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This informative blog allows plastics professionals to discuss plastics training and technology. Brought to you by Routsis Training: the plastic industry's premiere training provider.

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Good Part vs. Good Process

There is a big difference between making good parts and developing a good process. The problem with traditional troubleshooting is the focus on making good parts.

Good Parts vs. Good Process: Just because you are making a good part does not necessarily mean you have a good process. If your technicians only focus on making good parts, then they are just concerned with making an acceptable part at the moment. Unfortunately, if there is not a good process making a good part, then the process may not be robust enough to compensate for variability. A good molding process is designed to compensate for the natural variability of plastics.
-Andy

Relevant Training Will Help

It is never a bad time to train your employees. If you are having a problem keeping up with production, then effective, relevant workforce training will help you get more out of your production facility.

Training: Improving the knowledge of your employees will provide them with a better ability to handle adversity and make educated decisions. There is a difference between good parts and a good process. If your employees do not know how to develop a good process, then they are going to constantly adjusting the process to make good parts.
-Andy

Improving Process Efficiency – Mold Temperature

Since cooling time typically consumes 40-60% of the overall cycle time, it is very important to optimize the mold temperature. Although there are many aspects to mold temperature, this will give you some steps you can take to begin the optimization process

Find the Specifications: The first step in the process is to determine the recommended mold temperature range for your material. This should be available from the manufacturer, design guidelines, processing guidelines, online, or in a guidebook.
Optimize Process: You should initially try to produce acceptable parts using the lowest recommended mold temperature. If this is not possible, then increase the temperature and try again. Essentially, the lowest mold temperature which provides acceptable parts has the highest likelihood to provide the lowest cycle time.
-Andy

US Manufacturing Tax Incentive

The popular Section 179 deductions on equipment purchases have increased from 125,000 to $500,000 in 2013. This rapid deduction allows companies to deduct up to one half a million dollars in just one year without having to depreciate the equipment. The idea behind such a tax credit is to encourage companies to purchase new equipment because as they purchase new equipment and thus hire more people.
Concern:  Our industry has a habit of buying new equipment such as electric molding machines and low RPM grinders, but are using them properly. It is critical to know how to get the most out of your investment. To get the most out of your molding machine, you should optimize the fill, packing, recovery, temperatures, part removal, and documentation. These high performance machines are a great investment, but improper processing is like driving a Ferrari around in first gear.
For more information on the tax incentive visit:
-Andy

Shorts, Sinks, & Flash

During a recent discussion, a manager related to me that their most common defects are shorts, sinks, and flash. She then stated that this is inherent to the molding process could not really be changed.

Shorts, Sinks, & Flash: Whenever these three are the top defects at a facility, it is because the molds are being filled too much during 1st Stage Fill. When the mold fills too much during first stage fill, the packing pressure is primarily used to ensure gate seal since the mold cavity is full. This only works when the material viscosity is identical to the time the process was established. When the viscosity drops, the mold will flash, when the viscosity rises, the mold will short or sink.
For more about this, please feel free to read:
-Andy

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