consistent.
Canon’s facility first developed the transformative technology in 2014 and began using it to make inkjet printer parts. The company had targeted a 50 percent part-cost reduction by working on changes to its process, said Wayne Daniel, Canon Virginia’s director of business development.