Interplas 2023 provides their biggest UK platform yet for injection moulding solutions provider, The Wittmann Group.
Wittmann
Joint Wittmann Battenfeld UK MD’s Tracy Cadman and Dan Williams discuss the coming Wittmann technology to view at the NEC, this week (26th-28th September).
Three broad and overlapping themes drive the Wittmann presence at Interplas 2023 this year: Energy (ie machine) efficiency; automation and sustainability.
The company claims that eye-catching and ergonomic product design are always a given for its machines but the cost saving value for its customers is best enshrined in these three key principles.
‘Our SmartPower injection moulding machine is a good case in point,’ says Dan Williams. ‘It’s compact, barely audible and provides unbelievable energy savings through the harshest of production schedules. It’s also a perfect platform for many kinds of automated manufacture and multi shot moulding with Combimould.’
And sustainability? ‘Low energy manufacturing is a part of that as well,’ says Dan, ‘but a Wittmann 4.0 based manufacturing execution system (MES) also delivers injection moulding transparency for all to see. It is our experience that manufacturing routes today need that transparency and sustainability already baked in – and right back to the point of origin in terms of materials and their moulding parameters.’
Successful injection moulders in today’s circular economy, not only need to win business through the tried and tested efficiencies of the recent past they also need to show:
- evidence of sustainable manufacturing (via critical production data)
- evidence of completed sustainable projects within the company’s manufacturing environment.
- ISO-based environmental qualifications such as ISO 14001
Tracy Cadman added: ‘in many ways, the circular economy has made a competitive marketplace even tougher. It’s all the more reason for WIBA UK to be completely clear on facts such as energy consumption and ratings across all moulding equipment; not just IMMs but all ancillaries especially items directly involved with energy resources such as material dryers and mould temperature controllers.’
The company believes that the need for energy efficient and sustainable moulding has arrived just at the moment when Covid 19 has ravaged global manufacturing. Plastics processors today are looking at all kinds of shortfall in terms of labour and skills.
‘Our automated work solutions, therefore, need to be as clear, cost-effective and meaningful for people like never before,’ says Tracy. ‘Most of our customer conversations began from that point - “what people skills will this new automation project require going forward?” Unless and until the people side is resolved then the equipment side needs to wait.’
Wittmann injection moulding automation – developed over 30 years now – therefore stays extremely close to the expected parameters of the technology; uses graphics, icons and an array of intuitive techniques to make the setting and operating work as comprehensive and easy as possible. Interplas 2023 is expected to show more in this tradition.
Dan and Tracy are now both approaching their fourth anniversary at the helm of Wittmann’s UK subsidiary.
According to Wittmann, this Interplas 2023 window presents a perfect opportunity for WIBA UK to select and present the cream of this crop – all targeted on the win-win prosperity that the sector continually demands.