Plastics News 2017 Show Daily - October 17, 2017 - 13

Plastics News, October 17, 2017 * 13

FAKUMA SHOW DAILY

Engel highlights energy-savings benchmark
By David Vink
Plastics News Correspondent
Inject 4.0 is a large focus for Engel Austria GmbH, according to
Michael Feltes, packaging business
unit vice president.
Margins are tight for processors,
with material typically accounting
for 85 percent of closure part costs,
so reducing the 4-7 percent energy
cost share is important.
For Schwertberg, Austria-based
Engel, Industry 4.0 means iQ process monitoring and optimization
and the smart factory through
Engel's new subsidiary, Rankweil,
Austria-based T.I.G.
T.I.G. provides networking of production units, data transparency,
cloud concepts and e-service "so
that we as the machine producer
can have access to the machine,"
he said.
Packaging is a focus area for Engel, alongside automotive, medical,
teletronics and technical molding,
Feltes said. He was interviewed at
Drinktec 2017 in Munich.
The e-Cap
machine
T.I.G.
at Drinktec
had specific
Hall A5
energy conBooth 5113 sumption of
0.42 kWh/kg,
Engel
the complete
line 0.7 kWh/
Austria
kg. On this,
GmbH
Feltes said:
"We are the
Hall A5
worldwide
Booth 5204 benchmark.
The closest
competitor
would have 30 percent less energy
efficiency. We show this at Fakuma,
if not with quite so much detail."
The e-Cap machine molded 26mm high density polyethylene beverage caps with 82-gram shot and
0.85-gram part weight in a 96-cavity
Aqua 2522 mold from Eschlikon,
Switzerland-based
Corvaglia
Holding AG. The machine ran at a
2.15-second cycle for 160,000 closures per hour.
"We wanted to show a converter
a line just as he would install and
run it in his factory, fast and stable,
with good, usable parts falling out
of the mold. Earlier, one would have
said we have to get under 2 seconds, under 1.9 seconds, and this
is something we have quite consciously not sought at Drinktec," he
said.
He said if a machine at Fakuma
runs under 2 seconds, "everyone
stands around it with admiration,
even if there are sink marks. Here at
Drinktec, we can say it is less show,
more reality."
The mold was fitted by a hot runner system from San Polo di Piave
(TV), Italy-based HRSflow (Hall A2,
Booth 2217). Other equipment included a dry-air unit from Kündl,
Austria-based Dry Air Systems
GmbH and a chiller from Piovan
(Hall A7 7201), headquartered in
Santa Maria di Sala VE, Italy.
Industry 4.0 technology includes monitoring components like
screws, motors and drives. Michael
Schuster, Engel's packaging sales
director, said data connection with
Engel enables prediction of when a

screw needs replacement.
Feltes spoke of the importance
of the technology for motors and
drives: "It is normal that a machine
will break down, but as it does not
say when it will break down, production halts, upsetting the customer."
On Industry 4.0, Feltes said there
are technical and emotional hurdles, on IT infrastructure, security
fears with "big data," with some
customers not wanting machines
online.

"But that will change within 10
years; big data is already here," he
added. "We won't have a closed-Engel system like we did 10-15 years
ago, but need an open system using
a Euromap interface. Wishing that a
customer has 100 percent Engel machines is nice, but not so realistic."
With converters increasingly running networked production at customer sites, Feltes said the converter often becomes like a customer's
employee, paid by performance.
Hard yet transparent, it is already

practiced in the automotive industry. By being fact-based, it is better
than the conventional "I think you
are earning too much money approach" of the past.
Performance, precision and energy (PPE) are three main factors
for success, Feltes said, so costs of
molding machines and tools "are
completely irrelevant if PPE is done
properly. Therefore, we laugh when
customer wants a 50,000 euro rebate."
Schuster added that focusing on

capital expenditure only is still a
problem in many companies, which
has led to Chinese machinery producers advancing, "but machine
availability and output are more
important."
Feltes said customers need to
better understand how they earn
money, "which is why we talk about
price per part produced - and OEE
[overall economic efficiency]. But
buyers are at least starting to be
remunerated according to performance."

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