Smart injection molding: A step into the future of intelligent manufacturing

Transcription

1 Smart injection molding: A step into the future of intelligent manufacturing Save the Seas Organization Innovation of: Things Go Social

2 INTRODUCTION With the changing needs and demands of the consumer, the process of manufacturing the goods has also changed. Mass production or large scale manufacturing predominantly requires the use specialized technology and innovation for efficient production and quality while saving time with undiminished precision. Injection Molding is one such modus operandi but battling with problems of precision and efficiency. There is a need for high-quality cost-effective mass manufacturing by optimizing the process of injection molding for efficient and smooth processing accelerating production saving time and reducing costs. PAGE 2

3 PAGE 3 CONTENTS The role of Manufacturing Industry...4 The process of Injection Molding...5 Problems in Injection Molding...7 Our innovation of smart manufacturing...9 Things Go Social...10 Our self-organizing system...14 The payoff...16

4 PAGE 4 The role of Manufacturing Industry The final products and finished goods we use in our quotidian endeavors traverse a long way from raw materials to finished goods. And the process or the journey embarked is Manufacturing. With the volatile technological universe giving rise to innumerable innovations and advancements the manufacturing industry is undergoing radical and major shifts witnessing structural changes and improvements in the process and its equipment. Anything that we use today is manufactured highlighting the importance and need of manufacturing. It is a process of production, producing any or everything. There are a number of processes for manufacturing broadly categorized into Casting and molding processes, Forming processes, Fabrication processes, Material removal processes. Manufacturing industry is the yardstick of economic and social development of any nation. It is the backbone of any industrialized nation producing its development and standard of living. The root industry connected directly or indirectly to all the other industries.

5 PAGE 5 The process of Injection Molding With the changing needs and demands of the consumer, the process of manufacturing the goods has also changed. While some products are still manufactured by hand, some use high-end tools and cutting-edge technologies. Mass production or large scale manufacturing predominantly requires the use specialized technology and innovation for efficient production and quality while saving time with undiminished precision. One such modus operandi for manufacturing is Injection Molding. Injection molding is the most commonly used manufacturing process for the fabrication of plastic parts although a wide range of products is manufactured varying in their size, complexity, and application. The process entails melted plastic injected into the mold using the injection molding machine which then solidifies to become a finished product. It is predominantly used for mass production for producing parts in large volume. It draws benefits for scalable en masse manufacturing and for complex shapes with precision and efficiency. It is an additive manufacturing process where the injection unit heats the raw material until molten and injects them into the mold. It needs accurate control of temperature and pressure as different polymers melt at different temperatures. If the temperature is too low it will result in unmelted pieces affecting the performance and appearance. On the other hand, setting temperatures too high could result in degradation leading to poor appearance and reduced performance. Same goes for other factors like pressure, humidity, viscosity, so on and so forth.

6 PAGE 6 It is a widely practiced process of manufacturing for mass production. The process is principally used for thermoplastic materials which may be successively melted, reshaped and cooled. Injection molded components are used for almost every functional manufactured article from automotive products to food packaging. It is a multifaceted process for the production of high-quality products varying in complexities on a fully automated basis at high speed. While injection molding gives the benefit of economies of scale, inefficiency and defects can cause major losses. Moreover, it is an expensive process with expansive machine and tools making competency and proficiency an unavoidable pre-requisite The global injection molding market according to insights was valued at US$ million in 2016 with a projected growth of CAGR 6.0% over the forecast period ( ) highlighting the increasing need and popularity of the process.

7 PAGE 7 Problems faced with injection molding Injection molding is a mechanism for mass production, therefore, any defect or anomaly in the production results in mass loses and ruin along with major time lost making the whole production a futile endeavor leading to halting the production too. The time then is taken for the vain production then becomes a total loss-making business inefficient along with other major loss of resources and money. The major problems and defects arising in injection molding except unforeseen breakdowns arise from irregularities in pressure, viscosity, or temperature which cause defected production and final products. Some major defects are blisters, cavities, flow lines, short mold, etc arising from temperature and pressure fluctuations. The defects arise from the problems in the machine like any other machine. A major proportion of the defects and problems arise with temperature fluctuations and the lack of accurate temperature maintenance for production like overheating or low temperature. The liquidity of the material, on one hand, will be better with increased temperature, but, extremely high temperature, on the other hand, will accelerate heat degradation resulting in physicality deterioration of the molded article. Therefore, the temperature management is an important aspect to reduce the operator setup time ensuring consistent product quality and preventing thermal degradation of the melt with enhanced efficiency. Injection pressure is another important facet to be studied as the fill pressure a.k.a. primary pressure and the hold pressure, also known as secondary pressure. Customarily the fill pressure would be set stronger than the hold pressure. Defects like void, shrinkage, flash, etc can occur in case of low pressure whereas, in scenarios with high-pressure burrs, short shot can be caused. Then comes the defects arising due to speed disparity, the control over the injection speed is crucial to resolve the issues of jetting and flow mark. There is a need for negligible overshoot which is important to the plastics industry for preventing material overheating and wastage and reducing machine operator setup time.

8 PAGE 8 Optimizing machines for smart manufacturing Step in to the new phase of industrial revolution There is a need to make the manufacturing smarter, it s time to step into Industrial Revolution 5.0 to optimize the operations for producing efficient products affordably facilitating greater productivity.

9 PAGE 9 Our innovation of smart solution An integrated ecosystem with connected infrastructure and communication of machines and humans enhancing the process reliability.

10 PAGE 10 Things Go Social Thing Green, powered by Things Go Social (TGS), aims to make smart injection molding integrating, analyzing and regulating process parameters in a centralized management system. For user-friendly data management experience, we developed an online application, TGS console to facilitate various activities remotely. With advanced data analytics tools and AI algorithms, enable smart decision making. With our data acquisition device, we record all the machine parameters required for quality control and make it remotely accessible with our mobile application. We designed and developed a real-time monitoring solution for end-to-end visibility with realtime analysis and communication of the pressure, temperature, and machine health and status to ensure quality and enhanced process reliability along with the power of predictive maintenance to be one step ahead always. Know and control the defects even before they arise. This would reduce the number of rejected products exponentially thereby reducing the costs and losses. Thing green is an IoT device for data aggregation and wireless communication with remote accessibility using cloud connectivity and mobile applications.

11 Analyse. Identify. Optimize Smart machines = Intelligent manufacturing PAGE 11

12 PAGE 12 Our smart solution is an innovation for complete transparency with real-time monitoring to analyze, identify and correct the defects as when they occur with a bidirectional communication from the machine to the personnel and vice versa. This would determine complete control of the process parameters and machine health and status in real-time to detect failures and defects in real-time with energy and temperature monitoring. With personalized notifications, the production personnel would get real-time alerts and notifications whenever the temperature and pressure deviate from the set figures encouraging quicker follow-up actions and reducing the loss of time and money. With TGS collect, process, and analyze all relevant data on the machine, setup, process, and quality efficiently while saving time with improved quality. Monitor and intervene the process to maximize your control.

13 PAGE 13 Our dream of SUPER SMART INDUSTRIES We aim to build super smart industries with connected factories using industrial innovation for a better future with an enhanced process and increased control for efficiency. With Things Go Social we aim to bring industrial innovation for smart manufacturing with revolutionary human-machine interaction using cuttingedge embedded solutions and disruptive technologies of IoT and AI to increase the profitability with automation.

14 PAGE 14 Our self-organizing system making management smarter We provide a self-organizing system capable of efficient monitoring with real-time access to machine condition in the form of graphical interfaces with minimal human interference automating the MIS reporting. Moreover, ensure team-integrity with the common platform for collaboration with instant text messaging and media sharing. This would aid in giving process stability to predict faults based on analysis over process parameters with condition-based maintenance for predicting exact failures. OTA PLC Management to reduce the setup time and increase efficiency with AI-based plant management. A shift from reactive to preventive maintenance. Rather than taking actions when the anomaly arises, staying ahead would not only save a lot of time but also money, while optimizing the complete process. An advanced condition monitoring solution to keep a track of production quality to retain high quality and machine health to eliminate unforeseen breakdowns. Machine diagnostics decipher the potential breakdowns and anomalies with prognosis to give the power of predictive management. There is not only a need to optimize the production process but also the machine health and performance which obliquely affects the product quality and process efficiency while affecting the production cost, maintenance, and operational cost instantaneously. An integrated solution for not only machines but also for human resource management to optimize the complete process.

15 PAGE 15 Get accurate insights of the machine on personalized parameters which are wirelessly transmitted and delivered on our interactive easy-to-use interface to make it accessible on mobile devices saving time and reducing labor cost. Not only can you now manage the energy, machines, etc, our smart solution will also provide you with a platform for human resource management. It is an all-in-one solution for predictive management to prevent losses and inefficiencies.

16 PAGE 16 The Payoff A high-quality cost-effective manufacturing solution by making machines and processes like injection molding smarter to optimize manufacturing for efficient and smooth processing accelerating productivity, saving time, and reducing costs and downtime. With smart injection molding we aim to make manufacturing more efficient and employees more productive increasing the overall productivity and the no. of goods manufactured sans defects. By improving manufacturing we are enhancing the product quality for greater customer satisfaction and improved quality of living.