Plastics & Rubber World - September/October 2019 - 18

thermoforming

Shape of things to come
cannon shelley's robert
Lornie reviews what's
new in the world of
thermoforming, looking
at machine performance
and routes for maximising
finished part output

Cannon Ergos CREA thermoformer with sheet-loading system

Industry 4.0 in
thermoforming lends
itself to driving ROI
Robert Lornie, Cannon Shelley

WWW.PRW.COM | september/october 2019

n first observation, thermoforming
is an inherently simple process. But
beneath that unassuming mantle
lies a series of technical challenges which
need to be managed in order to maximise
the return from each machine.
In addition to supplying a range of advanced CNC milling machines, Cannon
Ergos is a specialist manufacturer of thermoforming equipment. The machines
are marketed in the UK out of its headquarters in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, under the Cannon Shelley brand. In
an exclusive interview with PRW, Robert
Lornie, operations and technical sales
manager, starts by going into company
setup.
"We operate as a subsidiary of Cannon Ergos. The machines used to be produced by Shelley, but then production
was moved to Italy, the Lombardy region."
According to Lornie, manufacturing
of the machinery was moved in order
to reduce related production costs. In
addition, manufacturing of the machine
frames is different. "In the UK, thermoformers have welded frames. In Italy,
standard construction is to bolt frames
together," he says.
Looking at technical challenges, the
first is waste reduction. "With any thermoforming process, there's a set sequence
of processes which have to be executed
before you put your first off in," says Lornie. "Cannon has devised a system which
eliminates 99% of the issue. We can't
control differences in the sheet material,
but there's now a unique system on the
machines which gives full feedback. We

can control the machines more than ever
before."
Such advances remove the so-called
'black art' of thermoforming and replaces
that operator knowledge with software
and electronics. Lornie says there's an investment related to development of such
complex systems, but the company expects a reasonable return.
These systems lend themselves to Industry 4.0 data capture. Lornie explains
that product manufacturers are best
served by investing in new machinery in
one hit for best results.
"There are a lot of companies which
will daisy chain machines together and
collect data from across the shop floor.
But you can't put new machines in with
old and expect equivalent performance,
there are too many variables and anomalies. In some cases it's possible to retrofit
[systems], but that won't deliver the same
ROI. But install 10 new machines, you
would get the most benefit."
Such a setup would have to support
massive volumes, simply due to the low
value of the individual pieces - the same
characteristics which make thermoforming more attractive (where the tech supports part design) over other production
methods. Such an investment would
mean a shorter ROI payback and sector
competitiveness.
"As a market, the UK generally focuses on quality over quantity, but Industry
4.0 [in thermoforming] lends itself to
driving ROI," explains Lornie. Continuing,
he says there are companies in the UK
producing such volumes, but they're still

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Plastics & Rubber World - September/October 2019

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