A manufacturer of an inhaler housings from Asia was struggling with color streaks in their injection moulded components. It is claimed that the result was an above-average reject rate and causing high costs for quality control, since each housing had to be checked for possible defects. Increasing the back pressure, a common solution for this type of defect, brought only a slight improvement while resulting in longer cycle times and, as a consequence, lower productivity. After installing a Promix Solutions mixing nozzle however, it is claimed that the colour streaks were eliminated, with the cycle times changed back to normal settings and even shortened by a further 4seconds. This resulted in an overall productivity increase which the customer puts at 12.5%.
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“The investment costs for the Promix mixing nozzle were paid back within 2 months, thanks to the quality improvements and cost savings achieved,” says the plant manager. “Not only that, the higher homogenizing capacity in the mixing nozzle allowed the back pressure to be reduced from 280 bar to 80 bar, which corresponds to a reduction of around 70%. As a result, it was possible to significantly reduce wear on the gearbox and thus maintenance costs.”
“If you look closely, you will find machines in a lot of injection molding companies that are not running optimally and injection molded parts that are causing problems,” explains Rolf Heusser, CEO of Promix Solutions. “You can think of increased cycle times, part warpage, color streaks, high masterbatch consumption or weak points in flow seams, the challenges are adamant. But, often these problems can be solved simply and cost-effectively. Our mixing nozzles can be delivered ready for connection within a few weeks and in many cases help to eliminate quality problems, increase productivity and reduce the CO2 footprint.”
Promix Solutions will showcase its mixing nozzle and other key components for saving raw materials, increasing productivity and solving quality issues at the Fakuma show in Friedrichshafen, Germany, from 17 to 21 October 2023, in hall A2, booth 2105.