I just received a call the other day regarding a on-site consultation…
caller
We just had a consultant come in and provide some extensive training for our technicians. He taught lessons on intensification ratios, fill integrals, polymer viscosity, rheology, and gate seal studies. Unfortunately, our technicians had no idea what he was talking about.
My Concerns
There are some very intelligent consultants in our industry. Regrettably, they tend to relate to technicians as engineers without any regard to their education level and plastics knowledge.
Fine tuning a process with advanced tools such as In-Mold Rheology studies are great practices. But, to effectively use these tools, you must first understand fundamental concepts such as: velocity-controlled injection, shear thinning, plastic pressure at transfer, melt temperature, and so on.
As mentioned in previous entries, training has to be an ongoing process. Consultants can be a helpful tool in understanding and teaching the fine points of your processes… but you need to ensure your employees have a firm grasp of the fundamentals to really benefit.
-Andy
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