Plastics & Rubber World - November/December 2019 - 28

Plastics industry awards 2019

supplier Partnership:
Prime Machinery

ingenious adaptation

(From left) Shaun Williamson, Colin Tirel and Mike Jordan, MD of Summit Systems

sponsored by

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here are three PIA Supplier Partnership categories, each of which
is intended to highlight how a given
company has worked with a customer to
achieve a mutually-agreed goal.
The Plastics Industry Awards judges
considered the collaboration between Arburg and Neoperl to be a prime example
of just such a collaboration. As a reminder,
Neoperl needed a new injection moulding
machine on a very short lead time and
Arburg used some ingenious know-how
to adapt an available unit to meet project
requirements.
PRW asked Colin Tirel, managing director of Arburg UK, whether the project
highlighted the flexibility of Arburg moulding machines or the problem-solving skills
of Arburg technicians.
"I'd have to say both," he replied. "At
that time, Neoperl hadn't any prior experience of Arburg machines, so we structured an intensive training programme
with their technicians. Credit must be given to Derek Cheetham, our applications
engineer, who worked tirelessly with the
team.
"But we always try and adopt a flexible,
technical approach to any given situation.
Given the materials involved, we knew
through our calculations that throughputs and residence times would be critical. That meant we needed to supply the
machine with its existing injection unit and
a 'displaced feed' plasticising unit in place

of the standard unit. That way we could
ensure a robust and optimum process."
Tirel went on to explain that the displaced feed solution can be used with any
polymer, although in this case it was vital
to ensure the process could be optimised
and remain stable, while returning consistent quality.
"We would not have achieved the required repeatability with the larger, standard plasticising units normally fitted to
this machine, due to the sensitive nature
of the polymer grades processed and the
extremely tight tolerances that [Neoperl]
demanded from their products," commented Tirel.
Asked if the solution was a one-off or
is now offered to other customers, he explained that the displaced feed is one of
"numerous technical innovations" brought
to market by Arburg over the years. This
particular solution, continued Tirel, allowed the company to offer customers a
flexible machine with a wide range of plasticising capabilities.
In closing Tirel said that Arburg was
proud to sponsor the Casino Night at
the awards, which raised £1,200 for the
Acorns Children's Hospice.
As for the company's latest Plastics Industry Award, that is getting exposure on
all company websites and social media
pages, while the actual trophy is set to join
the collection at Arburg UK Ltd headquarters in Warwick.

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Plastics & Rubber World - November/December 2019

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