Reduced unit costs and enhanced precision
Pipe system specialist Peštan is focusing on the production of sound insulated plastic pipes and fittings for the future. They support very quiet building drainage at less than 12 decibels. A great deal of know-how goes into the products: from the material to the geometry of the fittings – the focus is on sound insulation. Tie-bar-less ENGEL victory machines meet the increasing precision requirements while at the same time reducing unit costs.
How does tie-bar-less technology reduce unit costs?
The decisive reason for choosing ENGEL and not Chinese suppliers, as was previously the case, was a change in the way costs are viewed: previously the focus was on investment costs, however, the focus is now on operating costs, machine availability and unit costs instead. The higher investment costs are paying off: the changes have resulted in faster mould set-up processes and reduced unit costs.
1) Set-up times cut in half
Mould set-up is an essential factor in pipe fitting production:
- Pipe fitting moulds cannot do without core-pulls. And often the core-pulls protrude laterally beyond the mould.
- Pipe fitting moulds are extremely large and complex compared to the part surface to be created.
- Tie-bar-less injection moulding machines are predetermined for this task: the moulds can be pushed into the barrier-free mould area in one piece and mounted directly from the side. ENGEL machines have helped us cut the set-up times by half and achieve utilisation times of over 90 percent. That's a very high value that directly affects the unit cost.
2) Smaller machines
The significantly smaller machines are another efficiency factor. Since the core-pulls cannot always protrude between the tie-bars, many pipe fitting moulds are deployed on very large machines that offer more clamping force than the moulding process requires. This is different with tie-bar-less machines. Only the cavities have to be in the area of the mould mounting platens. However, the mould edge and the mechanism can protrude beyond the platens. In this way, large moulds can be mounted on small injection moulding machines. This requires less energy and most importantly less space. The basis of comparison at Peštan for a 300-ton tie-bar-less machine is an 800-ton toggle-lever machine.
Other efficiency factors in the production of fittings include very high repeatability, which enables faster production, and reduced raw material usage thanks to plasticising consistency. It has proved possible to reduce the unit costs thanks to these advantages.
We have had our eye on tie-bar-less machines for a long time. On top of this, we wanted the best possible technology. We received very good advice from ENGEL right from the start.
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tie-bar-less machines offer you?
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More about our products from the article
The universal tie-bar-less machine
Our patented, tie-bar-less, hydraulic victory series maximises the space in the mould area – perfect for applications with protruding moulds such as those required in the production of pipe fittings
The hybrid tie-bar-less machine
Also tie-bar-less, the e-victory offers the same unbeatable advantages like our hydraulic victory series – and it is also extremely energy-efficient and precise thanks to its hybrid drive
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