Plastics & Rubber World - November/December 2019 - 30

Plastics industry awards 2019

supplier Partnership:
ancillary Machinery

Partnership pays off

(From left) Carl Futcher, MD, PlastikCity, Ian Hensman, sales manager, Philip
Grimshaw, application engineer, and Dave Pearson, senior manager, all from Kawasaki
Robotics (UK), Jon Hart, development engineer at SynthoTec, and Shaun Williamson

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utomation is becoming increasingly important in reducing process
times and managing part quality,
but the UK still has one of the lowest concentrations of robotics of any country in
western Europe.
Questions related to whether automation is worth the capital investment (together with delivery of ROI) and whether
they should be chosen as a solution when
it could mean job losses have been put forward by companies both small and large.
In the case of Kawasaki Robotics (UK),
the company delivered a robotic solution
for automotive plastics manufacturer SynthoTec. The robot supplier supported SynthoTec as the company looked to automate
production of plastic bearing cages, from
equipment selection through to installation.
It was this mutual support that earned
Kawasaki the Supplier Partnership - Ancillary Machinery award at this year's Plastics
Industry Awards.
Ian Hensman, sales manager at Kawasaki Robotics, recounted that the team was
suitably excited by being shortlisted for the
award. "Wider recognition for doing a good
job is always a good thing, but it doesn't occur too often! So when we learned of our
shortlisting for the category we were very
pleased. Not just for our team here, but for
the SynthoTec team as well."
Hensman went on to say that the team
at Kawasaki Robotics considers themselves
fortunate to have worked with SynthoTec,
even getting a take-away learning experience from interacting with the team.
"They know their business inside out.
They also have one of the best-qualified
and most experienced in-house automation teams we have come across. So although we arrived with considerable prior

experience of helping to automate in the
plastics industry, we still learned a great
deal through this application. That is part
of the excitement, asking questions and
learning new things," he explained.
As for convincing companies that an
investment in automation is a worthwhile
choice, Hensman said: "A detailed examination of the manufacturing cost savings
that can be obtained from automating
is usually sufficient to capture attention.
That applies to all industries.
"But the plastics industry is in many
ways a special case because it involves
working with potentially hazardous materials and processes. In such an environment, automation and robotics don't
just bring improved productivity and a
better bottom line. It can also help overcome less obvious challenges and costs
connected with health and safety aspects,
because machines can safely work in environments that might not be the best places for human operators."
In the end, he put forward that it's
largely a case of plastics processors looking at the complete picture, not just chosen snapshots, when considering new automation solutions.
As for the award, Hensman is hopeful
that it will help build business from across
the plastics industry, a sector which has
been a "primary target" for the company.
He pointed out that the automation division has worked extensively with other
divisions of Kawasaki (inc. Kawasaki Heavy
Industries) and supported production of
plastic parts, so already had some considerable expertise.
As for the trophy, that will take pride of
place in the company's head office in Warrington, Cheshire.

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Plastics & Rubber World - November/December 2019

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