Plastics Technology

FEB 2018

Plastics Technology - Dedicated to improving Plastics Processing.

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counts to 5 microns. The facility has the flexibility to segregate and upgrade another 4000 ft 2 of white-room space to a clean room. Also, modular, temporary clean rooms can be erected around machines in the white-room area, if needed. Octex also upgraded its injection machinery stock, retiring some older presses used to mold cups, etc., and bringing in new machines in several phases. The current line-up includes 25-35 injection machines (the population is still in flux) of 15 to 400 tons. Six new presses arrived in the past year—two 55-ton Engel presses and four KraussMaffei models (65 to 200 tons) of the new CX series, "with all the bells and whistles," Hoskins says, including extra valves and switches and a gas accumulator. Octex also bought extra injection barrels in different sizes for the Engel and KM machines. "These give us added flexibility. We can swap barrels in 45 min," Hoskins explains. In 2015, Octex also added a Wittmann Battenfeld MicroPower 15-metric-ton, all-electric micro- molding system, one of just a handful of such machines in the world. It has shot sizes down to 0.05 g and can mold parts as small as 0.0008 g with micro and "near-nano" feature capability. It is molding PEEK parts in the 0.02 g range. The entire machine is a Class 5 & 6 clean room with integrated automation and inspection capabilities. Micro parts are a new business direction for Octex, one that Hoskins expects will grow, though it will require additional parallel investments in micro tooling capabilities. Several more machine purchases are planned, including an Engel two-shot press, a vertical machine, and larger sizes beyond 500 tons. Four new Engel and KM presses are due for installation (and four more are planned) in Launch Center 34, a white room to be dedicated to a demonstration facility for the company's new quick-launch program, called Launchpad (discussed below). The machine builders will use this as a demo area to show other customers their newest machines, Hoskins says. Other upgrades coming soon include new Novatec blenders and dryers, as well as a Frigel central cooling system. Octex is also investing in automation. While most machines already are equipped with Cartesian robots (some able to heft up to 80 lb), a new cell will have two six-axis articulated robots serving two side-by-side presses to laser mark, assemble, test, and box parts. Already in operation is a medical cell in which the end-of- arm tooling (EOAT) for the Cartesian robot cost a whopping $100,000. It is designed to demold 32 delicate medical parts in 2.5 sec and is equipped with laser and optical sensors for good/bad part detection and for mold protection. Sophisticated controls are necessary to guide removal of groups of parts from multiple angles. The cavities are arranged in vertical rows round a convex curve, so each row is at an angle to the next. The robot deposits the parts in a home-made device with multiple chutes to achieve cavity separation for quality control. This replaces manual sorting and saves 30 sec per cycle and the need for an operator. "That's what Lean means to us—eliminating whole processes," remarks Wigton. CULTURE IS KING According to Wigton, all the new hard- ware and facilities upgrades would be useless without one additional ingre- dient. "Culture is the most important part of our business," he asserts. "Our culture comes down to three words," Hoskins explains: • " Engage: Always question things; be proactive—don't wait for the cus- tomer to come to you. • " Innovate: Take hold of new, fresh ideas; embrace nascent cutting-edge technologies. • " Evolve: Embrace new partnerships, envision the world you want, and make it so. "There's a lot of misunderstanding of what culture really means. People say, 'We have a culture of continuous improvement.' We say that is a byproduct of a company's culture, not the culture itself." BIG AMBITIONS "Our goal is to offer the ultimate in high-precision, high-cavitation tooling," proclaims Hoskins. Choice Tool is pursuing that ambi- tion in a renovated building with a 32-ft ceiling, new LED lighting, and an engineering area elevated above the production floor—"so Extreme automation: This robot's end-of- arm tooling cost $100,000 to demold 32 delicate medical parts from a curved mold face in 2.5 sec, using laser and optical sensors and sophisticated controls. Parts are deposited below in an in-house- developed cavity separation system, which eliminates the need for manual sorting. "What do customers really want? To get new products to market faster." 58 FEBRUARY 2018 Plastics Technology PTonline.com Octex Group On-Site

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