Plastics News Show Daily - April 5, 2012 - (Page 66)

66 PLASTICS NEWS, April 5, 2012 RJG touts pre-production molding analysis By Rhoda Miel PLASTICS NEWS STAFF ORLANDO, FLA. — RJG Inc. (Booth 2883) is bringing the machine into pre-production molding analysis. While there are multiple software firms that offer ways to digitally design and virtually fill molds before the steel is cut, the monitoring and mold-training firm is using its knowledge of injection molding press nozzles, clamping pressure, shot size and other data to bear in preproduction planning. “This is the kind of information companies need to even figure out if makes sense for them to bid on a program,” said Gary Chastain, training manager for RJG. Most software programs on the market are built Orlando Continued from Page 1 from Chicago that are very familiar with the rigging for this kind of equipment,” he said. “And when you’re taking off a machine that weighs 65,000 pounds, you want somebody who’s very experienced in doing so.” Peter Neumann noted that the Orange County Convention Center has more loading areas than McCormick Place, so move-in and move-out takes less time. That’s part of the cost savings, he said. “This hall has so many entrance doors. So we could enter with the machines parallel to other exhibitors. In Chicago, you have one big entrance door and you have to line [trucks] up there. The waiting time costs you a lot,” said Neumann, president and CEO of Engel Holding GmbH. Before the show opened on April 2, there were some concerns about the electric power capacity in Orange County Convention Center. “The power concerns are not when all the machines are running. It’s when everybody starts up in the morning. That’s the biggest power surge,” said Mark Sankovitch, president of Engel Machinery Inc. There was some talk of the need for staged startups each morning. But machinery executives said that was not necessary. Companies could erect their own machines and hook up their own utilities. That was a big cost savings, officials said. “The connection to our machine in the past, in Chicago, we weren’t allowed to do this,” Heinson said. “But here we did everything. The electric, the water. All the utilities. So here our people could really work. In Chicago, our people could only instruct other people to work. But the other people were no experts, you see? So it took longer and was much less efficient.” Neumann said the electrical hookups cost big money. “It was really a very expensive issue in Chicago and we would only give them advice.” Starr, who is Milacron’s director of global marketing, said exhibitors to NPE2012 paid for a bundle package that included all costs, including labor. But using Milacron employees for much of the work was a positive change compared to Chicago, he said. “It’s a great thing, because you already have the electrical engineers and individuals that are capable of doing so, and now you are able to use them, as opposed to them directing somebody else, as you would in Chicago,” Starr said. around mold design and use a library of information about material. RJG, which has long used machinery and press statistics and engineering specifications to help molders set up production on the shop floor, has now combined its data with the assistance from Sigma Plastic Services Inc.’s Sigmasoft (Booth 65027) to provide an even tighter snapshot of real world production during the planning process. That will not only help molders determine which projects they should take on, Chastain said, it will also cut the time needed for pre-launch part qualification. “They can use that information to decrease the number of days needed in setup,” he said. RJG has also added another trainer to its staff and is launching a shortened session for workers who have been through the mold floor training previously, but want to brush up on their skills as well as learn new technology. The company is also introducing new monitoring equipment, updating its established lines and adding new capabilities, includ- ing real-time monitoring of cooling lines. RJG is also introducing a touch screen version of its eDART control. The touch screen is easier to use, Chastain said, and also includes an option to contact an RJG engineer for real-time problem solving — a benefit for any company running 24 hours a day, seven days a week who need access to engineers at all hours. MedPlast Continued from Page 3 integrated, one-stop supplier” in health-care and non-medical product markets. In addition to UPG’s China presence, the other driving factor there are any problems with shipping, compared to seeing an entire cargo container of damaged goods when it is shipped in bulk from Asia. When the company received an order March 1 from California retailer Beverages & More, it was able to ship and deliver new bowls March 8. And Simple Wave is not the only company that has been following the trade route back home. “I used to get a call once a quarter [about reshoring],” Appleblom said. “Now I get one once a week. Some people are coming back. It’s not a question of if they will, it’s a question of when.” Plastics News staff reporter Angie DeRosa contributed to this story. been supplying the Braskem PP plant there with propylene. Robert Nadin, Braskem America commercial and supply vice president, said the situation in Marcus Hook isn’t as dire as it first appeared. Although Sunoco was the plant’s largest propylene supplier, it never supplied even half of the plant’s needs. Since the refinery closed, Braskem already has been contacted by several suppliers looking to fill the plant’s propylene requirements, Nadin said. Longer term, Nadin said that North American PP demand growth should rebound and average 2-3 percent for the next several years. “We’ll see strength in segments like automotive and packaging, where polypropylene is the material of choice,” he added. Musa added that the amount of on-purpose propylene being Bowls Continued from Page 4 went to Jatco. The injection molder also has operations in China and South Carolina. “We spent about four hours just looking at the numbers, and once we could see we were close, the decision was made on the spot,” Appelblom said. Being “on the spot” has also led to other benefits. When Simple Wave wanted to develop new packaging, Jatco could develop a prototype and samples in everyone’s hands within a week. Working from Asia, Appleblom said, that process could take a month. Bollengier and Stump can also respond almost immediately if for the acquisition was the pairing of complementary technologies, said Langton. “UPG brings a wide range of value-added capabilities to the table including partial- and full-assembly, contract sterilization, lab services [and] global supply chain logistics management.” MedPlast’s capabilities include injection molding, blow molding, silicone extrusion, compression and transfer molding, liquid injection molding, two-shot molding, multicomponent molding and precision mold making The acquisition continues a trend of contract manufacturers merging and making acquisitions to grow in size and gain geographic presence. “The two biggest drivers are that big OEMs are asking contract manufacturers to be closer to their own manufacturing locations, and that OEMs are looking to reduce their suppliers and also want suppliers that are more vertically integrated,” said Mark Bonifacio, president of Natick, Mass.-based Bonifacio Consulting Services LLC. “We will see contract manufacturing organizations emerge that have more scale and that have sales of several hundred million dollars.” made in North America “should increase drastically in just the next three years, which should improve the supply situation and hopefully reduce price volatility. He said Braskem currently has no plans to enter into on-purpose propylene production. Braskem materials are being run by several companies at NPE2012, including: ● Bekum America Corp. blow molding bottles using Green PE in Booth 2163. ● Davis Standard running Green PE on a cast-film line in Booth 5945. ● BMB SpA injection molding high-melt-flow PP in Booth 323. ● Boy Machines Inc. molding PP in Booth 2819, demonstrating high clarity for eyeglass frames. ● Milacron LLC is running clarified random copolymer PP to produce housewares lids in Booth 2803. coming from customers that want more automation, to get more out of the molds they buy, or look to MGS’ molding units for better manufacturing and delivery. MGS also developed and sells a bolt-on second injection unit that it uses on its own equipment and sells to other molders that are looking to bring in two-shot molding, but without the expense of buying an all-new press. Braskem Continued from Page 1 also is in the works. In Mexico, construction has begun on Ethylene XXI, a massive joint venture that when completed will have more than 2 billion pounds of annual capacity for high density and low density PE and a similar amount of capacity for ethylene feedstock. The project — a JV between Braskem and Mexican conglomerate Grupo Idesa SA de CV — is expected to create 3,000 permanent jobs. Ethylene XXI is set to be operational in mid-2015, but Musa said that officials “are trying to make it sooner.” Braskem’s big splash into the North American PP world has come in the last two years, when it’s bought the PP businesses of Sunoco Inc. and Dow Chemical Co., immediately making Braskem one of North America’s largest PP makers. But that status hasn’t come without its challenges, since volatility in supplies of propylene monomer have sent PP pricing haywire, causing processors to look at other materials in some cases. On top of that, Braskem was dealt a blow when Sunoco in December closed a gasoline refinery in Marcus Hook, Pa., that had Kautex Machines Inc. 201 Chambers Book Road North Branch, NJ 08876 PH: 908-252-9350 Your Single Source Supplier of Extrusion Blow Molding Machines and Turn-Key • Packaging (consumer and Systems for industrial) • Technical Parts • Automotive products (fuel tanks, filler pipes, ducts etc.) • Up to seven layers including 3D and suction blow molding MGS Continued from Page 1 us in early,” Berg said. “It gets us to the table early on, where we can make a real difference.” MGS has one of its multishot tools in production at NPE2012 at Krauss-Maffei Corp. (Booth 1503). Some of the demand is also Made to Move your Business See us at NPE booth 1751 

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Plastics News Show Daily - April 5, 2012

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